Recyclepedia

When residents have a recycling question, their first stop is most likely Google.

Even if your municipality’s website offers detailed guidelines or downloadable recycling PDFs, most residents will turn to the easiest and fastest path to information—searching online.

While they may get a correct answer, search results aren't always reliable. Often, top results provide generic, conflicting, or confusing information, leading to contamination, loss of recyclable materials, frustration with recycling rules, and even spikes in service call volume.

The Problem with Search Results for Recycling Questions

Search engines are designed to return the most helpful content, but that doesn’t always mean the most accurate local answers. If a resident googles something like “Are coffee cups recyclable in South Plainfield, New Jersey?,” they might get a correct response:

Even if the query is clear and direct, Google may choose to serve an article with national guidelines or advice from a different city or state. AI-enhanced features, like Google’s AI Overview, can further complicate things, as this feature can misconstrue data. For example, if a resident googles, “Are glasses recyclable in Boise, Idaho?” they will get the following result:

In reality, glass is not accepted in Boise, Idaho’s regular curbside collection.

It's even more complicated if a resident googles something more general, like “Are batteries recyclable?”.

Rules often vary from municipality to municipality, and as MRF technology continues to evolve, it’s likely that the answer won’t match your local rules. Residents may read that result, toss the item in the wrong receptacle, and continue incorrectly disposing of that item.  

Beyond commonly misunderstood materials, our research shows that residents are looking to do better when it comes to even the trickiest of materials. Their searches include:

• Aerosol cans
• Old makeup
• Styrofoam
• Lightbulbs
• Unused fireworks

The list goes on. To make sure your residents know how to handle curbside sorting correctly, you need to meet them where they are, and that's by providing a quick, easy solution.

The Difference the “What Goes Where” Tool Makes

Recycle Coach’s “What Goes Where” search tool allows residents to search for any item to check if it belongs in the recycling, compost, or trash. All results are catered to local rules, so residents get the correct answer for every item.

Our partners can browse most-searched items, compare search stats to other locations, and gain insight on problem contaminants, which can all paint a larger picture of what items need to be focused on when educating their residents.  

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The bottom line: you don’t need to compete with Google. By providing residents with centralized information that’s easy to find, navigate, and use, you can reduce resident confusion—and contamination.

Bulky waste is a big challenge for local programs: missed pickups, confusion about what’s accepted, and endless resident phone calls, not to mention the time required to facilitate payment. But for our partners, a smarter digital tool is helping to cut down on the time needed to provide communities with a five-star experience.

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South River, NJ: 75% Fewer Calls

Before launching the Recycle Coach web app, South River’s team was fielding ongoing phone calls for bulk item pickups.  

Since integrating the tool, they’ve seen a 75% drop in phone calls—and a spike in web app users.  

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Cal-Waste: 18 Extra Mattress Pickups in One Week

As a private hauler serving communities across California, Cal-Waste wanted to boost efficiency and reduce confusion for residents trying to get rid of bulky items, like furniture and mattresses.

With the bulk pick-up tool now integrated into their app, Cal-Waste has seen a notable uptick in requests, especially when it comes to mattress pickups.

In a single recorded week, there were 18 more mattress requests than their weekly average.

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Atlas Disposal: 50% of Total Requests and a Successful User Acquisition Tactic

Within the communities Atlas serves, bulky requests tend to vary week to week, but requests from the tool now account for about half of all resident bookings.  

The team has had positive feedback about the ease and convenience of using the tool for requests from residents. In turn, Atlas has been able to increase users by directing them to the app, thereby educating and keeping more residents informed on their curbside collections.

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‍‍Why It Works

Self-serve scheduling: Residents don’t need to call. They just click, select their item, and schedule the pickup.

Mobile & web friendly: Whether on desktop or phone, it’s an easy experience that builds trust and cuts down on mistakes.

More time to focus on what matters: With fewer resident inquiries to handle, staff can spend more time on high-impact work.

Learn more about the Bulk Item Pick-up Tool here.

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Waste education and outreach is a challenge for municipalities, haulers, schools, and businesses alike. Reaching audiences with timely, pertinent information is both important and effective, yet it’s often overlooked due to time constraints and lack of marketing knowledge.  

Below, we’ve outlined five tips to help you connect with your community.  

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Expand your education programs

Digital resources aren’t something everyone has access to.  Expand your educational outreach to schools and teach children the importance of proper recycling and waste disposal.  

When it comes to local events, focus on fun and unique ways to engage children, like providing activities and giveaway items. Our partners in New Jersey have printed off our children’s activity packets to distribute to parents, providing them with age-appropriate resources that make learning about recycling fun and simple.

The education and outreach team in Las Cruces, NM makes it their goal to visit all 40 public schools in their district every year. Children go home to their families with quizzes, certificates, and learning packets, along with a better understanding of how waste disposal works. In the future, it’s their plan to incorporate Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) tours for field trips.

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Think outside the box

Innovation is invaluable. Expanding your efforts into every avenue available to you allows you to connect with residents of your community wherever they are. Partner with your local community centres, libraries, radio and TV stations, and sports venues to spread the word about proper recycling and waste habits.  

The team at the Mercer County Improvement Authority makes use of the local minor league baseball stadium to reach families: “[There is] a lot of foot traffic during the summer months. And we have a six-foot-by-six-foot board message board that we pay for every year just to get the message out. Calendars, QR codes for Recycle Coach—we encourage them to download the app.”

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Make learning easy

People want to do good, but they’re busy. Making waste education simple and accessible encourages greater participation in the community, leading to lower contamination rates and more recycled materials. Meet residents where they are, both at their community and in their homes, and—most often—on their phones.  

“You don't want to add to the stressors of life,” says Dan Napoleon of Mercer County. “You want something that's user friendly. Everybody has a smartphone, so when you can find out when your recycling day is, special events, even your solid waste days, it just makes it a lot easier.”  

When you’re educating your community, keep things uncomplicated. Avoid lengthy PDFs and posts and keep your information hyper-relevant. Focus on key contaminants in your community by keeping your waste messaging local and avoiding broader, general waste information that may not be applicable.

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Make use of your social media

Social media is still an effective tool that has the capability of reaching many of your residents. Having a strong social media presence gets the word out about waste practices, educates your residents, and allows you to form a connection with them. Post weekly tips for troublesome materials, experiment with humour and memes, and grow your page by posting video-based content. Yes, this might mean passing the phone to your Gen Z employee or summer student!  

In Glendale, CA, the outreach team runs monthly Recycle Coach reports to help guide their social media. These reports tell the team what areas residents could use improvement in. Using this information, they know what to focus on and how to interact with their residents. Running compost pail giveaways, organizing environmental programs, and offering webinars are just a few ways they’re making their social media about interaction and engagement.  

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Interact with your residents

You can do your best to educate your residents through social media posts, flyers, posters, and ads, but interacting with residents allows you to really connect with them to get the message through. Responding to your residents’ comments on social media, hosting events, and going out into the community to meet with your residents in person can open up the possibility of your residents feeling comfortable asking questions, learning more, and caring more about the recycling process.  

The Solid Waste and Recycling team in Frederick County, MD prioritize interacting with their residents because their “residents want to have this interaction... They want to be involved, and they want to better their skills.” Connecting residents with the recycling process will create a more proactive, clean community.  

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