A $5 million federal grant will help the city of Cincinnati replace about 80,000 old curbside recycling carts, plus add about 5,000 new households.
About 100,000 carts are deployed, and about 80% of them were made and distributed in the 2010s with a 10-year warranty.
"As we reached and exceeded that warranty period, we had an increasing failure rate," said Howard Miller, environment division manager for the Office of Environment and Sustainability.
Miller says the process of repairing or replacing each cart one by one is inefficient and expensive. He says the city could simply trash the old carts, which other cities and vendors might do.
"That's easy — it saves a lot of time; saves a lot of money — but we don't think that's the sustainable way to do it," Miller told WVXU. "We want to do it the right way. And when we crunch the numbers to do it the right way, it made sense [to] do it all at one time."
The grant will allow the city to replace all out-of-warranty carts at one time, starting in summer 2027. The old carts will be recycled themselves into new carts.
Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a statement the grant will ensure equitable access to a basic city service.
"This investment reflects our commitment to building a Cincinnati that works for everyone," he said. "It goes beyond just replacing old carts — we’re expanding the reach of our recycling program into new communities."
The 5,000 new carts will go primarily to neighborhoods with low recycling participation right now, Miller says. A community engagement effort leading up to next year's cart replacement will include education about the city's recycling program.
"The cavalry got here just in time," Miller told WVXU. "This is going to give us an opportunity to reset, but also expand and stay on track for our goals to increase participation and equitable access to recycling throughout the city."
The Green Cincinnati Plan sets a goal to reach 50% waste diversion (from the landfill) by 2030; Miller says the city currently averages 18-22% diversion.
Other recycling efforts include a pilot program to expand participation among multi-family properties, like large apartment buildings, and recycling corner cans throughout the city.
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