(Falls Church, VA) On January 7, 2019, Re-TRAC Connect and The Recycling Partnership officially launched Municipal Measurement Program (MMP) to harmonize the measurement of material management programs and to provide municipalities with decision-making tools that can improve recycling program performance.

"Municipalities are faced with all kinds of challenges when it comes to reducing waste in their communities," says Rick Penner, President of Emerge Knowledge. "Their program managers rarely have enough staff time or budget to effectively measure their community's waste diversion progress. The truth is that measurement takes time; you need to collect data, monitor program performance metrics, and then also find time to research strategies to improve waste and recycling programs. Municipalities need a better way to measure performance and make decisions that will improve recycling in their communities. And that's where the MMP comes in."

By completing the program assessment surveys, municipalities can generate reports to measure program performance and discover opportunities to improve waste and recycling programs. The MMP uses standardized terminology ensuring that municipalities can benchmark performance metrics against national averages. The program also simplifies data management by centralizing all municipal waste and recycling program information.

One of the most exciting features included in the MMP is the program recommendations report. The report analyzes the data submitted via the program assessment surveys and based on those responses, presents a set of program recommendations tailored specifically to the municipality. The recommendations report will introduce municipalities to a suite of effective tools and resources developed by The Recycling Partnership.

The MMP is a free Program Assessment and Planning Tool that delivers insights and actionable recommendations to municipal waste management agencies in the United States and Canada.

"The Municipal Measurement Program will revolutionize the way we collect performance data, including capture rates and contamination, and transform our recycling systems for the better," says Scott Mouw, Senior Director of Strategy and Research, The Recycling Partnership. "Having all of this data in one place will not only help communities, but also the entire recycling industry. Currently every municipality has its own way of measuring and assessing their community's performance. An industry-wide need for a long time, The MMP will standardize and streamline that data and connect municipalities to The Recycling Partnership's free online best practice toolkits to help communities transform their recycling programs."

Re‑TRAC Connect and The Recycling Partnership will host a free webinar on February 12th, 2019 to demonstrate how the MMP will help municipalities to overcome common challenges and improve their waste and recycling programs. Visit https://www.re-trac.com/why-your-municipality-should-join-the-mmp-webinar/ for more details.

Municipalities interested in participating in the MMP are encouraged to visit www.recyclesearch.com/profile/mmp/.

States, counties, and regional governments interested in accessing MMP data within their jurisdiction are encouraged to contact the MMP team by emailing mmp@re-trac.com.

About Emerge Knowledge & Re‑TRAC Connect

Emerge Knowledge, the company that develops Re‑TRAC Connect (www.re-trac.com), was founded in 2001 with the goal of developing innovative solutions that help organizations achieve their sustainability goals. The first version of our industry-leading data management software, Re-TRAC™, was launched in 2004 and the next generation, Re-TRAC Connect™, was released in 2011. Re‑TRAC Connect is used by city, county, state/provincial, and national government agencies as well as a wide range of other organizations to efficiently collect, manage, and analyze recycling and solid waste data. The user community is rapidly expanding as more organizations learn how Re-TRAC can streamline their information management activities saving them time and money. For more information, please visit www.re-trac.com.

About The Recycling Partnership

The Recycling Partnership (recyclingpartnership.org) is a national nonprofit organization that leverages corporate partner funding to transform recycling for good in communities all across America. As the only organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain from the corporations that manufacture products and packaging to local governments charged with recycling to industry end markets, haulers, material recovery facilities, and converters; The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. The Recycling Partnership has served more than 1,000 communities and counting with tools, resources and technical support, supported placement of over 590,000 recycling carts, reached 50 million households, and helped companies and communities invest more than $37 million in recycling infrastructure.