Guidelines ID Best Practices to Improve Recycling Programs

The Solid Waste Association of North America and the National Waste & Recycling Association have published new guidelines designed to improve protocols and standards for contracting practices for municipal recycling programs. The guidelines address challenges facing public agencies and private industry as they seek to improve the effectiveness of local residential recycling programs.

SWANA and NWRA’s Joint Advisory on Designing Contracts for Processing of Manual Recyclables is the culmination of a nearly year-long process that brought together subject matter experts from private industry and local government agencies to collectively address the need for consistent standards in contracting for recycling services.

Specific protocols in the guidelines directly address best practices for improving the quality and the quantity of materials captured in the recycling processing stream while also ensuring that recycling programs are economically viable for both local agencies and private industry.

Last year SWANA and NWRA teamed up with Keep America Beautiful and the EPA to help make US recycling requirements easier to follow.