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Cherry Hill Showing the Way on America Recycles Day
America Recycles Day
America Recycles Day is a nationwide event hosted by the National Recycling Coalition and sponsored by EPA. Every year, it highlights the progress we’ve made as a nation in recycling, and serves as a call to action for Americans to work together and improve recycling nationwide. Please visit America Recycles Day 
for more information and to see how you can get involved.
This Nov. 15 marks the 11th annual America Recycles Day, an opportunity for cities and citizens to re-commit to improving recycling rates and protecting the environment. Cherry Hill, NJ, stands out among communities that are “greening” themselves, and can be a model for others looking to do the same.
In 2006, Mayor Bernie Platt began looking at recycling as a way to save money for Cherry Hill. The cost of disposing of trash at landfills and incinerators was rising steeply, and township officials estimated that by using RecycleBank , a program that gives residents financial rewards, based on the amount they recycle, Cherry Hill could save $2 million in disposal fees over five years.
Cherry Hill citizens who recycle earn financial rewards.
Photo courtesy of Dan Keashen, Communications Director, Aide to the Mayor, Cherry Hill Township
“A pilot program was launched in the Knollwood area in fall 2007, and while we had high hopes for the concept’s inception, I was astonished at the pilot’s success,” says Dan Keashen, a close Platt aide. “Recycling rates almost doubled in that area during the six-month test run, and soon other neighborhoods were clamoring to get involved.”
After RecycleBank went township-wide in 2008, the average Cherry Hill household went from recycling 11 pounds of material per week to about 22 pounds of material. Meanwhile, Cherry Hill’s solid waste output has been tremendously reduced. Keashen estimates the township has diverted more than 2,700 tons of trash from the landfill since 2007.
“These numbers are groundbreaking from a sustainability point of view and a fiscal point of view,” Keashen says. “Since we have been educating our public and pushing our community to think twice before they throw things out, we have been able to average approximately $40,000 a month in recycled commodity revenue.”
Keashen says he believes the community’s attitude has changed since they implemented the new recycling program. “Our goal was to stimulate thought and make people think about what they are putting in the trash,” Keashen says. “I think it’s clear that our residents are putting more thought into these critical pieces of everyday living.”
Finally, in a separate initiative true to the spirit of America Recycles Day, all desk-side trash cans in Cherry Hill’s Municipal Building have been replaced with recycling containers. According to Keashen, employees must make the effort to walk to a centralized trash collection point, making it less convenient to throw things away and more convenient to recycle.For More Information
- Visit EPA's Recycle on the Go site to learn more about setting up a recycling program
- Visit RecycleBank to learn more about their program.
- You Can Bank on RecycleBank , an August 2006 news story
- Reduce, Reuse Recycle
- Working Together for a Healthy Environment (PDF) (32 pp, 8.9MB, about PDF) designed to help community leaders and activists plan and execute community events that promote the 3Rs of solid waste management: reduce, reuse, and recycle