FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Jennie Loft, Public Informational Manager, Environmental Services Department
408-250-2974;
jennie.loft@sanjoseca.gov
San José Biennial Recycling Study Shows 16 Percent Drop in Recycling Contamination in Single-Family Carts
Residents’ recycling right behavior garners potential decrease in solid waste service rates
SAN JOSE, Calif. (February 28, 2025) – Results of the City of San José Environmental Services Department’s (ESD) Biennial Recycling Characterization Study showed a 16 percent decrease in non-recyclable material in single-family recycling carts. The
Single-Family Curbside Recycling Characterization Study helps determine compensation to the single-family dwellings (SFDs) recycling contractors, promotes positive behavior change, and supports the
Climate Smart San José goal of Carbon Neutrality by 2030.
“The 2024 study shows a 16 percent decrease from the 57 percent contamination rate in 2022. This means our residents are making significant improvements in how they recycle,” said City Manager Jennifer Maguire. ESD has analyzed the composition of recyclable and non-recyclable materials (contamination) in SFD recycling carts since 2020.
“Recycling right not only helps our planet, it helps resident’s bank accounts,” said Mayor Matt Mahan. “We’re able to take funds that we would have paid solid waste contractors to haul soiled recyclable materials to the landfill and instead use them to minimize annual rate increases, keeping costs down for working families.”
The 2024 study was conducted from October–November 2024; all 235 SFD City recycling routes were sampled with one sample per route collected. Each route includes approximately 700 to 1,200 households. The study found that residents recycled right for paper, plastics #1 and #2, and glass. However, materials such as recyclable paper and cardboard contaminated with food and liquid and non-recyclable plastics were also found in recycling carts.
“The ESD team is committed to finding ways to improve our solid waste program by engaging San José’s diverse community with clear information and piloting innovative programs to support the community to recycle right,” said Interim Environmental Services Department Director Lori Mitchell. "We know recycling is confusing, so our Recycle Right Campaign provides information in many ways such as user-friendly recycling websites in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.”
To help address recycling right, ESD staff have implemented a variety of overlapping strategies to lower non-recyclable materials in recycling carts in the last few years, including:
- A Recycle Right Outreach Campaign: with over 80 targeted multi-lingual tactics directing residents to SanJoseRecycles.org, which has English, Spanish, and Vietnamese databases of recyclable items.
- Trilingual Residential Services Guide: a direct mailing to over 200,000 SFDs.
- The Contamination and Recycling Tagging (CART) project: launched in 2024, CART ambassadors have visited over 66,000 single family households and inspected their recycling carts. They leave trilingual “Good Job” and “Oops” cart tags to directly notify residents how well they are recycling. As of December 2024, about 85 percent of carts received an “Oops” tag and 15 percent received a “Good Job” tag.
- In-mold Recycling Cart Lid Project: since 2021, over 11,000 cart lids were installed with trilingual graphics and recycling information, with additional cart lids to be inserted as carts are replaced.
- A Larger Garbage Cart Study: a larger garbage cart was offered to approximately 8,500 households at no additional cost to see if there were fewer non-recyclable materials thrown in the recycling cart when households had a larger garbage cart.
ESD provides garbage and recycling services to over 200,000 SFDs. Residential recycling services are provided by two contractors in three City service districts.
About the City of San José
With almost 1 million residents, San José is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States and is Northern California’s largest city and the 13th largest city in the nation. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center has resulted in one of the largest concentrations of technology companies and expertise in the world.
About the Environmental Services Department
The Environmental Services Department (ESD) leads Climate Smart San José; manages garbage and recycling services; watershed protection and pollution prevention; municipal drinking water and recycled water; sustainability initiatives; and the operation and infrastructure improvements of the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF). ESD’s mission is to deliver world-class utility services and programs to improve our health, environment and economy. It is one of the largest City departments with about 600 staff members, a $470M operating budget, and a $2B, 30-year RWF Capital Improvement Program.
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