By Michelle Metzler
Waste Management
At Waste Management, we do everything we can to make recycling simple. That said, when you’re staring at a funky takeout container, discovering a bag of dead batteries or are ready to retire an old appliance, recycling can suddenly seem complicated.
That’s okay – like most of us, you’re probably due for a recycling refresher. And we have just the team for the job.
At community events and farmers markets across Snohomish County this summer, look for the Waste Management booth. It’s staffed by a team equipped with the most up-to-the-minute information about recycling in our community: the Recycle Corps.
The Recycle Corps is a summer internship program for college students created by Waste Management and designed to take recycling to the next level in our community.
It’s a tough, complicated job. Interns work with businesses and the public to help people master the recycling basics that make the biggest difference:
Recycle all empty bottles, cans and paper
Keep food and liquids out of recycling
Keep plastic bags out of recycling
Through one-on-one conversations on doorsteps, and at community events and businesses, Recycle Corps interns help people set up clear and convenient systems for reducing waste. They even go door-to-door at apartment complexes and condos to troubleshoot sorting systems and provide how to information and signage.
With team members fluent in Spanish, Telugu, Mandarin, American Sign Language and Hindi, the interns help to bridge the language gaps that can result in contamination. This happens when people throw food, dirty diapers and garbage into their recycling carts, so that whole containers and truckloads of recyclable materials have to go to the landfill, rather than the recycling center.
Recycle Corps has been a success for Waste Management and the environment. Since 2014, the program has diverted more than 7 million pounds of recyclable material from landfills and made a long-lasting impact on recycling habits in our community.
Recognizing these successes, the Solid Waste Association of North America honored Waste Management’s Recycle Corps program with the prestigious Gold Excellence Award in 2015 – one of the highest honors in the industry.
Through Recycle Corps, we are cultivating the future leaders of recycling. This year’s interns come from schools in Washington, California and Florida. Two of them, Audrey Taber and Crhistian Cuellar, were born and raised in Everett.
The next generation of recycling depends not only on innovation and new technologies, but also improving our community’s understanding and commitment to recycling. It needs leaders who are mastering the art and science of changing behavior for the better. Through Recycle Corps, we are creating those leaders.
So when you’re out and about this summer, be sure to bring your recycling questions to the Waste Management booth. It’s your opportunity to talk one-on-one with young leaders who are working to protect the planet and improve sustainability, right here in Snohomish County.
This is a new, monthly column featuring information on recycling and reducing waste. If you have questions about either, contact Waste Management at recyclenw@wm.com or call 425-825-2013.
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