How did recycling get so complicated? With so many categories of materials, special dropoff events and wide variation from one community to another, consumers are often unsure of how to correctly recycle the items they dispose of every day.   Today, despite decades of effort, we are only diverting about a third of our waste stream from disposal.  But maybe the bigger problem is the quality of the materials going into our bins.

With me today is Susan Attridge, Director of Refuse and Recycling for the City of Buffalo, NY, she has been working in the waste management field for thirty years, establishing programs to divert waste and educating public on how to create less waste.    She’s served on the boards of the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling as well as the National Recycling Coalition.  Today she shares the successful strategies she’s used to increase recycling rates, as well as her controversial ideas on how “zero waste” goals may be doing as much harm as good.