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The City Of Fort Worth And Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. To Implement A New Recycling Program In Downtown Fort Worth

June 5,2013

The City of Fort Worth Solid Waste Services Division, housed within the Code Compliance Department, is partnering with Fort Worth Public Improvement District #1, administered by Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. (DFWI), to implement a new recycling program in Downtown Fort Worth. In June 2013, Recycle on the Go Downtown Fort Worth will replace 64 standard downtown concrete aggregate trashcans with dual-use recycling/landfill cans throughout the core of the center city. The cans will be split down the center to house two bins. The recycle side of the new waste containers will have stickers encouraging users to recycle aluminum cans and plastics. The other side of the can will be clearly marked as landfill trash. Funded by a grant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the new trashcans will be accompanied but a marketing campaign to notify the public of the new program and encourage recycling in the Downtown core. In addition to billboards and bus bench marketing, the Recycle on the Go Downtown Fort Worth marketing campaign will have an on-street presence when the new trashcans arrive. Volunteers and staff members will be handing out Frisbees made from recycled plastic bottles with informational stickers about the new program. Recently Recycle on the Go sponsored the Cowtown Great American Clean-Up Earth Party, produced by Keep Fort Worth Beautiful, and also participated in the General Services Administration Earth Day fair.

Through PID #1 and #14, DFWI provides public space maintenance services not provided by the City of Fort Worth and has a history of being supportive of recycling. DFWI has provided recycling at its' largest public event, MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival, for five years and is also offering special event recycling in Burnett Park. With approximately 56,000 employees working in downtown Fort Worth, combined with over 10 million visitors each year, downtown sees a lot of foot traffic annually. Currently there are 178 trash receptacles downtown but no significant pedestrian recycling.

Trash collected from public space waste receptacles from normal downtown pedestrian traffic is estimated to be in excess of 100,000 lbs annually. Based on two waste audits conducted in February & May 2011 it was found that approximately 24% of the downtown public space garbage is recyclable – paper, plastic, metal or glass. By implementing public space pedestrian recycling in downtown Fort Worth we hope to reduce the amount of garbage produced by 10% or 10,000 lbs annually and open the door on expanded recycling opportunities for Fort Worth residents and visitors. This commitment to public space recycling will mark Fort Worth as a committed leader in sustainability.