The Chicago Regional Recycling Education and Outreach Partners were awarded the Beth Brown Boettner Award for Outstanding Public Education/Outreach Program during the 35th annual National Recycling Congress.
CHICAGO (August 6, 2026) — The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) announced recipients today from nine states who were honored at the 2026 National Recycling Awards during the 35th annual National Recycling Congress, including recognition of Metro Chicago’s first-of-its-kind “Feed the Cart” campaign as the recipient of the prestigious Beth Brown Boettner Award for Outstanding Public Education/Outreach Program.
Founded in 1978, the NRC is recognized as the oldest nonprofit recycling advocacy organization in the United States, with over 6,000 members in North America. The NRC Awards are highly regarded because they serve as the premier national benchmark for recognizing excellence, scalability, and innovation in sustainable materials management.
Partners from across the Chicago region came together to launch Feed the Cart in 2025. The collaboration on recycling education and outreach helped the group earn a 2026 National Recycling Award.
Among the NRC winners is the Chicago Regional Recycling Education and Outreach Partners (Chicago REO Partners, or REO), which launched Feed the Cart on Oct. 20, 2025, as the largest recycling education and behavior-change campaign in Illinois history.
“This honor reflects what is possible when communities come together around a shared purpose. Feed the Cart demonstrates that meaningful behavior change starts with clear, consistent education backed by strong regional collaboration,” said Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Director of Environmental Initiatives Edith Makra, who is spearheading REO’s program.
“We’ve shown that recycling education can be engaging, measurable, and impactful at an unprecedented scale,” Makra said.
“We’re proud to accept this award on behalf of every partner, community leader, and resident who embraced this effort, and we’re thrilled that Feed the Cart is helping build a stronger, more sustainable recycling system while creating a model that communities across the country can adapt and replicate.”
Supported by a $2 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Recycling Education and Outreach grant—the largest such grant awarded in Illinois in more than 30 years—the Feed the Cart initiative unites 275 municipalities across seven counties in Metro Chicago under one regional brand and shared communications strategy.
The campaign was created to address the region’s stagnant recycling performance, high contamination rates, and declining public confidence in curbside recycling. While nearly 500,000 tons of recyclables are collected annually from single-family households across the Chicago metropolitan region, recycling diversion has remained between 30% and 35%, well below the EPA’s goal of 50% by 2030.
The Chicago REO Partners established ambitious goals to increase regional recycling tonnage by 15% by 2030 while reducing contamination, improving material quality, increasing public participation, and restoring confidence in the recycling system. By combining regional collaboration, strategic communications, community engagement, and data-driven education, Feed the Cart has created a scalable model for metropolitan recycling education.
Key to the program’s success was the introduction of “Loop,” a friendly, googly-eyed recycling cart mascot designed to make recycling education engaging, memorable, and accessible for audiences of all ages.
Feed the Cart has become one of Illinois’ most visible recycling education campaigns, generating 56 earned media stories from Greater Chicago and national news outlets, 15.7 million earned media impressions and more than 16 million paid impressions. The campaign has reached millions through digital outreach, grassroots engagement and regional partnerships. Cart-tagging efforts reduced recycling contamination from 60% to 27% in the City of Waukegan and from 55% to 35% in the City of Zion. The campaign was hailed by NRC judges for establishing a scalable, research-based model for improving recycling participation and reducing contamination.
REO’s award from the National Recycling Coalition honors Beth Brown Boettner, a recycling pioneer and community activist who expanded Austin, Texas-based Ecology Action from a volunteer group in the late 1970s into a fully staffed enterprise. Boettner died of leukemia in her mid-40s. She famously aimed to be “the old lady in tennis shoes who gets things done.”
“The breadth and creativity of this year’s nominees reflect a continuing national surge of innovation in waste reduction, resource recovery, and community engagement,” said NRC Board President Teresa Bradley, who is also the CEO and founder of Missouri-based Campus Race to Zero Waste.
“The quality of nominations this year was truly exceptional. We saw an incredible range of creative, practical, and replicable solutions that are transforming recycling and circularity nationwide,” Bradley said. “Choosing the winners was both inspiring and incredibly difficult because the work being done across the country is so strong and diverse.”
The 2026 NRC Awards were held online and celebrated the most forward-thinking and impactful leaders, organizations, and programs advancing recycling, organics management, and circularity across the nation.
“These awardees aren’t just maintaining recycling programs, they’re reinventing them,” said NRC Board Chair Jay Bassett. “They’re turning food waste into renewable energy, building equitable, community-led systems, and proving that circularity isn’t just a goal, it’s the future of sustainable development.”
This year’s NRC Award winners include:
Lifetime Achievement in Recycling – Nina Butler
Recycler of the Year – Ayodeji Oluwalana from Penn State University, PA
Bill Heenan Emerging Leader Award – Juan Martinez, Salt Lake City International Airport, UT
The Beth Brown Boettner Award for Outstanding Public Education/Outreach Program - The Chicago Regional Recycling Education and Outreach Partners, IL
The Fred Schmitt Award for Outstanding Corporate Leadership - CWD
Outstanding Recycling Innovation - Christine Kiourtsis, President of Renewable Recycling, Inc., NY
Outstanding K-12 School Program - Outagamie County Recycling & Solid Waste- ‘ABC’s of Recycling Right, ‘ WI
Outstanding Not-for-profit Business Leadership - Recycle Utah, UT
Outstanding Community or Government Program - Keep Allen Beautiful – TX
Outstanding Market Development – City of Allen, TX – Keep Allen Beautiful
Outstanding Diversity Leadership - MaryEllen Etienne -Women In Circularity
Outstanding Minority Leadership - 4MyCity Inc., MD Chris D
Outstanding Public Education/Outreach Program - Zero Waste Strategies Inc., TX – Stacy Savage
Outstanding Elected Leader - Honorable Mayor Curtis Cornelius, Little Elm, TX
Tribal Recycling Award - The Nez Perce Tribe Solid Waste & Recycling Program, ID
The Tim McClure Award for Outstanding Corporate Leadership - City of Greenville, SC
About the National Recycling Coalition
The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1978 that serves as an umbrella group for over 6,000 members across North America. The organization is dedicated to accelerating sustainable materials management and transitioning to a circular economy. It achieves this through several core initiatives: Advocacy: Representing the recycling industry at local, state, and federal levels to shape environmental policy; Network Support: Partnering with regional affiliate organizations, government leaders, and corporate stakeholders; Education: Providing technical information, specialized training, and sustainable industry certification; and, Resource Development: Promoting market expansion for recycled products and offering educational funding through programs like the Murray J. Fox Scholarship.
