Job Overview Recycling programs are enforced or highly being supported and developed by the country itself, the city, state governments and large non government organizations. Recycling coordinators campaign and facilitate recycling programs in the community. They inform the people how important recycling is. Different recycling programs are made so that people will know what materials can or cannot be used, reused and recycled. Recycling coordinators also monitor the recycling rate or the developement of the related programs in their community.
Education, Knowledge and Trainings Required
Recycling coordinators need to develop their skills to be successful in their career. Their skills will be enhanced by focusing their attention on several classes like Mathematics, English, Speech, Civics, Economics and Business. There is no college degree available for recycling coordination but a Bachelor’s degree is offered in some related areas like Environmental Studies. Minor courses in Integrated Waste Management are available in some schools. Public Policy, Transformation Technology and Landfills and Source Reduction are included in this course.
Skills and Abilities
Good communication skills, both in written and in oral are needed, to be effective recycling coordinators. They need to know how to interact with different people since they will be meeting with the public, government officials, staffs and contractors. Creativity is very much important, since they need to think of ways to reuse the collected waste materials. They need to know how to handle stress since they will be dealing with the government bureaucracy. Adjusting well to different work environment is needed since they will be required to work both indoors and outdoors. They should be able to adjust to a noisy and dirty environment, since it is part of their job to visit, monitor or evaluate material recovery facilities.
Duties
The most important duty of a recycling coordinator is providing the people with information about recycling, and persuading them to follow the suggested recycling programs.
They also meet with the government officials and waste haulers. They are required to present reports to government agencies concerning recycling programs and recycling rate of the community. It is their responsibility to think of things that can be done with waste materials.
Earnings and Job Outlook
The municipalities or cities are the ones setting the salary of a recycling coordinator. High populated cities or municipalities provides a higher salary for them. If they are also working in areas where cost of living is high like New York, California, Washington and Arizona, they are also being paid higher than the usual. Since more recycling coordinators are fulltime employees, they are given benefits like retirement plan, paid health insurance and paid vacation and sick leaves. Job opportunities will depend on the administration, since they would be providing the budget for several environmental concerns. Nowadays, much weight is given to environmental problems, by the government and even by private businesses. More jobs are available since new technologies created to help in the recycling programs would need people to operate and facilitate them. Private companies also hire recycling coordinators to facilitate the recycling program in their company.
Paula Hiz is a researcher and a human resource specialist who helps newly graduates, job applicants and post graduate professionals be aware of their job opportunities and available trainings for skills and practice upgrading.