Dive Brief:
- Beginning Tuesday in Indiana, PA, residents may stop at the borough administration office to pick up their free 22-gallon recycling bins for #1 and #2 plastics, including soda, water and juice bottles, food jars, milk jugs, laundry detergent containers, and shampoo bottles.
- The blue bins are to be placed curbside next to the existing green recycling bins that are for cans, glass, and newsprint.
- The borough wants to make plastics part of the recycling stream this month before Indiana University of Pennsylvania students return for the fall semester.
Dive Insight:
The city's recycling program began in 1990, yet didn't include plastic until an October 2014 approval to expand the program. This expansion is a big next step, and is perfectly timed to catch returning college students.
As the borough of Indiana works to expand recycling, the state of Pennsylvania is focusing on a zero waste goal through Zero Waste Pennsylvania. The focus of ZWPA is to provide "waste reduction techniques to various commercial businesses, residential entities, institutions, and special events across the state."