The Status of Garbage and Recycling
in Providence

Solid Waste

The City of Providence contracts its residential waste pickup services to Waste Management. This does not include multi-unit housing, or apartments with more than 5 units. All of the curbside waste, including that separated for recycling, is brought to the Central Landfill and the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Johnston, Rhode Island.
The landfill and its facilities are run by Rhode Island Resource Recovery (RIRRC), a quasi- state environmental agency mandated to safely and effectively manage Rhode Island's solid waste.

Landfilling waste is a costly endeavor. The City of Providence pays $32 per ton of solid waste added to the landfill, which is still a bargain price compared the cost in other states. Recycling, on the other hand, saves the city money. RIRRC does not charge for materials brought to the MRF. This is one reason that, in April 2000, Providence adopted RIRRC's Maximum Recycling program.

Maximum Recycling allows Providence residents to recycle an expanded set of materials. The goal was, within the first year, to achieve a 15% citywide, curbside recycling rate. The 2 graphs below illustrate the overall effect of the Maximum Recycling Program, based on the trends of the past 10 years. The following maps compare the effectivess of the Program in different parts of Providence.

Click on any map or figure to enlarge.

	Through 1999, the curbside recycling rate stayed at about 8.3%. Since Maximum Recycling began, the rate has increased to 12%, as shown by the above graph. The break between mid-1999 and 2001 is a result of a change in waste pickup providers for the City of Providence.
	This graph shows the amount of residential garbage generated in Providence since 1991. It appears to have decreased slightly since the beginning of Maximum Recycling.

These two graphs show that the Maximum Recycling program is having an effect, although Providence has not yet met the goal of a 15% recycling rate. In fact, if we look at the maps below, we see the recycling rate in different parts of the City.
The East Side accounts for most of the increase in recycling rates. The rest of Providence, but especially the lower-income "urban core" area, lags far behind, with a recycling rate of about 7%. Waste production per person (per-capita) mirrors this same trend. The factors that influence the recycling and garbage trends in these areas are many and complex, and are not only limited to the selected behaviors of the residents. As is further discussed in the Conclusions, day of trash pickup, economic status of the residents and their access to various services, and constantly changing demographics also influence these trends.

	The above maps show that recycling rates are lowest, and waste production highest, in the central and south Providence neighborhoods. More recent recycling data, on the left, shows that this trend has, in fact, increased since 1998. Monday pickup is the East Side of the city. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday pickup are central core areas.

This extreme difference in recycling rates signifies that if the city wishes to achieve its recycling goals, it will need to focus education campaigns on the urban core parts of Providence.

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