Making Recycling Simple for Fairview Park

The Simple Recycling program at work.

This article is part of a monthly column by the Fairview Park Green Team highlighting topics of sustainability.

In April, Simple Recycling launched its curbside collection program in Fairview Park. Since several months have gone by, the Fairview Park Green Team felt it was time for a reminder.

The Simple Recycling program is as simple as its name suggests. You put the items you want recycled in a green specialty bag and place it curbside with your blue and green carts for pickup. A Simple Recycling truck drives through Fairview Park each Monday, collects bags, and leaves replacements. Collected items include everything from clothing to bedding, fashion accessories to Halloween costumes, kitchenware to toys and books. A full list of recyclable items is available online at www.simplerecycling.com. Remember that Simple Recycling will collect all types of clothing, whether or not it is reusable.

The purpose of the program is to provide the residents of Fairview Park with another opportunity to repurpose, recycle, and prevent unnecessary materials from entering the landfill. Fact: 85% of clothing and usable home goods nationwide get thrown in the trash. The Simple Recycling program is not intended to take away from donations made to charitable organizations. Indeed, data show charitable donations did not suffer in communities that introduced the program.

Four months in, the program is going strong in Fairview Park, Mayor Eileen Patton reports. “The city is averaging around 90 pickups and a total of 1,600 pounds of material being collected each week,” she said. “I look forward to seeing how this program positively affects Fairview Park’s residential recycling numbers for 2015.”

Matthew Hrubey and Doreen Papajcik

Matthew Hrubey and Doreen Papajcik are members of the Fairview Park Green Team, a volunteer group of residents striving for a more sustainable community.

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Volume 3, Issue 3, Posted 3:21 PM, 09.01.2015