June 6 – As Mayor Byron W. Brown continues to market 34andMore, a citywide public awareness campaign aimed at further boosting Buffalo’s recycling rate, he announced today that city residents achieved their highest month of recycling in May. Last month, the City’s curbside “green tote” program collected 1513.77 tons, or 3, 027,540 pounds. That’s the weight of 252 elephants, which could fill a football stadium 6 feet high!
“Congratulations to city residents, and thank you for continuing to embrace our efforts to recycle in Buffalo by helping us achieve our highest month of recycling ever,” said Mayor Brown. “Increasing recycling in Buffalo is among my top priorities, and we’ve been working hard since the launch of 34andMore Buffalo Recycles! - which included a series of television and radio ads, billboards - and now our newest program, called Let’s Do This! Let’s Do This! is a friendly block club recycling competition that complements all of our efforts as we continue to ensure that Buffalo continues to go greener every day.”
Mayor Brown’s curbside recycling program has and will continue to play a pivotal role in helping the City to achieve its goal of diverting material from the landfill by over 34%, exceeding the national average. The recyclables that the City collects in its green tote program are a valuable resource; they are sent to facilities where they are processed into new products. Using recyclable materials in the manufacturing process helps to conserve natural resources and reduce energy consumption.
Let’s Do this! takes Buffalo’s “34andMore Buffalo Recycles Program” to another level, helping to further increase Buffalo’s recycling participation. Since the introduction of the green totes as part of Buffalo’s new single stream recycling program in 2012, overall recycling increased from 15.9% to 27.7% in 2016.
Let’s Do This! is a friendly and fun recycling competition for Buffalo neighborhood Block Clubs. This new initiative gives city residents the opportunity to win prizes (for their neighborhood) simply by taking part in “Recycling: Let’s Do This!”.
The four-week contest runs from June 26th to July 14th. Block Clubs must register for Let’s Do This! by June 17. For more information, go to www.city-buffalo.com