Parks staff reported to the Green Bay Sustainability Commission that recycling bins across city parks are frequently contaminated and that placing more bins citywide, without other changes, is unlikely to increase actual recycling.

The report, presented as a carryover from July, said the parks system currently has roughly "14 or 16" recycling containers at Bay Beach (two inside a dance hall and the rest scattered across the site) and that most containers contain a mix of recyclable and nonrecyclable material. Parks staff said they painted and relabeled old bins and moved several to higher-traffic locations but that these steps produced little change in the proportion of clean material. "We can put a recycling bin in every single park," the presenter said, "but the end result is most of that's going to end up in the landfill" because contamination prevents park-collected material from entering clean recycling streams.

The presenter described per-bin composition figures of about 65–75% recyclable-appearing material by visual inspection, but multiple commissioners noted that contamination or the lack of local sorting means much of that mixed material is not processed as recyclables. Commission member Ned noted prior county sorting metrics and said a 10% contamination target would be reasonable for redirecting material to a materials recovery facility.

Commissioners and staff discussed lower-cost operational fixes and pilots rather than wholesale equipment replacement. Suggestions included clearer icon-based labeling and multilingual signage, testing translucent/clear bags or wired bins so collection crews (and the public) can see contents, and running small trials at Shipyard Park or in supervised summer park programs before changing equipment citywide. A member also proposed exploring partnerships with local redemption points and possible incentive pilots (reverse-vending or deposit return partnerships) but cautioned that reverse-vending machines are costly and may not be practical for high-wind, high-use locations.

Parks staff asked for collaboration on a publicity campaign and for the commission to help identify pilot designs; staff said it would be willing to trial a single selected bin style at Bay Beach or Shipyard Park to test whether new approaches reduce contamination. The commission voted to "receive and place on file" the parks recycling report to include it in the notes to City Council, with the motion carried by voice vote.

Next steps identified at the meeting included: a targeted pilot plan (timing to be coordinated for spring/summer), exploring partner outreach and PR support from the commission, and a follow-up update to the commission as part of the 2026 work-plan timeline.