GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — Greenfield’s Department of Public Works has officially announced the city’s transition to the new single stream recycling program in July of this year. While single stream recycling, putting all recycling into one bin, will begin this summer, the new carts and recycling vehicles will be integrated into the program next year.
From the City of Greenfield:
DPW Launches Single-Stream Recycling in July 2025
New recycling vehicles and carts will roll out by early 2026
GREENFIELD — The City of Greenfield DPW is gearing up for the city’s transition from a manual, dual-stream recycling method to automated, single-stream recycling. The new recycling program will launch across the city in July 2025.
While single-stream recycling will begin this summer, some facets of the grant will be delayed due to unforeseen market factors that created supply chain delays. The city’s new recycling vehicles and carts will be integrated for automated recycling sometime in early 2026. All recycling carts will be delivered to residents, free of charge, prior to the arrival of the new recycling vehicles. Two city-wide mailings will be distributed, one prior to the start of single-stream recycling and another to announce automated collection and delivery of collection carts.
During the delay, the Greenfield DPW will utilize its current recycling vehicle fleet for collection. Residents are advised to still utilize their recycling bins for recycled materials. Please note that single-stream recycling does not require residents to sort recycled materials. All recycled materials will be sorted after collection.
“Single-stream recycling will provide a multitude of positive environmental impacts for our city,” said Mayor Virginia “Ginny” Desorgher. “I look forward to seeing this program roll out, and I thank the DPW for their hard work and preparation.”
“The Greenfield DPW is always ready to tackle new challenges,” said DPW Director Marlo Warner. “While we await the final pieces of this grant, our team is ready to launch single-stream recycling and begin to monitor the positive impacts of this new recycling program.”
Since the first outreach meeting in June 2024, the SWIFR Implementation Team has continued to execute the public engagement phase of the grant. The SWIFR Outreach Team fostered open communication with residents through public meetings and tabling events at the Greenfield Winter Farmers Market, Greenfield Public Library, the Greenfield Senior Center and residential housing complexes.
In addition, the SWIFR team remains focused on sharing important background information on the city’s transition to automated recycling through flyers, posters, social media posts and the Automated Recycling Transition Webpage. This webpage provides an archive of past meetings and a medley of background information and resources for the community to utilize.
You can view the webpage at: https://greenfield-ma.gov/residents/automated_recycling_transition_/index.php
The webpage can also be found under the “Residents” navigation menu or the quick link on the front page entitled “Automated Recycling Transition.”
In September 2023, the City of Greenfield received a $2.05 million grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant program to implement single-stream recycling. The grant is implemented across a three-year rollout period. The City of Greenfield received financial support from the EPA under Assistance Agreement SCOOA01503.