Marketing Talkings Points
“Nearly 90% of consumers think that retailers don’t do enough to showcase their sustainability efforts.”
Hey—you and your team are some smart cookies for partnering with us. Now you can go tell the media, your fans & prospects about your sweet sustainability efforts!
To help, we’ve assembled an overview of each stream and talking points you can share or post. Just match which services your organization has signed up for to the sections below, and then start spreading the word!
Tag Us In Your Posts
FB @hillside.solutions / Twitter @HillsideSol / IG @hillsidesolutions / LinkedIn @hillside solutions
DUAL-STREAM RECYCLING
Overview Summary
For Omaha businesses that recycle, most use a method similar to the single-family residential green-bin program, called “single-stream recycling.” But 2018 brought major shifts to the recycling industry, and in order to adapt, Omaha’s largest materials recovery facility (MRF), First Star Recycling, said they will — in most cases — no longer accept single-stream from the commercial sector (note: residential is unchanged).
The new and more robust way to recycle is called “dual-stream.” It involves your organization separating cardboard from other conventionally recycled materials (plastics, paper, and metals).
Why the changes?
Most Americans recycle the wrong way, through mistakenly trying to recycle the wrong things or adding food/liquids to the mix, which lessen the quality of recyclable materials. This is called contamination, and when there’s too much contamination, stuff just ends up in the landfill.
Benefits of Dual-stream & partnering with Hillside Solutions?
Dual-stream ensures that cardboard, which has the highest commodity price, is more likely to find an end-market, which ensures that our local MRF stays profitable.
In tandem with Hillside Solution’s Recycle Right training, your team decreases contamination and recycles more of the right things.
Because we’re an ethical hauler who takes our materials to First Star (as opposed to some of the competition which goes to a less equipped facility called Nebraskaland), your materials have the best chance of actually getting recycled.
Social Media Talking Points
We’re now participating in the most robust recycling program available in Omaha, thanks to our partnership with Hillside Solutions.
Alternative: Because not all recycling efforts are the same, we’ve upgraded ours to the most robust program available, thanks to Hillside Solutions.
Our switch from single-stream to dual-stream recycling means that more of our materials will get recycled.
And thanks to our Recycle Right training from Hillside Solutions, our recycling will have less contamination & more of the right types of materials.
COMPOSTING
Overview Summary
The majority of what’s in a landfill is organic material, which is compostable. Here are 3 negative effects of compostables in the landfill:
Methane: Release of methane gas, which is 102x worse than CO2.
Space: They take up space, which shortens lifespan of landfills.
Leachate: Moisture & water in these materials mix with everything else to produce a toxic sludge called leachate, which can get into waterways, kill fish & harm us.
Where’s it sent?
Instead, your materials are sent to Hillside Solution’s commercial composting farm, Soil Dynamics in Ashland, NE where they are safely broken down into nutrient-dense soil that winds up in gardens & farms around the community.
What’s compostable?
At our commercial composting farm, any and all food items (even meat, dairy, bones); anything yard-waste related; compostable serviceware; soiled paper or cardboard; and random items like tea bags, chopsticks, coffee filters, etc. Or simply put: anything that’s ever been alive.
What’s the difference?
Home composters are restricted to fruits/vegetables and Oma-Gro only accepts yard waste. Soil Dynamics is the area’s only commercial composting facility.
Social Media Talking Points
Instead of sending our food waste and compostable materials to the landfill to (a. put off methane gas; b. shorten the lifespan of our landfill; c. create toxic sludge), we’re partnering with Hillside Solutions to send this material to their commercial composting facility where it’s turned into nutrient-dense soil that winds up in gardens & farms around our community.
We all know that plastic straws suck, but did you know that in order for paper straws to really make a difference, they need to be composted? Yes, that’s why we’ve partnered with Hillside Solutions to compost our straws, food waste, and other materials.
We’re participating in the future of waste diversion through our composting program with Hillside Solutions.
Idea: If your organization switched from plastic to compostable materials, highlight this.
SOFT PLASTIC RECYCLING
Overview Summary
Most folks don’t realize that soft plastics (like chip bags and plastic straws) and styrofoam (like take-out containers) aren’t recyclable through conventional means. When they wind up at recycling centers, they slow down the sorting process & wind up in the landfill.
But as the first city in the country to launch the Hefty EnergyBag program, Omaha businesses now have a way to recycle these materials by putting them in an orange Hefty EnergyBag, then placing it in Hillside Solution’s “mixed recycling” tote or dumpster. From there, Hillside takes it to First Star, which will ship it to a pyrolysis plant to be safely melted (without sediment output) into diesel, which is then used in trucks or turned into other plastic products.
Is this considered incineration?
No. Initially First Star was sending soft plastics to a concrete kiln, where they were burned for energy. Now that they go to pyrolysis plants, the process is not considered burning, and therefore is much greener.
Social Media Talking Points
Did you know that plastic forks and potato chip bags aren’t recyclable by conventional means? But thanks to our partnership with Hillside Solutions, we’ve adopted the Hefty EnergyBag program to divert soft plastics & styrofoam from the landfill.
Instead of filling up our landfills, our soft plastics are now safely being transformed into diesel fuel.
GLASS RECYCLING
Overview Summary
Hillside Solutions is currently the only waste hauling service in Omaha that picks up and recycles glass bottles & jars. Currently we collect this material to be crushed and placed within concrete.
Social Media Talking Points
Instead of sending our glass bottles to the landfill, we’ve partnered with Hillside Solutions to recycle them.
Idea: If you organization switched from plastic to glass bottles, highlight this.
ZERO WASTE INFRASTRUCTURE
Overview Summary
If your organization is using all 5 of the above streams, then you have what we call “Zero Waste Infrastructure,” which means you have every stream of recycling/composting available in Omaha. With this infrastructure, your organization has the capacity to reach zero waste.
What’s Zero Waste?
Where 90% or more of your materials are recycled/composted, and/or 10% or less of your materials are going to the landfill or incineration.
Social Media Talking Points
We now offer 5 different ways to recycle or compost waste, which means we have Zero Waste infrastructure!
Through composting, dual-stream, glass & EnergyBag recycling, we’re now participating in the area’s most robust recycling & composting program available.
When it comes to handling our waste in a sustainable manner, we’ve signed up for every recycling & composting service available in Omaha.
Idea: if your organization switched from single-use to durable products, also highlight this.