By and large, Boiseans care a lot about recycling, and are willing to make some big behavioral changes to do it right. That’s according to city official Colin Hickman – who says people are adopting the new orange bag program at surprising rates. The program started in May.

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“We’ve collected over 75,000 bags," says Hickman. "So that’s about one [bag] per household and well over 100,000 pounds of plastic.”

The changes come after shifts in the global recycling market make plastic materials numbered 3-7 difficult to recycle. After being recovered in the orange bags at collection, 3-7 plastics are sent to a facility in Salt Lake City where they get converted to diesel fuel. Hickman says officials will send out more information describing which plastics can be recycled in greater detail in the next utility bill.

"That's providing an advanced plastics guide for residents who prefer sorting with numbers."

Since Boise’s program launched in June, Garden City, Eagle and, most recently, Meridian have adopted some version of the orange bag program. But rather than give every single-family dwelling the orange bags, Meridian’s trial program is limited to 1,500 households. Meridian is paying Boise almost $11,000 for the cost of the bags.

Find reporter Frankie Barnhill on Twitter @FABarnhill

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