Fort Wayne Sets Recycling Participation Goal at 80%

Fort Wayne, Ind., hopes to reach a recycling participation rate of 80 percent this year after averaging 70 percent of city households in 2011.

Mayor Tom Henry said since the city’s One Cart recycling program began in January 2011, the city has been able to save nearly $150,000 in fees by reducing the amount of landfill waste. And through a shared revenue agreement Fort Wayne received more than $425,000 for its recyclables, the city said in a news release.

Henry is asking residents who are currently not recycling to call 311 to register for a cart to be delivered to their home.

"Recycling not only makes good sense from an environmental perspective, it also makes good economic sense," Henry said.

The city introduced the One Cart recycling program to provide residents with a more cost-efficient waste collection method and to improve the environment by reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill.

Fort Wayne reduced its landfill waste from an average of 98,00 tons before 2011 to 88,953 tons last year. The participation rate increased to 70 percent from 39 percent before than program started.

As a result of the savings the city reduced the monthly waste fee for single-family homes to $9.95 from $11.24.