Johnnie Taylor, Director, Sanitation Division, City of Winston-Salem, NC
Carly Dunno, GIS Administrator, Sanitation Division, City of Winston-Salem, NC

You might have a recycling program, but is it the best it could possibly be? The City of Winston-Salem's Sanitation Department wondered exactly that, and the result was a program with higher participation and less cost. With proper research and planning, the City now runs a single-stream, biweekly, curbside recycling program that has realized numerous environmental and economic benefits.

Participants in this SWANA Webinar will learn how the Department moved from thought to action. The presentation will cover the two-phased pilot program that allowed the Sanitation Department to not only prove the practicality of a new recycling program, but also allowed them to ensure its success from day one.

In 2007, a feasibility study was conducted using a sample of 176 households from two contiguous neighborhoods. When that proved effective, the pilot study area was broadened to include sample neighborhoods from each of the City's eight wards. This phase of the pilot program allowed for daily operations and routing strategies to be tested and ensured a smooth transition into a city-wide single-stream, curbside, recycling program.

Once the program was fully implemented, the collection of recyclable materials increased by 22 percent in the first year of the program's inception, resulting in a net savings of more than $800,000. Through a public/private partnership between the City and Waste Management, a new, state-of-the-art materials recovery facility (MRF) has also been constructed. Additionally, routing technology has allowed for a reduction in the number of trucks necessary for collection.

This program functions through a public/private partnership between the City and Waste Management. The advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement will be discussed, including its effect on capital overhead, workers compensation liabilities, and revenues.

The City of Winston-Salem's Sanitation Department has been innovative in its design and implementation of the new recycling program. This SWANA Webinar will show how they made that happen, and how others can learn from their award-winning operation.