The City of Ann Arbor Parks Recycling Program to Continue and Expand in 2015

May 21st, 2015

Due to its success and overwhelming positive community feedback, the city of Ann Arbor parks recycling program will expand slightly to include twenty parks for 2015. In 2014, fourteen city parks were chosen to pilot, based on the frequency of park users and events, with special consideration for areas with team sports fields, such as baseball and soccer.

During the 2014 pilot program, all recycling collection was documented by Recycle Ann Arbor (RAA) to assess overall participation, recycling fill rates, and any contamination (trash) of the materials present. Parks’ recycling bins that were continually 50-100% full weekly with recyclable material and low contamination rates were: Argo Park, Burns Park, Buhr Park, Island Park pavilions, and the Ann Arbor Skate Park at Veterans Memorial Park.

Colin Smith, City of Ann Arbor’s Parks & Recreation Services Manager, added, “Over the years, we often had requests for recycling in the parks, but previous efforts resulted in high rates of trash mixed in with recycling. The success of the pilot program last season is encouraging and we’re looking forward to being able to test out additional locations and see what works for the park users.”

For the 2015 season (May-November), these parks will have recycling available:
Allmendinger Park
Argo Park
Bandemer Park
Burns Park
Buhr Park
Clinton Park*
Frisinger Park
Fuller Park
Furstenberg Nature Area*
Gallup Park*
Hunt Park*
Island Park
Longshore Park*
Mary Beth Doyle Nature Area
Olson Park*
Southeast Area Park
Swift Run Dog Park*
Veterans Memorial Park and the Ann Arbor Skatepark
West Park
Wheeler Park
*Newly added parks for the 2015 season.

Recycling in the parks is just like recycling at your own home in Ann Arbor - glass, metal, empty plastic bottles & tubs (#1, #2, #4-7), and paper can all go into the single-stream bins. As a reminder, no food waste, Styrofoam, plastic bags or dog waste should go into recycling bins.

The creation of the pilot program stemmed from a section of the City of Ann Arbor’s Solid Waste Resource Plan (2013-2017) focused on increasing “public space recycling” options. The City of Ann Arbor Parks Recycling Pilot Program began in July 2014 and is a partnership between Recycle Ann Arbor (RAA), the City of Ann Arbor’s Solid Waste Division and the City of Ann Arbor’s Parks & Recreation Services Unit.

For more information about the recycling program in the parks, please contact Christine Chessler-Stull at [email protected] or 734.662.6288 ext.119

To learn more about the City of Ann Arbor parks system, visit www.a2gov.org/parks; or for details on the recycling program in Ann Arbor, go to www.a2gov.org/recycle