Providence Recycling Program and City Council ~ November 19, 2009

Environmental Community Calls on Providence City Council to Maintain “Green Up Providence” Recycling Program While Addressing Residents’ Concerns
 

Providence RI –A coalition of environmentalists and community residents are urging the Providence City Council to maintain the city’s new recycling policy while addressing concerns from residents about the implementation of the program.
 
According to the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, the early reports from the Providence’s program already show a marked increase in recycling.
 
A number of council members proposed delaying the implementation of the program, but supporters of Green Up are urging the city to stay the course and continue to troubleshoot according to residents’ concerns until the new recycling policy is running smoothly.

 
“Rather than just say we know recycling is a must but undermine this effort, I’d like to see every Providence resident work proactively to solve our waste crisis and save taxpayer dollars,” said Tiesha Nieves, a Smith Hill resident who participated as a block captain on her street, knocking on her neighbors’ doors and informing them about the new recycling initiative.
 
“Every municipality that has adopted this ‘no bin no barrel’ approach has started similarly with three weeks of challenges while people adapt to the new rule. The trouble has proven worth the while as the recycling rates go up and the city saves significant money,” said Sheila Dormody, Rhode Island director of Clean Water Action. “Changing our habits is tough, but if we are going to prevent a true waste crisis in the future, now’s the time to keep Green Up moving full-steam ahead.”
 
Responding to the state’s waste crisis, Providence is the sixth community in Rhode Island to institute a “no bin, no barrel” policy in the past two years, and three more municipalities will follow suit later this month. Providence calls its efforts “Green Up Providence.”
 
“Trash doesn’t just disappear when we take out the garbage, and the sooner we realize that the better off we’ll be.  Improving recycling is one of the simplest ways to address Rhode Island’s waste crisis,” said Tricia Jedele, Vice President of the Conservation Law Foundation. “If we don’t shift our focus to finding ways to immediately reduce our waste we’ll soon be forced to choose between the less appealing alternatives of paying big money to ship our trash out of state or building another landfill in our small state.”
 
Currently Providence has the lowest recycling rate in the state at 10 percent. Doubling the city’s recycling rate to 20 percent would help the state meet its overall waste reduction goals as well as reduce the cost of waste disposal fees that the city currently pays by $300,000. With the Central Landfill slated to close within the next 25 years, environmentalists as well as city, town, and state officials are increasingly concerned with where Rhode Islanders will be able to throw their garbage in the years to come. Creating robust recycling, composting, and other resource recovery-based waste programs can also create new jobs, reduce wasted tax revenue on disposal fees, and contribute to overall environmental goals for the city and state.
 
Because other cities and towns that have implemented some form of “no bin, no barrel” faced some initial negative responses from community residents regarding the new stricter guidelines, the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island organized over 35 recycling “block captains” to knock on neighbors’ doors and 60 other individual residents to distribute door-hangers about the new policy in neighborhoods across the city. Together the block captains reached over 600 people with face-to-face conversations and informed even more through the efforts of various community organizations including Ready 2 Learn Providence, English for Action, the Genesis Center, St. Michael’s Church, and YouthBuild.
 
“We recognize that for the average Providence resident, recycling is often the last thing on their minds in this economic climate,” said Amelia Rose, Lead Organizer of the Environmental Justice League. “But we knew that not having their trash taken if they didn’t put out their recycling would definitely be the first thing to frustrate them come November! So that’s why the EJ League committed to doing what we could to help achieve widespread community education about the new recycling program before it started.”

Residents and environmental advocates will gather at City Hall tomorrow at 7pm to show their support for "Green Up" and urge the City Council to abstain from the proposed Resolution.

CONTACT:
Amelia Rose  (401) 383-7441 (office)                                                                                                        (202) 321-2118 (cell)
[email protected]