{"id":16637,"date":"2016-12-12T10:47:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T15:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wasteadvantagemag.com\/?p=16637"},"modified":"2016-12-12T10:47:38","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T15:47:38","slug":"trash-down-and-recycling-up-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wasteadvantagemag.com\/trash-down-and-recycling-up-finally\/","title":{"rendered":"Trash Down and Recycling Up, Finally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vermont Business Magazine Trash disposal decreased 5 percent and recycling increased 2 percent between 2014 and 2015. Total waste also appears to have plateaued in Vermont to about 600,000, after closing in on 650,000 tons a year in 2007, just before the Great Recession hit. Vermont’s Universal Recycling law (Act 148) was unanimously passed by the Legislature in 2012 in response to the state\u2019s stagnant recycling rates that had hovered around 30-36 percent for nearly two decades. As much as 50 percent of Vermonts trash includes recyclable or compostable materials like food scraps and leaf and yard debris.<\/p>\n

With concern over wasting natural resources and the impact of this waste on global climate change, the state reasoned that the stage was set to boost recycling and launch statewide composting. On the heels of America Recycles Day\u2014a national celebration of recycling held each November 15th\u2014the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released it\u2019s first \u201cUniversal Recycling Status Report.\u201d The 16-page report summarizes the status of recycling, composting, and food donation across the state.<\/p>\n

Act 148 requires recycling of “blue bin” recyclables (paper, cardboard, steel and aluminum cans and tins, glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles and containers #1 and #2) and not disposing of leaf and yard debris, clean wood and food scraps over a six-year timeframe. Universal Recycling also makes it easier and more convenient for Vermonters to recycle and compost by ensuring that services are available for the collection of recyclables, leaf and yard debris, and food scraps at transfer stations around the state.<\/p>\n

As of July 2016:<\/p>\n