Maple Grove's sort-free recycling program takes off

When it comes to recycling, the easier it is, the more people will do it.

That's the upshot of Maple Grove's experiment with a new sort-free recycling service.

After the city abandoned a pre-sorting system in favor of all-in-one rollable recycling bins, residents put out an extra 355 tons of residential recyclables from February through June -- 71 more tons per month than they did last year.

More households were recycling, too: up from 60 percent in 2008 to 80 percent during the first half of 2009.

The results show that mixed recycling in one big cart, started in Maple Grove by Allied Waste in February under a five-year contract with the city, is a hit with residents, said Maple Grove recycling coordinator Frank Kampel.

"The response from residents mainly is they like the convenience of being able to roll the cart out to the curb as opposed to carrying a small container out to the curb," Kampel said, "and they can put all the recyclables in the container and not have to separate anything."

While recyclers traditionally require people to separate glass, plastic and paper, Allied Waste, Waste Management, Ace Solid Waste and Walters Recycling and Refuse, among others, now pick up recyclables in many metro cities in the same way haulers pick up trash -- all mixed together in a full-size cart on wheels.

For a report to the County Board by Dec. 1, the environmental services division will look at whether sort-free recycling "is something we want to require rather than just recommend to the cities," he said.

'Massive' boost in tonnage

For Allied Waste, the new bins and a coupon reward program it offers through Recycle Bank have prompted even more recycling than it anticipated, said Rich Hirstein, Allied's area recycling manager. The 355 extra tons "is massive, honestly," he said. "That would have been in the garbage stream before."

In Eden Prairie, a similar program prompted 97 percent of Allied's customers in that city to recycle in the month of June -- up from 75 percent before the program began, Hirstein said. That compares with an average participation rate of 60 percent in the metro area, he said.

Maple Grove resident Greg Hegedus said he and his wife, Debbie, have doubled what they recycle, "just because of the convenience of the container. It's bigger, and you can get your cardboard and everything in it. You wheel it out just like you would your garbage."

Cashing in the coupons

The couple also likes the rewards coupons and regularly redeems them at Cub Foods for $6 off their grocery bill.

Another Maple Grove resident, Angie Solle, said her family, too, has at least doubled its recycling with the new bin. "Just to have the space really helps," she said. "With the little blue bin we didn't have the capacity to recycle as much as we do now. We would fill the bin and we would basically stop recycling for the week."

Not having to sort also helps her encourage her small kids to recycle, Solle said. "You don't have to worry about putting it in the right bag." She said she likes the reward coupons and uses them but considers them a bonus rather than the reason she is recycling more.

The reward coupons are awarded by volume recycled by each neighborhood. Recycling trucks read a radio chip in the recycling cart of each household to record the house address as eligible for the rewards, Kampel said. Residents check their accounts on-line and choose the coupons they prefer, which then are mailed to them.