By prioritizing education, community engagement and efficient waste management practices New Braunfels is taking significant strides towards a more sustainable future.

In fiscal year 2023-24, New Braunfels residents kept about 12 million pounds of reusable commodities away from landfills, Solid Waste Manager Elizabeth Ghiorso said.

“I'm really proud of our residents and this effort,” Ghiorso said. “This is also the time to look at what we can do to improve going in to a new year. For us in New Braunfels, contamination is really our biggest opportunity.”

The city has a contamination rate of 32%, meaning about a third of the materials put in city recycling bins do not belong there. Contamination leads to increased costs for recycling programs in the U.S., which becomes the biggest threat to their long-term success.

Ghiorso said many people see recycling as a mysterious process with a lot of rules, so the city is revamping its approach to educate residents, lower the contamination number, and protect the program.

The easiest way to avoid contamination is to narrow your focus to these three categories: boxes, bottles and cans.

“If you walk up to your recycling bin or you're trying to decide what to put in there and you start getting overwhelmed, just remember boxes, bottles and cans,” Ghiorso said. “Once you feel confident with that, you can always expand to other materials.”

Additional ways residents can help lower contamination in their recyclables include:

• Rinse out containers to remove food and beverage residue.
• While it's tempting to recycle large items, blue-bin recycling programs have limitations. Large items like bed frames and electronics are not blue-bin recyclable and need to be disposed of through specific programs or taken to a recycling center.
• Not all plastics are recyclable. If you want to be sure, check the City website for specifics.
• As the holidays approach, remember that Christmas decorations, lights, and artificial trees are not recyclable materials.

The Solid Waste and Recycling Division has also been exploring ways to better serve residents. One significant step was the transition to every-other-week recycling.

“We had a less than 50% recycling put-out rate,” Ghiorso said. “What that means is the needs of our residents didn't match what we were providing in many cases. That lack of efficiency and rising costs meant we had an opportunity to make a change.”

By aligning the service with the community's needs, the city has reduced unnecessary costs and achieved its goal of continuing recycling services without raising the cost for residents. Since residents can get a second cart free of charge, avid recyclers are still able to put just as much at the curb.

Ghiorso said the city of New Braunfels is currently working on an app which will provide area-specific information on how to dispose of and recycle hundreds of commonly used items. This digital tool will empower residents to make informed decisions and minimize contamination.

“Check out the website if you have questions, give us a call and be sure to stay tuned for what we have coming up,” Ghiorso said.

To learn more about the city of New Braunfels, visit the city’s website.

The above story was produced by Multi Platform Journalist Mary Katherine Shapiro with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.