By Michelle Metzler
Waste Management

At Waste Management, we do everything we can to make recycling simple. That said, when you’re staring at a funky takeout container, discovering a bag of dead batteries or are ready to retire an old appliance, recycling can suddenly seem complicated.

That’s OK – like most of us, you’re probably due for a recycling refresher. And we have just the team for the job.

At the farmers market this summer, look for the Waste Management booth. It’s staffed by a team equipped with the most up-to-the-minute information about recycling in our community: the Recycle Corps.

The Recycle Corps is a summer internship program for college students created by Waste Management and designed to take recycling to the next level in our community.

It’s a tough, complicated job. Interns work with businesses and the public to help people master the recycling basics that make the biggest difference:

1. Recycle all empty bottles, cans and paper

2. Keep food and liquids out of recycling

3. Keep plastic bags out of recycling

Through one-on-one conversations on doorsteps and at community events and businesses, Recycle Corps interns help WM customers set up clear and convenient systems for reducing waste. They even go door-to-door at apartment complexes and condos to troubleshoot sorting systems and provide “how to” information and signage.

With team members fluent in Spanish, Mandarin, Greek and American Sign Language, the interns help to bridge the language gaps that can result in contamination. This happens when people throw food, dirty diapers and garbage into their recycling carts, so that whole containers and truckloads of recyclable materials have to go to the landfill, rather than the recycling center. When we communicate in several of the languages that are spoken across King County, the WM interns can help reduce contamination and increase recycling.

Recycle Corps has been a big success for Waste Management and the environment. Since 2014, nearly 50 percent of Recycle Corps team alumni have begun working as professionals in the industry for private companies, the public sector, and consulting firms and made a long-lasting impact on recycling habits in our community.

Recognizing these successes, the Solid Waste Association of North America honored Waste Management’s Recycle Corps program with the prestigious Gold Excellence Award in 2015 – one of the highest honors in the industry.

Through Recycle Corps, we are cultivating the future leaders of recycling. This year’s interns come from top schools in Washington, California and Florida.

The next generation of recycling depends not only on innovation and new technologies, but also improving our community’s understanding and commitment to recycling. It needs leaders who are mastering the art and science of changing behavior for the better. Through Recycle Corps, we are creating those leaders.

So when you’re out and about this summer, be sure to bring your recycling questions to the Waste Management booth. It’s your opportunity to talk one-on-one with young leaders who are working to protect the planet and improve sustainability, right here in Auburn.

If you ever have questions about reducing waste or recycling, Waste Management is here to help. Just shoot us an email at recyclenw@wm.com or give us a call at 425-825-2013.

Michelle Metzler is the education & outreach coordinator for Waste Management (wm.com).