Dining hall recycling bin
College Park has made strides to improve sustainability efforts, but businesses in the city only recycle about half of what they could, according to a recent survey.
“There’s a lot of recycling being done by College Park businesses,” District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said. “But there’s also a lot of room for improvement.”
The College Park Business Recycling Survey found businesses estimated they recycled 24 percent of their trash as of last Thursday, while about 42 percent was recyclable.
Of the 107 companies included in the survey, 60 percent cited space limitations for dumpsters and recycling carts as a minor, moderate or major barrier to recycling. Twenty-four percent indicated it was a major barrier.
“Lack of space is an issue,” Assistant City Manager Bill Gardiner said. “Hopefully these grant guidelines will encourage collaboration between businesses to share trash and recycling facilities.”
Businesses also cited time and expense in the survey as reasons they weren’t recycling more.
“Some think it’s too costly,” Stullich said. “That’s probably something we should explore.”
To increase recycling efforts, the city established a $25,000 Commercial and Multi-Family Recycling Grant to reimburse qualified businesses for money spent to expand recycling efforts. Establishments that meet basic requirements can apply to be refunded for dollars spent on recycling dumpsters, compaction equipment, proper signage and other components of the recycling process.
The program is tailored to encourage creative proposals with “innovative” approaches, including changes such as building shared space or a unique design, listed as one of the criteria.
“Hopefully this grant and the grant process will encourage businesses to join together and create a great way to share recycling facilities,” Gardiner said. “The goal behind the flexibility is to encourage a range of programs.”
