The Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) in collaboration with The Town of Smyrna, The Recycling Partnership, and Waste Management is thrilled to announce the outstanding outcomes of Delaware’s first “Feet on the Street” Cart Tagging Program, a collaborative effort aimed at improving recycling practices and reducing contamination rates across communities nationwide. 

The Recycling Partnerships “Feet on the Street” Cart Tagging Program, launched in partnership with municipalities, waste management companies, and environmentally conscious citizens, set out to address the persistent issue of recycling contamination in a hands-on and community-driven manner. Contamination occurs when non-recyclable materials are inadvertently placed in recycling bins, compromising the quality of collected recyclables and increasing the environmental and economic impact of recycling programs. The Town of Smyrna was selected as the first test program in the State of Delaware after a DSWA audit that identified elevated recycling contamination rates in the town.

The first scans of Smyrna residents’ recycling carts revealed a contamination rate of 34%. At the end of the six-week-long program through additional scans and education to residents, the final scan of the program revealed Smyrna’s contamination rate had dropped to just 5%, one of the lowest in the state. 

The remarkable reduction in recycling contamination rates will not only lead to cost savings for the town but will also have a positive impact on the environment by reducing the amount of non-recyclable materials ending up in landfills.

Residents are encouraged to continue their commitment to responsible recycling by adhering to the guidelines provided by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and Waste Management and promoting these practices within their social circles. With this continued collaboration, Smyrna aims to maintain and further improve its recycling contamination rate, setting a positive example for other communities to follow.

Smyrna has joined the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA), WM and The Recycling Partnership, a NGO that works with communities, companies and governments to transform the recycling system, to launch a Feet on the Street cart tagging recycling initiative —a communitywide initiative to improve the quality of recycling in single-stream curbside recycling bins by providing residents personalized and real-time curbside recycling education and feedback.

The Feet on the Street program is intended to increase the amount of quality recyclables – items that are accepted for recycling that are empty and dry, so they can circulate back into the recycling system to become new products or packaging. Developed by the circular economy national NGO, The Recycling Partnership, this program helps communities achieve economically efficient recycling programs, reduces the number of new resources used in packaging, and improves the health of communities.

“Recycling, when done properly, is good not only for the environment—it is good for Smyrna trash customers’ wallets,” said Sheldon P. Hudson, town manager. “Recycling saves Smyrna trash customers money by reducing the cost of dumping at the landfill—and gives them the ability to participate directly in driving a circular local recycling economy.”

“The Town knows most of its trash customers want to recycle the right way. Through the Feet on the Street campaign, we are providing them with personalized, real-time feedback as they strive to do this.”

Included in the Feet on the Street program is a comprehensive education and outreach strategy that involves a team of community-based observers visiting each resident’s cart and providing personalized and real-time feedback on how to improve what items should be in the cart. This results in capturing more quality recyclables that are then transformed into new materials, creating a more circular economy, a less wasteful planet, and stronger, healthier communities.

For Smyrna and all WM customers, recyclables should be loose and not in plastic bags. Items with food residue, batteries and small electronics should not be placed in recycling carts. Many of these materials can cause equipment jams at recycling processing facilities, creating hazards for recycling facility workers.

According to The Recycling Partnership, they have successfully implemented this program in more than 70 communities across the country, with some communities seeing a 57% decrease of nonrecyclables in recycling and a 27% increase in the overall capture of quality recyclables.

For more information on what can and can’t go into curbside recycling, visit Smyrna.delaware.gov/366/Recycling or call 302-653-9231.