Author: Josh Reid

We asked our Twitter followers to send us questions for the ASK RE-TRAC session. Watch the video above to see how we answered your holiday recycling questions.

From everyone here at Re-TRAC Connect, Happy Holidays!

At the end of 2016 we updated the Re-TRAC Connect brand and introduced a new logo and colour refresh. It was around this time that we decided to give our software a fresh new look. But modernizing the interface was only a small part of the project. We also sought to optimize workflows, improve language, and simplify reporting.

It should come as no surprise that we believe the best way to start any project is to collect data and then analyze the results before making any decisions. We started this project by launching a campaign to collect feedback from our clients and their program participants. The resulting feedback was invaluable to the process because it put the spotlight on some of the challenges we needed to solve.

By: Tonya Randell, More Recycling

As recycling professionals who work in recycling education, we know how hard municipalities work to educate their residents about how to recycle more and recycle right, especially when it comes to plastics. Over the years, we’ve seen more plastics entering the recycling stream as packaging evolves and more products come in plastics instead of other materials. And because there are so many different types of plastics—and which ones can be recycled varies from community to community—there’s potential for plastics to end up in the wrong bin.

We’ve seen that better communication with residents can lead to more and better recycling. Yet, often education materials are only updated when absolutely necessary, like when a recycling program changes what items it accepts, since updating education materials can be resource-intensive.

So, is there a program to help communities improve recycling education for plastics that is easy, economical, and effective? Three communities used a new resource—the Plastics Recycling Terms and Tools—and found that the answer is: yes!

The Resource Recycling Conference, in partnership with the National Recycling Coalition and in alliance with Waste360, the Recycling Association of Minnesota and the Minnesota chapter of SWANA, is the must-attend conference for the recycling industry’s most influential policy leaders, CEOs and government officials. The conference, now entering its seventh year, is your opportunity to network with clients, prospective partners, vendors and top materials management decision-makers all in one location, saving you precious time and travel expenses. The conference’s lineup of education sessions will offer attendees the latest on materials processing trends, tactics to boost diversion rates, legislative talking points, market analysis and much more.

REGISTER TO ATTEND

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Boost your compliance rate!

Does your community use mandatory recycling to support its waste diversion goals? This presentation will teach you how to work with your community to increase recycling, improve compliance rates, and monitor progress. Register to attend this webinar to discover how local governments use technology to manage and measure their mandatory recycling programs.

After attending this webinar, you will:

• be ready to apply the 3E Strategy to optimize your MRO
• be equipped with best practices to improve compliance rates
• be motivated to implement proven systems to help you manage your MRO
• be armed with valuable lessons from experienced communities

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Mandatory recycling in your community

Is your community looking for a new way to increase recycling and reduce disposal? How about regulating costs and extending the life of landfills? Register to attend this free webinar to learn how to plan, write, and implement a mandatory recycling ordinance in your community.

After attending this webinar, you will:

• be ready to start planning your own mandatory recycling ordinance
• hear stories that will help you avoid common pitfalls
• be equipped with best practices to ensure your ordinance is practical and fair
• receive a free Roadmap to Mandatory Recycling Planner to stay organized

Imagine a castle.

You probably imagined a fortified structure surrounded by a vast and beautiful landscape. Its stone walls are built strong and tall to keep out unwanted guests. You might have imagined its tenants: a royal family, a stately lord, or even a noble.

Like a castle, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, or CASL for short, keeps spam out of your inbox. The law ensures marketers treat your inbox like royalty.

If you answered “They all contain the letter ‘A'”, you would be correct.

If you replied “They have all been around for over 10 years!”, you would also be correct.

They have something else in common though – something a little more subtle. Each of these companies has experienced a brand haircut. What’s a “brand haircut”, you ask?

Great question!

Guest author: Shari Jackson, Director, ACC’s Flexible Film Recycling Group

As recycling professionals, it’s our job to make sure we help our communities recycle as much as possible. One area of recycling that’s growing rapidly (it’s increased 79% since 2005!) is the recycling of polyethylene (PE) plastic bags, wraps and film packaging – collectively referred to as plastic film. However, not everyone knows how to recycle plastic film. When recycled curbside, plastic film ends up at a material recovery facility (MRF) where it can clog the sorting machinery, oftentimes requiring facility shut-downs to remove the material. Communities need fully operational MRFs, and damaged machinery or facility shut-downs can negatively affect a MRF’s bottom line.

We really wanted to visit everyone this holiday season but decided to avoid the GHG emissions by joining you via the internet. Play this video at your next holiday event and enjoy the comforting sound of a crackling fire. The team at Re-TRAC Connect wishes you a happy holiday season and all the best in 2017.