Stillwater, OK
ORGANIZATION
Stillwater is a city of approximately 48,000 people located in north-central Oklahoma and home to Oklahoma State University. Stillwater has been named one of the 25 best small college towns in the U.S. (USA Today), ranked as one of the top 100 best places to live in the U.S. (Livability), and recognized as one of the top 25 places to retire in the U.S. (TIME Inc./Money Magazine). The city began offering curbside single-stream recycling in 2012 and added separate curbside glass recycling in 2015.
PROJECT
Within the Stillwater city limits, at least 55% of the occupied households are of low- and moderate-income families. Stillwater was awarded a $10,000 grant from the GRF to assist in the purchase of 400 18-gallon totes with lids to be distributed to residents for curbside glass collection.
Residents can request the totes at no cost and curbside glass collection is already included in the existing recycling fee. Glass recycling collection occurs on the first collection day of each month.
The city, at its own cost, constructed a concrete bunker to store the collected glass to improve the efficiency and economics of transferring/selling of the material to an end market for processing and manufacturing.
GLASS RECYCLING IMPACT
With the purchase of the glass totes, Stillwater anticipates an additional 30-40 tons of glass will be collected for recycling each month.
“Stillwater has been performing separate residential glass collection since 2015. The program is very popular with the citizens with demand exceeding the supply of totes. The grant has assisted with providing more citizens the ability to recycle glass at the curb,“ said Chris Knight, City of Stillwater waste management director. “Glass is a material that can be recycled over and again. We want to encourage recycling of this valuable material instead of sending it to the landfill. Providing designated totes for the collection minimizes the confusion and ensures regular pickup”
MORE INFORMATION
The city of Stillwater has a dedicated webpage for trash and recycling services and is active on several social media platforms.
Website: http://stillwater.org/page/home/government/utilities/trash-recycling-services
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CityOfStillwater
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StillwaterOKgov
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cityofstillwaterok/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/city-of-stillwater-oklahoma/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqVPe2edQeGrfg4vmrFPa2Q