Just more than a month after its start, Bartlesville’s new recycling program has collected 20,421 pounds of materials.

California-based Replenysh launched its Bartlesville program on Oct. 23, allowing individuals or organizations to be paid for collecting certain materials. Through the company’s platform, anyone can sign up as a “host,” or collection site, requesting new collection sacks or for full sacks to be picked up by a Replenysh collector.

The platform also connects those looking to recycle with nearby collection sites. Replenysh then sells material to manufacturers, paying hosts a percentage of the revenue.

In the eight days of October the program was operating in Bartlesville, it collected 8,691 pounds of material. In November, 11,730 pounds were collected.

“It’s gone really fantastic. We’ve seen great response from the community. We’ve seen people who just want to do the right thing and be part of the solution. That’s the overwhelming thing that I’ve learned,” Replenysh Chief Executive Officer Mark Armen said.

“I’m excited and overjoyed with what’s going on in Bartlesville.”

The company has 11 Bartlesville hosts, with five only collecting internally and six that accept materials from the public — including the City of Bartlesville, which began accepting materials at the City Recycling Center. 

The program’s Oct. 23 start ended the seven-month hiatus in recycling options in north east Oklahoma. An early April fire led to the closure of the Tulsa Recycling Center, Bartlesville and many surrounding cities were left without a recycling sorting facility and stopped collecting the materials. 

Armen said he was surprised to find that, instead of just throwing recyclables away, many Bartlesville residents stored them while awaiting a new option.

By the end of the City Recycling Facility’s first week in operation, there was still a steady stream of cars driving through to drop off materials, he said.

“There’s things I saw in the community of Bartlesville I wasn’t expecting. The majority of people who came that first or second week were storing the material in their backyards. I was astounded by that, it was beautiful,” Armen said. “That went beyond our expectations.”

He attributes this collective commitment, in part, to a sense of community and the pandemic’s impact on priorities.

“In the Tulsa region is a sense of community, that it’s the right thing to do for our community. That’s something that continues to overjoy me in Bartlesville and other communities surrounding it,” Armen said.

“Generally, I think COVID and the pandemic have made people more attuned to things, more empathetic, more environmentally minded.”

Replenysh collectors travel to Bartlesville three times a week to pick up full collection sacks. Of the seven materials Replenysh accepts, cardboard has been the most popular, with 14,380 pounds collected since the program’s start. 

Next has been PET #1 container, such as water and soda bottles, with 2,170 pounds collected. The levels of glass containers and HDPE #2, such as milk jugs and laundry detergent containers, have been close, at 1,360 pounds and 1,130 pounds respectively.

The program also collects aluminum cans, steel cans and PET #1 thermoforms, such as berry baskets and to-go containers.

Armen said Replenysh is always looking for ways to improve, such as considering ways to adapt its large collection sacks to better suit schools and individual hosts that might want something less bulky.

While the Bartlesville program has been successful so far, he said the company has growth potential in the community.

“We’re constantly working to bring in other partners and find other ways to get the word out … while I’d say we’re off to an amazing start and it has passed our expectations, we’re still just scratching the surface of the amount of materials that are out there and the difference we can make,” Armen said. “We’re constantly looking for ideas from the community on how we can help grow its impact.”