Beverage containers are the foundation of many recycling programs. You may be recycling a dozen other materials and diverting 90% of your waste stream, but if you’re not recycling beverage containers, you’re not recycling.
Unfortunately, beverage containers are a pain. They don’t weigh much, there’s not a lot of material value, they’re generated in small quantities in many places, they attract vermin, they’re made of several totally different materials, they take up a lot of room.
There’s no one-size-fits-all to recycling beverage containers, either. How to recycle them most effectively differs from organization to organization, depending on the type of organization, organization size, campus or office size and layout, housekeeping procedures, housekeeping staff, and a dozen other variables.
Responding to this variability, IRN tailors beverage container recycling for each organization we work with. In the Boston area we operate packer-truck routes that collect beverage containers and fibers at the same time. For other organizations containers are a cornerstone of OneStop service. Several IRN members use covered “dome top” rolloff containers for cans and bottles. Others use open containers. And we have others who just toss containers into big plastic bags and call for a pickup. In other words, as always, we work with you to find the solution that’s best for your particular circumstances.