Albuquerque residents will soon see a big change in their recycling routine as the city starts an every-other-week recycling program, which officials believe could bring significant environmental benefits.
Thousands of Albuquerque homes starting Monday will now have their blue recycling bins picked up every two weeks instead of every week. The city chose homes at random from different neighborhoods to get a good mix and see how well the program works.
Officials say this change better matches recycling pickups to the amount of material people actually set out. They believe the environmental benefits could be significant.
The city’s Solid Waste Management Department estimates that moving to every-other-week recycling across Albuquerque could prevent about 12 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
That amount is roughly equivalent to taking 1,300 passenger vehicles off the road annually or the climate benefit of planting about 100,000 tree seedlings and allowing them to grow for a decade.
This change could also help protect Albuquerque’s streets. Garbage and recycling trucks are very heavy, each one weighs as much as 17 cars when full. Reducing recycling trips by half means fewer heavy trucks in neighborhoods, which could lower road damage, noise, and diesel pollution.
The city says it could save money on its fleet, too. Its recycling trucks currently travel about 75,000 miles a year. Fewer collection runs would mean fewer miles on the odometer, lower fuel consumption, and reduced maintenance, including an estimated 112 fewer blown tires each year.
Those savings could ultimately help the city maintain its relatively low $18-a-month trash and recycling rate, which officials say is among the lowest in the nation.
“The pilot program is the result of years of operational analysis and environmental planning focused on making Albuquerque’s recycling system more sustainable,” the agency, in a statement said.
