To Mayor Helena Moreno and the City Council of New Orleans,

• Council President Jean-Paul Morrell,
• Council Vice President Matthew Willard,
• Councilmember Aimee McCarron,
• Councilmember Lesli Harris,
• Councilmember Freddie King III,
• Councilmember Eugene Green, and
• Councilmember Jason Hughes,

We, the below-signed residents of New Orleans, are in full support of curbside recycling access and expansion across the city for all eligible households.

We demand that the city continue supporting residential curbside recycling and expand access to recycling by transitioning to an opt-out program, utilizing the $5.3M in funds available to the city from the EPA and The Recycling Partnership.

An over-reliance on trash cans and the landfill, without meaningful investment in other forms of waste reduction and waste diversion, has left us in a constant pollution crisis. As residents, we experience this as a never-ending source of neighborhood and environmental pollution that compromises our quality of life and results in increased localized flood risk due to obstructed catch basins.

New Orleans sends 98% of its waste to the landfill! These consumer items, such as aluminum cans, cardboard, and plastics, are manufactured from natural resources that must be mined, deforested, and extracted to produce. Sending them immediately to the trash can, or worse, the street, after a single use is as wasteful as it is destructive. 

We do not live on a planet with infinite resources. As our city prays each year to be spared during hurricane season, it is in our best interest to be more environmentally-conscious and sustainable as a city. And we must include everyone in the process.

This $5.3 million grant funding from the EPA and The Recycling Partnership can meaningfully change the tides of our city. Notably, this grant is also funding the development of a Solid Waste Master Plan, a 10-year roadmap with recommended policies, processes, and facilities that our city desperately needs to efficiently manage and reduce waste in order to be more resilient in the face of climate change.

We know these funds are in jeopardy if not spent quickly, and we know you are the deciding factor to approve the cart contract that will spend the vast majority of these funds. We also know we will lose these funds if the City fails to request a No Cost Time Extension to the EPA, with no changes to the grant, before the March 31, 2026 period of performance deadline elapses. Please ensure this request is made on time. 

Eliminating barriers to recycling cart access is crucial for New Orleans to expand and modernize our waste management system in the direction of sustainability, and also to increase our waste literacy city-wide. Recycling requires having a recycling cart. With only a 42% recycling opt-in rate city-wide, there are major gaps in recycling access across the city, despite all New Orleanians paying the same rate for this service. Residents are collectively losing $6.1 million a year in recycling collection costs due to the simple fact that they do not have recycling carts.

This is not only unsustainable, it is inequitable. To address this gap in service, the cart contract will provide ~83,000 carts combined with robust outreach and education to the residents in eligible households that are not currently enrolled in recycling.

Please do not waste this opportunity. The City has essentially free money in hand to help make our city cleaner, more sustainable, and healthier without requiring any additional appropriations. Furthermore, expanding recycling will save the City funds by reducing the fees the City pays to send waste to the landfill. We need to act decisively now to ensure our future is livable. Waste management and sustainability is a matter of social and environmental justice. 

We thank you for your commitment to the betterment of this city and urge you to make the right decision. By approving this cart contract and requesting a No Cost Time Extension for the grant’s continuation as it was awarded, we can ensure our entire city is up to speed on recycling, without leaving anyone behind. We cannot afford to let business as usual continue.

Sincerely, 

Concerned Residents of New Orleans