Waste Reduction Pilot Program
The City of Asheville conducted a Waste Reduction Pilot Program in 2011 in four Asheville neighborhoods to improve recycling services for residents. This program was designed to make recycling more convenient for residents and collectors, by not requiring residents to separate recycled products. ALL types of recyclables were recycled, unsorted, in a 96 gallon BLUE roll cart.
Why did the City conduct this pilot program?
Recycling and waste reduction has been a near and dear value of the Asheville citizens since we started the curbside recycling program in 1997. Currently, 80% of Asheville residents recycle to divert 23% of waste from the landfill. Because this priority continues to be expressed in the community, the City piloted this program to learn how we could improve your recycling collection services to increase the amount of recyclables kept out of the landfill.
What were the results of the pilot program?
Across all four pilot neighborhoods, weight of recyclable materials increased on average by over 50% during the initial pilot period. While the increased weights varied by each neighborhood, over 90% of the residents who responded to a survey about the new program "agreed or strongly agreed that the new recycling service with a roll cart was more convenient than the old program." The City of Asheville will continue to collect and evaluate data on recycling participation rates (number of people recycling) and the weight of materials recycled (the amount of material recovered for recycling, instead of going to the landfill) as the new Zero Waste AVL Recycling program is implemented.
Who was in the pilot?
North- South- East- West. The City understands that each neighborhood is unique and has different needs. For this reason we included Park Avenue/The Views, Burton Street, Norwood Park and Parkway Forest neighborhoods in this 3 month pilot. A total of 770 households participated in the pilot. The map below demonstrates targeted areas for the pilot.
Resource materials:
Waste Reduction Pilot Program FAQ
City of Asheville Sustainability Office
For general questions about the pilot program, call 259-5857.
For cart repairs or questions about material recycling, call 252-2532.