In my last post, I talked about some of the pros and cons of both the “% discards recycled” metric and the “per-capita recycling metric”. One of the biggest problems with recycling rates, and one of the reasons that has led to people to call for their demise has been their misuse.

I’m talking about the different metrics that we use to measure and contextualize our recycling data.

“What’s your recycling rate?” That term has been so misused and misunderstood over the years that my long-time colleague Jerry Powell of Resource Recycling Magazine called for the death of recycling rates in a recent editorial.

With a modicum of understanding about recycling markets, you will be able to significantly improve the economics of your recycling program.

I have been asked some version of that question more times that I can count by more people than I can count. But the same question is asked in many different areas of many different target audiences: residents, employees, etc.

I think anyone should experience a full-blown waste sort at least once. As a learning experience, it is a real eye opener. However, I don’t think it is often necessary to determine whether or not you should target something for recycling or waste reduction efforts.

Whether you are just starting out, or trying to figure out what to do next, you can’t divert stuff out of the trash if you don’t know what’s available in the trash to be diverted.

In part 1 of this post, I talked about how much the world has changed. I urged readers to think about their recycling programs and to update them accordingly. The question is how?

The class of 2015 is almost upon us (the year in which the entering 1st year class will graduate from a traditional 4-year college)