Trash Less, Save More!

About

The 6-month "Trash Less, Save More!" pilot program concluded on March 10th, 2022. Through the program, Ponderosa Trails residents had the opportunity to sign up for a reduced-size trash cart (48-gallon or 64-gallon) in exchange for a rebate on their City Services Bill. The goal of the pilot program was to incentive waste reduction and provide recycling outreach to residentsDuring the “Trash Less, Save More!” pilot program, City staff monitored recycling contamination rates by conducting recycling bin checks in Ponderosa Trails. Each recycling cart was checked three times, and “oops” tags and “looking good!” tags were administered based on the contents of the cart.

The most commonly mis-recycled items in the neighborhood were:

• Plastic spinach/ berry containers

• Plastic to-go containers

• Paper coffee cups and lids

• Plastic bubble wrap/ packaging

• Styrofoam

• Plastic bags (including recyclables thrown away in plastic trash bags)

The City of Flagstaff is developing a plan for city-wide implementation of volumetric pricing. Our goal is to offer reduced-size trash cart options to all Flagstaff residents by 2024.

Learn more about this pilot program here.