The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, says it has signed a contract agreement with East Lansing, Michigan. The city has received a grant to assist with cart and education and outreach procurement and will receive a customized education campaign and operational assistance to support the cart roll out, the Recycling Partnership says. The organization refers to this tandem set of resources as technical assistance and as critical to a program’s success when making a major change like adding cart-based collection.
Recycling Partnership Technical Assistance Director Cody Marshall says, “In order to optimize the program results, it’s not enough just to educate or just to consider the nuts and bolts of the cart distribution and collection plan; those pieces need to work together, with communication between the city leaders, collection staff and the MRF (material recovery facility) to give the program the best start and ensure more high quality material moves through the system.”