Oswego finds innovative downtown recycling plan

OSWEGO -- When it comes to offering recycling services downtown, one Fox Valley community thinks they've found the solution.

Back in June, Oswego signed a contract with a Sugar Grove company called Free Green Can. That company provided the village with 14 large plastic receptacles with slots for garbage and recyclables, which were then placed up and down Main Street.

And according to Alison Giangrasse, a city planner who also works with Oswego's Eco Commission, the idea has really taken off.

The receptacles are provided for free, with the company making its money off of advertising, she said. All four 18-by-30-inch sides of the 4-foot-tall plastic containers are designed for ads, handled by Free Green Can.

And the village makes money off those ads as well -- $300 per year per receptacle, according to Giangrasse. (It would be $400 a year, but Oswego uses the fourth side for community information.)

Trash and recycling are picked up by Allied Waste, the village's waste hauler, and Giangrasse said the company does it for free. So essentially, the village is paying nothing and makes $4,200 a year -- and is encouraging recycling downtown to boot, she said.

"It was a real no-brainer for us," she said.

Giangrasse said there was some resistance to the receptacles at first, but things "have quieted down" since they went in over the summer. And she said people are using them.

The plan was to make recycling easy and convenient for downtown businesses, as well as pedestrians, and it seems to be working.

Not all downtown business owners are pleased, however. Jodi Behrens, owner of Village Grind on Main Street, said that while she likes the idea of recycling, and does so at her store, the receptacles themselves are eyesores.

"These look like they should be at Great America," she said. "We spent all this money to make downtown look nice, then they plop two of these in front of my store."

Behrens said she hasn't heard any good comments from customers about the bins either. Amy Irwin, owner of Imagine on Main, backed her up. She said she is all for recycling, but the containers don't fit in with downtown.

Giangrasse disagreed about the appearance of the receptacles and said many downtown business owners like them. More importantly, she said, the bins help encourage recycling. Before they went in, she said, downtown trash containers were full of plastic bottles and soda cans, and now, the recycling bins are well-used.

"It's worked out very well for us," she said.