Buffalo, NY – Mayor Byron W. Brown today encouraged residents to participate in his latest public awareness campaign, called Recycling Reinvented. Recycling Reinvented is a 6-month campaign that includes targeted messaging with the goal of reducing contamination in the City’s residential recycling totes, while increasing recycling overall.
Over the next few weeks, City residents will be exposed to targeted print and bus ads, social media posts, and radio and tv public service announcements, announcing the start of the Recycling Reinvented campaign, which focuses on four recycling contaminant areas: Plastic, Food Waste, Yard Waste and Clothing Items. In the following months, public awareness messages will focus exclusively on each of the four targeted recycling areas.
“The city of Buffalo is working at the cutting edge of recycling, using specialized technology and smart collaborations to further improve key aspects of service,” stated Mayor Brown. “We are proud of the work we’ve been doing since the launch of the 34andMore Recycle Buffalo and encourage City residents to support Recycling Reinvented, which focuses on the larger area of contaminants that is affecting cities across the United States.”
The effort to educate residents about what is recyclable has proven to substantially reduce contaminants in other cities, which saves cities money and makes the recycling process more efficient. The campaign will also involve participation from Block Club members citywide who will be asked to take part in a ‘Tote Tagging” program in their neighborhood.
“When people put the wrong items in their recycling carts, handling those materials costs taxpayer dollars,” stated Susan Attridge, Director of Recycling and Refuse. “We want to help our residents correct these issues and recycle right. Our city is quickly becoming an environmental leader—not just in the U.S. but [also] in the world—and better recycling is an important step on that journey.”
Under the direction of Mayor Brown, the City of Buffalo continues its strong commitment to increase its recycling and recovery programs. In 2012, the City of Buffalo switched to single stream curbside recycling for all residential structures as well as commercial entities in the designated commercial districts, followed by the launch of the 34andMore Buffalo Recycles program, with a recycling goal of 34%, the national recycling average. Since then, overall recycling rates increased from 15.9% in 2012 to 29.30% to date. This steady progress has been aided by several new recycling initiatives: 34andMore Recycling Campaign Blitz, Let’s DO This! Neighborhood Recycling Competition, Community Dare to Repair Café program, the Environmental Champions Program, in partnership with Buffalo Public Schools, and now the Recycling Reinvented campaign.
Mayor Brown continues to encourage all city residents, visitors and business owners to recycle. By building on the positive momentum, he hopes to achieve his recycling goal of 34%–the national recycling average. For more information about Buffalo’s Recycling program, please visit www.buffalony.gov.
