By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 02:00 p.m. EST, Feb 09, 2010
Cardboard recycling by restaurants is taking off in downtown Akron.
Last year, more than 79,000 pounds of corrugated cardboard were recycled by about 13 restaurants in a program the Downtown Akron Partnership and the Summit-Akron Solid Waste Management Authority put together.
The program got under way in early 2009, and officials are pleased with the results, said spokeswoman Kimberly Beckett of the Downtown Akron Partnership.
Some of the participating restaurants share recycling bins for cardboard, and the bin the VegiTerranean restaurant uses also is used by residents of the Northside Lofts in the same building, she said.
There have been preliminary discussions about expanding the downtown recycling effort to include glass, paper and perhaps food wastes, she told the governing board of the solid-waste agency at today's meeting.
The idea for the cardboard recycling came from a 2007 survey by the Downtown Akron Partnership that covers 42 downtown blocks, Beckett said.
Cardboard is a major material in the trash restaurants are throwing away, she said.
In other action, the governing board learned that 175 residents of five Summit County communities were honored by the authority's Caught Green Handed program that encourages residents to recycle.
In 2009, the program targeted five communities: Tallmadge, Copley Township, Mogadore, New Franklin and Hudson, said authority spokeswoman Shelly Kadilak.
The authority offered recycling rewards ranging from Akron Aeros baseball tickets to free cups of coffee or ice cream at local stores.
The program was touted in billboards in targeted communities plus in mailers and newsletters, Kadilak said. The program cost $6,372 in 2009, she said.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
