A long-standing Recycle Coach partner, the Ecology Action Center in Illinois goes above and beyond to bring waste education to their residents. The results speak for themselves.
For more than 50 years, the Ecology Action Center (EAC) has been a cornerstone of environmental education in McLean County, Illinois. Serving as the solid waste agency for McLean County, the City of Bloomington, and the Town of Normal, EAC engages with residents of all ages to improve recycling outcomes and reduce waste.
Like many solid waste teams across the country, EAC balances community outreach programs alongside regular resident inquiries about waste and recycling information.
A Community-First Approach to Education
EAC’s strategy has always gone far beyond just telling people what goes in the bin.
In 2024 alone, the organization:
- Delivered third- and fourth-grade recycling and clean water programs across McLean County schools
- Hosted backyard composting workshops
- Operated a community composting program that diverted 57.4 tons of food waste from landfill
- Led recycling efforts at major community events like the McLean County Fair
- Coordinated the mCLEAN Up Crew, removing 2,500 pounds of litter across Bloomington-Normal
- Engaged hundreds of volunteers through storm drain stenciling, tree planting, creek clean-ups, and more
Increasing Awareness and Results
To bridge the gap between in-person education and everyday household decisions, EAC has been a long-standing partner with Recycle Coach.
EAC improved resident awareness and reached new users looking for waste and recycling information by imbedding Recycle Coach into its digital channels, social media, and physical infrastructure, which included updating signage at residential drop-off recycling locations that directs residents to the Recycle Coach App.
The impact of growing awareness for Recycle Coach and cementing the tool as a key part of their robust modern outreach strategy is clear.
From 2022 to 2024, inbound calls steadily declined, going from 1,706 total calls in 2022 to 1,260 calls in 2024—a 26% reduction over two years.
General recycling inquiries specifically declined from 490 to 415, representing a 15% reduction. When it comes to hard-to-recycle materials, calls related to batteries dropped by 36%, and Styrofoam by 59%.
This increased usage of Recycle Coach also helped free up valuable staff time to focus on other strategies.
Empowering Residents
Residents are increasingly finding answers through Recycle Coach, a tool that doesn’t replace EAC’s community programming, but one that helps amplify it. By using a multi-channel approach, EAC can build awareness and trust via in-person education, community events, and workshops. They can rely on Recycle Coach to deliver on-demand answers residents need while reducing confusion and call volume.
As EAC continues to expand and grow community programs, Recycle Coach remains a core pillar in helping residents confidently do the right thing with their waste.
“Recycle Coach has been a valuable tool to increase easy access to recycling and hazardous waste disposal information for our local residents. We have been using it since 2017, beginning almost the same time as the launch of our new 20-year waste management plan. In just seven years since the adoption of Recycle Coach, our county wide recycling rate increased 10 percentage points to reach 51% in 2024. This is the first time ever that our community has recycled more waste than it has landfilled.”
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