Building a Culture of Recycling (Pt. 3)

Welcome to Part 3 of our How to Recycle Like a Pro mini-series. Weeks 1 and 2 of our series explored the reality of recycling and the importance of transparency with your hauler. If you missed the others, click here to check out the first blog in the series! This week, we’re turning the focus inward: how organizations and households can create a lasting recycling culture that goes beyond compliance.

Reduction In Motion President Bill Griffith shared insights on moving from simply “checking a box” to building genuine engagement around recycling.

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Compliance vs. Culture

“Compliance is checking a box. Culture means people believe in it, understand why it matters, and hold each other accountable,” Bill explains.

A strong recycling culture is one where people willingly take the extra moment to sort materials correctly and even ask questions when unsure. For example, in healthcare facilities, medical-grade plastics are non-infectious but often can’t go into single-stream recycling. Culture helps staff understand why certain items belong in the trash and others in the recycling bin.

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Steps to Build a Recycling Program

Starting a recycling program doesn’t have to be overwhelming, but it should be methodical. Bill emphasizes a few critical steps:

1. Assess Your Waste Streams
   Conduct a waste audit to understand volumes, types, and characteristics of your materials. This baseline shows missed opportunities and helps plan improvements.
2. Evaluate Infrastructure
   Are your containers sized and positioned to capture the materials you want? Do they have color-coded lids and restrictive openings to guide proper recycling behavior?
3. Develop Clear Signage & Training
   Signs should be simple, short, and positioned at the point of generation. Training modules for staff and janitorial teams ensure everyone knows what goes where and why.
4. Empower Champions
   Identify staff who are passionate about recycling to answer questions, guide peers, and reinforce positive habits.
5. Engage and Reinforce
   Use games, challenges, and events to make recycling interactive. Examples include spinning wheels with recyclable vs. non-recyclable items, bean bag toss games, or team competitions. Reward engagement thoughtfully without generating unnecessary waste.
6. Iterate & Adapt
   Recycling programs should evolve. Regularly reassess signage, containers, and communications to address confusion or new materials. Remember: quality over quantity.

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Target the High-Impact Items

Bill also highlights the materials with the highest recovery rates — a great place to start for any program:

• Beverage containers: Aluminum, tin, and plastic bottles (plastics #1 and #2).
• Cardboard and paperboard: Corrugated cardboard (e.g., shipping boxes) and paperboard (e.g., cereal boxes).
• Paper: Mixed paper is fine if pieces are larger than a post-it note.
• Aluminum and tin cans: Rinse #10 kitchen cans to maximize recyclability.
• Glass: Bottles and jars are infinitely recyclable, however it’s not always accepted. Be sure to confirm if glass is accepted by your hauler/recycler.

“Aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, and corrugated cardboard has a very high recovery rate,” Bill notes. Small, consistent wins like these can significantly boost your diversion numbers.

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Final Thought

Building a recycling culture is slow, steady, and intentional. Start with the basics, engage your people, and focus on quality over quantity. Once the fundamentals are in place, you can layer on creative solutions, eliminate single-use items like disposable water bottles, and continuously improve your diversion efforts.

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Next week, we’ll focus on how to engineer better recycling. We’ll explore how intentional system design, from bin placement to signage, makes recycling easier and more effective for everyone.