Recycling Coordinators

Overview

Recycling Coordinators

Introduction

Recycling coordinators manage recycling programs for city, county, or state governments or large organizations, such as colleges or military bases. They work with waste haulers and material recovery facilities to arrange for collecting, sorting, and processing recyclables such as aluminum, glass, and paper from households and businesses. Recycling coordinators are often responsible for educating the public about the value of recycling as well as instructing residents on how to properly separate recyclables in their homes. They keep ...

Quick Facts


Median Salary

$54,988

Employment Prospects

Good

Minimum Education Level

Bachelors Degree


Experience

Internship


Skills

Business Management|Leadership|Organizational


Personality Traits

Organized|Problem-Solving|Realistic

Earnings

Salaries vary widely for recycling coordinators depending on their level of experience and the region in which the job is located. For example, positions in areas with a higher cost of living, such as California, Arizona, New York, and Washington, D.C., for example, tend to pay higher salaries to recycling coordinators.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, median annual earnings of...

Work Environment

Recycling coordinators are essentially administrators. As such, they primarily work indoors, either in their offices or in meetings or giving speeches. Recycling coordinators need to watch costs, understand markets, and work within budgets. They should be able to be firm with contractors when necessary. They need to demonstrate good judgment and leadership, and they may need to justify their de...

Outlook

Nationwide, the waste management and recycling industries will need more people to run recovery facilities, design new recycling technologies, come up with new ways to use recyclables, and do related work. Private businesses are also expected to hire recycling coordinators to manage in-house programs. As states strive to meet their increasingly ambitious waste-reduction and recycling goals, peo...