Want to Conduct Your Own Waste Stream Challenge?

The Reduce Your Waste Stream Challenge is a program of the Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin (AROW) and is connected to the Waste Less Wisconsin program. If you are interested in learning more about how you can bring the Challenge to your Community, School, or Organization, AROW can work with you to make it happen. 

For more information, please contact Angie Lemar, AROW Program Director, at programs@arow-online.org.

About the Reduce Your Waste Stream Challenge

The Reduce Your Waste Stream Challenge started in 2010 when Waukesha County Recycling piloted the project with 33 households competing to reduce their waste and increase their recycling over the course of one month.  The original concept was adapted from King County, WA, where King County Recycling ran a highly publicized waste challenge with 6 neighboring households in Seattle.  Waukesha County took the idea and modified it to incorporate more households in more local communities.

Waukesha County Recycling did not develop this project alone.  In coordination with the Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin, (AROW), a partnership was formed to develop the project as a sustainable program.  This website and all related materials are designed to adapt similar Challenges hosted throughout partnering communities throughout the state.

The goals of the project are two fold: 1) to create awareness in the community about waste reduction and recycling and 2) to inspire a behavior-changing experience for those involved and those following along.

The Challenge asks participants to weigh their garbage and recycling they create in their household weekly, and actively try to reduce the trash weight  and increase the recycling weight over the course of one month.  Starting with a baseline week - a typical amount of trash generated by the household, before making extra efforts to reduce – each household can measure, in pounds, how much garbage they actually create.  This is often eye-opening.  Then,  through various methods, households embark on trying to reduce the garbage weight down to virtually zero.

When a partnering community hosts the Challenge, the host's role is first to supervise the running of the project. Furthermore, they are in place to educate  the participants, publicize the project, and measure and quantify the results.

For example, in the original 2010 Challenge, Waukesha County calculated that if only one quarter of the 88,000 households  in the 25 partnering Waukesha County communities yielded the same results as the average Challenge household, 7,200 tons of garbage would be diverted away from landfills and more than 5,800 tons of additional recyclable material would be collected each year.

The future of the Challenge offers many opportunities for involvement of communities and individuals alike. Anyone can follow the Challenges and everyone is encouraged to take on the Challenge themselves.  Waste, diminishing natural resources, and the wide-spread economic benefits of efficient recycling programs are issues relevant to everyone.

Please check back often and encourage those in your community to take interest and get involved in the Reduce Your Waste Stream Challenge!