Yearly Recycling Audits Help Greensboro, NC Reduce Contamination by 30 Percent

The City of Greensboro, N.C. recently ran its yearly audit of its resident’s recycling, measuring for contamination.

The project is conducted every year in the city and over the last three years, results show that contamination has dropped by 30 percent.

“We don’t tell anybody about it ahead of time because we don’t want it to change behavior. We want it to be a true understanding of what is out there when people don’t think they are being watched,” GSO Waste Reduction Supervisor Tori Carle Emerson said.

After trucks pick up the recycling carts, a sample of 150 pounds is taken and sorted by hand. A third-party contractor is hired to do the dirty work and collect the data. The results help the city determine how much to budget for recycling and re-selling of the materials, and which neighborhoods need more recycling education.

“If we see an area that has very high contamination then we actually go out and do increased inspections and information sharing with those residents,” Carle Emerson said.

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