Kirkwood households have posted an unprecedented recycling number for a start-up program in St. Louis County, according to the company that processes recyclables from the majority of homes in the region.

In the first month of Kirkwood’s curbside recycling program, which launched on Jan. 3, residents wheeled 74 pounds of materials to their curbs per home, on average.

Gary Gilliam, sales manager for Resource Management, the company that processes recyclables from 91 percent of homes in the county, presented the statistic to the Kirkwood City Council at its March 3 meeting.

“This has never, ever been accomplished in the St. Louis area,” Gilliam told councilors, referring to the per home average.

Gilliam also presented councilors with a $15,245.78 check. The amount represents Kirkwood's January recycling revenue, collected through Kirkwood's contract with Resource Management. The city hauls recyclables to the company’s Material Recovery Facility, which Resource Management then processes and sells to markets that will recycle materials into new products.

Forty-four percent of household trash was diverted from the waste stream in January, according to Gilliam. The city's goal is to recycle 50 percent of solid waste.

In total, the city collected 371.83 tons, or 743,660 pounds of recyclable material in January. If the material had remained in the waste stream, the city would have been charged $13,757.71 in landfill fees. The city must pay $37 per ton of trash that goes into landfills.

Gilliam attributes the success of Kirkwood's new program, in part, to the city's efforts to publicize the new program and educate residents about how to recycle before the program launched.

“I think because Kirkwood has always maintained recycling education that residents were probably more informed,” he said, adding that the city made a concerted effort to promote the program through its website and provided a variety of educational material with the carts. “All that pre-education builds knowledge.”

The timing of the program's launch also worked to the city's advantage. Kirkwood delivered recycling carts to residents the week before Christmas. When it was time to dispose of wrapping and boxing materials, residents were already informed about how to recycle waste and had the means to do so, Gilliam said.