NWA locals and newcomers have come to expect simple, easy-to-use and consistent opportunities to recycle where they live and work. The initiative, called NWA Recycles, aims to create more of those opportunities using several recommendations from a Council study conducted in 2020 by The Sustainability Consortium. Those include growing regional coordination around recycling, improving the region’s data and transparency, and building public awareness and knowledge about the region’s systems.

NWA Recycles kicked off in 2021 with the hiring of a regional recycling manager to coordinate those efforts and launch a public awareness campaign online and on the ground. Over the coming years, the Council and its partners will also work to improve cities’ recycling contracts and encourage the growth of a more circular regional economy, one that reuses more materials and sustains new jobs.