The City of Jacksonville has launched The Recycling Partnership’s Feet on the Street cart tagging recycling initiative —a community-wide initiative to improve the quality of recycling in single-stream curbside recycling bins by providing residents personalized and real-time curbside recycling education and feedback.
 
The Feet on the Street program is intended to increase the amount of quality recyclables – items that are accepted for recycling that are empty, clean and dry, so they can circulate back into the recycling system to become new products or packaging. Developed by the circular economy national NGO, The Recycling Partnership, this program helps communities achieve economically efficient recycling programs, reduces the number of new resources used in packaging, and improves the health of communities.
 
“Recycling is an important part of our economy and our environment,” said Mayor Lenny Curry. “Even the most ambitious and well-meaning recycler can unintentionally put something that shouldn’t be placed in the cart. Unfortunately, this costs taxpayer money, can damage our recycling facilities, and requires additional sorting and dumping of materials that cannot be recycled. Through the Feet on the Street Campaign, we are providing citizens with personalized feedback and raising awareness of what can and cannot be recycled. Together, we can ensure that our city recycles and recycles right.”
           
Included in the Feet on the Street program is a comprehensive education and outreach strategy that involves a team of community-based observers visiting each resident’s cart and providing personalized and real-time feedback on how to improve what items should be in the cart. This results in capturing more quality recyclables that are then transformed into new materials, creating a more circular economy, a less wasteful planet, and stronger, healthier communities.
 
The City applied for and received a grant from The Recycling Partnership, a national NGO advancing the circular economy by building a better recycling system in U.S. communities and states, along with support from along with support from the American Beverage Association’s Every Bottle Back initiative and the Florida Beverage Association. Jacksonville was selected to receive grant support because of its dedication to advancing recycling in the community.

For Jacksonville, recyclables should be placed loose in the cart and not in plastic bags. Items with food residue, batteries, cables, and small electronics should not be placed in recycling carts. Many of these materials can cause equipment jams at recycling processing facilities, creating hazards for recycling facility workers.
 
The Partnership has successfully implemented this program in over 70 communities across the country, with some communities seeing a 57% decrease of nonrecyclables in recycling and a 27% increase in the overall capture of quality recyclables. 
 
For more information on what can and can’t go into the curbside recycling, check out the Waste Collection Wizard, visit MyJax or call (904) 630-2489 (CITY).