Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – The City of Jonesboro has been named the Arkansas Recycling Coalition’s 2026 Government Recycler of the Year, recognizing the City’s expanding efforts to reduce waste, increase recycling opportunities, improve convenience for residents and operate more efficiently.
The award was presented Sept. 1 during the Arkansas Recycling Coalition’s 2026 Conference and Trade Show in Hot Springs.
Jonesboro’s approach to waste reduction has grown well beyond traditional residential sanitation. Over the past year, the city has expanded recycling opportunities, increased access to neighborhood cleanup and bulky-junk disposal, diverted reusable and recyclable materials from the landfill and changed sanitation practices to reduce costs to taxpayers.
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“This award really recognizes the whole picture,” Mayor Harold Copenhaver said. “We are giving residents more ways to properly dispose of material, recycling more glass, cardboard, metal and tires, keeping material out of the landfill and, at the same time, finding ways to operate more efficiently and save taxpayer dollars. It shows that sustainability and good government can go hand in hand.”
One of the city’s newest initiatives is glass recycling, which began in the winter of 2025. Jonesboro is already on its fourth roll-off container of collected glass, with the most recent load weighing approximately 5,000 pounds.
The city has also collected more than 26,000 pounds of cardboard, diverting more than 13 tons of material from the landfill.
In 2026, Jonesboro expanded its neighborhood cleanup program to provide residents with a disposal opportunity every month of the year. The city now conducts six major neighborhood cleanups annually and offers Saturday bulky-junk drop-off at its Lacy Drive facility during the other six months.
Through the first eight months of 2026, neighborhood cleanups collected approximately 43.1 tons of material and 323 tires. The city has also collected approximately 108 tons of bulky junk this year.
Operational changes within the Sanitation Department have also produced significant savings.
Instead of repeatedly paying minimum landfill charges for individual resident loads, the City began consolidating bulky material into larger roll-off loads before disposal. The change is estimated to reduce tipping fee costs by approximately 53% compared with the previous process.
Recycling has also generated revenue for the city. Jonesboro received more than $13,000 from recycled metal in 2025 and approximately $6,000 through July 2026. Those proceeds are returned directly to the City’s General Fund.
Tire collection remains another major component of Jonesboro’s waste-reduction efforts. The 323 tires collected through neighborhood cleanups during the first eight months of 2026 build on approximately 1,000 tires collected citywide in 2025.
“What made this effort successful is that we didn’t look at recycling as one program or one material,” Copenhaver said. “We looked at the entire waste stream, glass, cardboard, metal, tires, bulky junk and neighborhood cleanup material and asked what could be reused, recycled, consolidated or handled more efficiently. The result is less material going to the landfill, more convenient services for our residents and real savings for the city.”
The effort involved collaboration among the City of Jonesboro’s Sanitation Department, Code Enforcement, Keep Jonesboro Beautiful and community volunteers and residents who have contributed their time and energy to cleanup and recycling initiatives throughout the city.
The Arkansas Recycling Coalition’s Government Recycler of the Year Award recognizes Jonesboro’s continued commitment to responsible waste management, environmental stewardship and efficient use of taxpayer resources.
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