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Merced County Smartphone App Guides Waste Management

The 'Merced Recycles' app from the county’s Regional Waste Management Authority, educates residents on trash pickup schedules and how to handle garbage and recyclables.

A new smartphone app is available to help Merced County, Calif., residents manage their household waste.

The ‘Merced Recycles’ app, launched by the Merced County Regional Waste Management Authority, allows users to view trash pickup schedules and information on what bins items should be placed in.

Customers can generate a local trash pickup schedule by inputting their home address, with an option to send personalized reminders to place bins at the curbside, according to a Merced County Association of Governments news release.

The app also includes an interactive feature called the ‘Waste Wizard’ which teaches users what items can be recycled, composted or placed in the trash.

Customers can type in an item on the Waste Wizard search engine and receive instructions, such as which color cart to place the item in as well as tips to ensure of proper disposal.

The app — offered in English and Spanish via free download at the Apple store and on Google Play — can also provide the user with information about special disposal instructions outside of curbside pickup and what items are considered hazardous waste.

“By using the app, we hope customers will help us achieve our goal of keeping material out of landfills that can otherwise be recycled or repurposed as compost,” said Eric Zetz, director of the Merced County Regional Waste Management Authority, in the release.

(c)2020 the Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A longer version of this article first appeared in Government Technology, Techwire’s sister publication.