You might have seen the name of a program we have, our Commercial Single Stream Recycling Program, and wondered, "what exactly is that?"
Recycling for Small Businesses
This ReWorks program offers recycling to small businesses. We started this program after we discovered that many small businesses in Summit County were not sure how to get recycling services at their business location or they did not generate enough recyclable material to make it cost-effective for recycling services to pick up their recycling.
Often people think that setting up recycling services at a business is like the process that residents experience at home. However, this is not the case. Small businesses have to contract directly with private haulers. Due to their size, often these small businesses do not generate enough recyclable material to make it cost-effective for these private haulers to pick up recyclables.
Commercial Single Stream Recycling Program
ReWorks' Commercial Single Stream Recycling Program (CSS) started in 2010. We've been able to get recycling for small businesses because we fund and coordinate service for dozens of locations. Rather than servicing just one business at a time, our CSS Recycling Program has a route that includes multiple stops that makes it attractive for recycling services.
To date, this program has kept an estimated 5,351,170.4 pounds of recyclables out of the landfill. You read that correctly: over 5 million pounds!
Qualifying
Not every business qualifies for this program. First the business must be located in Summit County, and then an evaluation is performed to determine the quantity of generated recyclables before they can be considered for the program. However, one of the most important factors is that the business must be committed to finding a sustainable solution for recycling. At this point, the business meets with our Program Manager. The Program Manager explains the inner workings of the program and helps them collect data to determine their best options.
If the business is a good fit and is accepted, we provide training for employees, educational materials (posters, stickers, flyers, etc.) Additionally, the service is offered to the businesses at no financial cost to them.
Get Started
If you own a small business or know of a small business owner that would like to begin recycling, please visit our Programs and Services for Businesses and Institutions page.