Photo: RIRRC.org
Providence Counts: 2025 Recycling Data
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You may have noticed an uptick in The Providence Eye’s reporting of recycling and waste management in Providence, which is no mistake.  Despite the City’s poor record of recycling, our neighbors and readers are engaged in the topic, writing in letters to the editor and [...]

22
May
A screenshot from a virtual tour of RI Resource Recovery Corporation’s facility, where contaminated recycling from Providence is taken.
A Recycling Crisis in Providence Drives 2026 Changes
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In May 2024, The Providence Eye published a story addressing recycling in Providence and the City’s failure to achieve the State-mandated recycling rate of 35%. At that time, the City’s 2023 recycling data revealed that Providence recycled only 7.8% of its waste. With 2024 data [...]

06
Mar
Construction of a distribution center at 1 Moshassuck Street is well underway, looming over closed Morley Field. Photo: Emily Smith
Distribution Center Development Near Morley Field Raises Environmental and Traffic Safety Concerns
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If you’re even passively following local Rhode Island news, you’ve heard about the closure of Morley Field, a community park in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Pawtucket that was chained up and closed to residents in 2022. That park on Moshassuck Street sits along the Providence [...]

07
Jan
Photo: Unsplash/Giorgio Travato
Much Adoo About Sludge: Why Providence Residents Should Care About Sewage Management
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What is sewage sludge and how do we dispose of it? Sewage sludge is a disgusting but essential part of the Narragansett Bay Commission’s (NBC) work to manage wastewater and keep Narragansett Bay and Providence clean. After wastewater is cleaned at NBC’s Fields Point Facility [...]

19
Mar
The Fields Point turbines as seen from the East Bay Bike Path
The Future of Wind Energy in Providence
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Whether approaching Providence on the I-95 northbound or braving traffic on the Washington Bridge, it’s hard not to notice six wind turbines as a key feature of our City’s waterfront–. Unlike the controversy surrounding offshore wind farms in Newport and Block Island, the land-based Providence [...]

23
Oct
Rejected load of recyclables photo courtesy of the City of East Providence
Garbage In; Garbage Out. Providence is Missing the Mark on Recycling–By a Long Shot
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Trash in Providence is disposed of in one of three ways: it is recycled, it is diverted, or it goes to the Johnston landfill.  Providence recycles only 7.8% of its garbage, the worst recycling rate of all municipalities in Rhode Island.  (Second to last is [...]

29
May
Recycling Rates
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The City of Providence contracts Rhode Island Waste Management to collect and dispose of its waste and recycling. Waste Management is responsible for bringing Providence’s refuse to the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Center in Johnston where it’s either processed at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) [...]

15
May
Still giving out plastic bags at checkout. Photo: Carla Doughty
Providence’s Lack of Plastic Bag Ban Enforcement
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On January 1, 2024, The Plastic Waste Reduction Act went into effect, making Rhode Island the twelfth state in the U.S. to ban single-use plastic bags. This may not seem like news, as 18 of Rhode Island’s 39 jurisdictions, including Providence, already had existing bag [...]

13
Mar