Interested in recycling at your school, community group or business? This website can help get you started; click on your city on the “How do I recycle?” page for a rundown of your community’s services, or find our toolkits and tips below for recycling wherever you are.
Resources
Recycling wherever you are
Event recycling toolkits
No matter its size or variety, almost every event creates waste, and that means you can recycle there. Our event recycling toolkit provides organizers of festivals and gatherings with an easy-to-understand checklist, contacts, printable signs and other essential resources for a less wasteful, more eco-friendly experience:
We’ve also got a separate event guide specifically for recycling during litter cleanups around the region:
Drop-off guides
If you don’t have curbside service or have an item that curbside programs won’t take, these guides can help you find the best place to go:
- Standard recyclables (cans, bottles, boxes and paper)
- Electronics
- Household chemicals
These guides will be updated often, so check back for more and let us know if you spot something out of date with the Contact form on the Home page.
For business owners
Your waste hauler and companies such as Marck Recycling in Rogers, TRG Fayetteville, Food Loops and Food Recycling Solutions may be able to accept or pick up a variety of materials for recycling; contact them to learn more.
Northwest Arkansas’ solid waste districts provide free, no-obligation business waste audits to give a rundown of what you throw away and suggest how you could recycle more of it. In some cases recycling can reduce your overall waste hauling needs and lower your bills. Find their contact information to the right (or below if on mobile).
In the private sector, some haulers and companies such as Food Loops offer similar audits.
For educators
Teachers have a crucial role to play in recycling, not just in teaching their students what it is but in building good habits that could last generations as well.
- A good place to start is our glossary of recycling-related terms and concepts, which can help you put together your own lessons, discussions and activities.
- You can reach out to the city of Fayetteville or one of the region’s two solid waste districts (contact information on this page) for lesson plans and other suggestions that may be customized by age group.
- More resources are coming soon! Keep an eye on this space.
For elected officials
An excellent contract with a private waste hauling company is one of the best tools a city can use to improve its recycling: It sets the ground rules for the programs residents use every day and can adapt to each city’s particular needs.
In support of the region’s goal to make recycling more efficient and successful, NWA Recycles developed five recommendations for waste-hauling agreements. Learn more in our municipal waste contract toolkit.
Recycling education contacts
Benton County Solid Waste District
- Website
- Email clerk@bentoncountyrecycles.org
- Phone 479-795-0751
Boston Mountain Solid Waste District
(Washington and Madison counties)
- Website
- Email recycle@bmswd.com
- Call 479-846-3005
Fayetteville residents:
Your city also has community educators on staff who will help you start recycling. Give them a call at 479-575-8398.
Project Foundation
The Northwest Arkansas Council made recycling one of its priorities in the 2018 Greater Northwest Arkansas Development Strategy.
Why? For a few reasons, including the limited space in the region’s landfill facility, which would be expensive and difficult to replace. Newcomers and longtime residents alike tell the Council that they value recycling services and expect them throughout their communities. And recycling can power local businesses and jobs.
That prioritization led to a study titled Creating Circular Economies in Northwest Arkansas, which The Sustainability Consortium developed for the Council in 2020. That report describes the recycling systems that have already been built and where the region could go next.
The Sustainability Consortium’s work included a report Measuring the Economic Impact of Circular Material Flow in Northwest Arkansas from the University of Arkansas Center for Economic and Business Research. This estimates jobs, income and tax revenue resulting from more local collection and use of recyclables.
The Northwest Arkansas Council and Boston Mountain Solid Waste District also commissioned a study into the region’s recycling that also lays out several scenarios for where our cities, waste districts and other recycling programs can go in the next several years. MSW Consultants and Kessler Consultants released it in May 2021.
All of this prior work culminated in 2022 with a Northwest Arkansas regional recycling vision, a document endorsed by both waste district boards that lays out shared goals and a roadmap to reach them over the next several years.