Lars Lawson

Jan 15, 20144 min read

December 2013

Updated: Sep 16, 2021

Dear Friends,

We are excited to announce the release of “The Untapped Job Potential of Indiana’s Recycling Industry”, a report prepared by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University and commissioned by the IRC.

This Wednesday, we unveiled the study at Strategic Materials – a recycled glass processor in Indianapolis. We received significant media coverage across the state and look forward to sharing highlights of the study with legislative, civic and business leaders in the coming months.

We were thrilled to have the Indiana Economic Development Corporation participate in the announcement and to have representatives from Governor Pence’s office and Sustain Indy, as well as State Representative Sue Errington from Muncie in attendance. Strategic Materials CEO Curt Bucey spoke to his company’s interest in expanding operations in Indiana if more glass could be recovered for recycling.

Study Highlights include:

Today, Hoosiers throw away approximately 5 billion tons of recyclable and compostable material every year, of 6 billion tons disposed annually.
Recovering just 25% of that material would create 10,000 new jobs in Indiana – collection, sorting, transporting and processing jobs.
77 Indiana manufacturers rely on recycled feedstock to make products and many of those manufacturers would use more if it were available. These companies save significantly on energy costs when they use recycled vs. raw material.

REVENT

Prior to this week’s exciting announcement we hosted REVENT, our annual fall gala. Thanks to all who helped make REVENT a fun and successful event, once again! Photos can be viewed here.

Please stay tuned for the date of REVENT 2014, when we will celebrate 25 years of the IRC!!

INDIANA STATE FAIR

We also want to share the impressive results of our 2013 Indiana State Fair Recycling Partnership!! Don’t miss the highlights below.

As the year winds down, we wish you a peaceful and joyous holiday season.

Sustainably yours,

Carey

Carey Hamilton

Executive Director

Please consider supporting the important work of the IRC….Click here to learn about membership or to make a donation of any amount today!

One of our favorite America Recycles Day events this year is this art contest from NW Indiana’s Porter County!

Nine schools in Porter County participated in one of the most inventive America Recycles Day events yet, a one-of-a-kind Recycled Latex Paint School Art Contest. The winning class/school will win a bench made out of 1,550 recycled milk jugs. These nine schools used recycled latex paint from the City of Hobart Paint Recycling Facility to decorate their panels with a recycling or environmental theme.

The paint available in Hobart is normally a warm gray or putty in color. The paint was tinted by local paint stores and also using tint supplied by the Recycling & Waste Reduction District to get these colors. Schools could also tint the paint themselves.

An excellent example of the inventiveness and creativity that America Recycles Day fosters and encourages!

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Given that nearly

one million people ate and drank their way through the Indiana State Fair, the Indiana Recycling Coalition was thrilled to be part of this HUGE, previously untapped, opportunity for public space recycling!

The IRC partnered with Keep America Beautiful, the Alcoa Foundation and Cummins to provide recycling services at the State Fair. This effort required the purchase of several hundred recycling containers of various types and more than 1,000 hours from our staff and wonderful volunteers.

Check out these amazing recycling statistics for bottles, cans and also – behind the scenes -increased cardboard collection:

Plastic Bottles & Aluminum Cans 2012: None 2013: 2.31 tons –this means many thousands of cans and bottles!

Cardboard 2012: 16.91 tons 2013: 24.02 tons –42% increase

If you are interested in being part of our State Fair recycling effort in 2014, please email jean@indianarecycling.org to be added to our volunteer list.

CVP Connect: the Free, Online Training Site for Strategic and Effective Recycling Education

Do you need help educating residents about your recycling program? You’re not alone! With mounting responsibilities and increasingly hectic schedules, it is becoming more difficult to spend time on strategic recycling education. At the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP), we understand your struggles and have a tool to help!

CVP is a national nonprofit dedicated to improving residential recycling programs through education. Through our partnerships with 31 communities and four states, we have produced a library of best practices and in an effort to share these best practices and help communities with strategic education outreach, we created CVP Connect, a free, online recycling education training tool to help you develop, execute and measure strategic and effective education campaigns.

In CVP Connect, you’ll find our unique CVP Campaign Approach Methodology, which guides you to a specific campaign approach tailored to address the needs that you are facing with your recycling program. Through a series of education-focused Webinars and tutorials, CVP partner case studies, best practices and other materials, you can get everything you need to develop a customized, strategic education campaign, including campaign artwork that can be tailored and localized for your community. And did we mention that this is all available for free?

The best part about CVP Connect is that it can all be accessed on YOUR schedule. We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to work at your own pace and move around the site to access topics that are most relevant to you when you need them.

Visit CVPConnect.org today and learn more about and register for this free, online education tool. Email us with any questions at info@recyclecurbside.org and follow us on Twitter at@CVPConnect.