Recycling

As the recycling ethic takes hold at the state and municipal level, municipal officials and private contractors are working together to formulate and implement recycling programs. The questions - What is to be recycled? How should recyclables be separated and collected? Is intermediate processing beneficial? How can recyclables best be marketed? Should the public or private sector perform the service? What are the true costs? - are being addressed. Answers, however, are often different for large and small municipalities and regional versus individual municipal programs. While no one approach will be suitable for all applications, one can learn from the experiences of operating programs. The paper to be presented will describe two operating, recycling programs that are public and private cooperative efforts: one regional (11 communities in Bucks County, Pennsylvania); and one municipal (Quincy, Massachusetts). Information will be presented describing the recycling programs, economics, and performance