Philadelphia quadruples its recycling rate

It took just four years for the City of Philadelphia to quadruple its recycling rate after residents were recycling only five-percent of their trash.

WHYY’s Kerry Grens found out how the city aggressively revamped its program to significantly improve recycling.

As Grens reports, the city learned it could generate money by selling its recyclable materials.  Since then, the push has been on, with the city creating single stream recycling, which required residents to place all of their recyclables into one bin. 

After that, the city began to pick up recycling each week as opposed to every two weeks.

The city also dispatched workers to help patrol the streets, helping to collect more recycled material and to keep garbage costs in check.