SWAG agenda 032317 - Laserfiche WebLink

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As the table below shows, the majority by weight of those recyclable materials placed in the trash were paper products. Examples include printed pages, letters, newspapers, and magazines. Percent of Total Recyclables by Material Recyclable Paper Corrugated Cardboard Cans, Bottles & #2, #4, #5 containers Reusable Hazard/Electronics Carrboro 47% 0% 53% (27 units) 0% 0% Chapel Hill 55.6% 5.6% 30.8% (175 units) 2.3% 7.7% Orange County 55.8% 2.3% 18.9% (228 units) 13.9% 9% Hillsborough 78% 0.8% 19.9% (76 units) .8% .1% If the amount of bottles, cans, and other recyclable plastic containers, like dairy tubs, found in the survey is representative and that amount is projected out over the entire year, employees and visitors to the government buildings of Orange County would have contributed over 100,000 bottles, cans, and other recyclable plastics containers to landfills every year. This indicates a need for further education and motivation of government employees to ensure they are aware that much of their waste can be recycled. d)Promoting Business Waste Diversion Success At the January SWAG meeting several members expressed interest in the telling of business recycling success stories. Orange County Solid Waste Management Department (OCSWMD) promotes local businesses that participate in the County recycling program, food waste program and otherwise have shown to manage their wastes well. In the annual Waste Matters newsletter mailed to every mailbox, commercial and residential, in Orange County, the OCSWMD will prominently feature businesses in a spotlight. In the latest issue, we featured the managers of Lux Apartment and Patriots Pointe as models of best management practices, as they have expanded their recycling by adding special collections for plastic film recycling, and partner with local grocery stores Weaver St. Market and Whole Foods to recycle the material. Also on an annual basis, OCSWMD publishes a “RECYCLING THANKS!” ad in the Indy newspaper that lists the 300+ businesses that are currently on the County’s Commercial Recycling Collection Program. Copies of the ad, along with a letter of thanks and encouragement are mailed to each of the participating business managers for posting or distribution at their place of business. OCSWMD publishes a monthly “Watching Our Wasteline” article in the Chapel Hill Herald that is also reissued in the News of Orange. In the article, any new businesses that have been added to either the recycling program, or to the commercial food waste collection program will be are listed.