The city of Dallas, Texas, has taken huge strides to make recycling easier on its residents by expanding its list of recyclable materials to include food and beverage cartons. According to WasteManagementWorld.com, this initiative will make Dallas the first city in Texas to offer such a service, and significantly boosts the number of households nationally that can properly dispose of the materials.

"Dallas is proud to be the first big city in Texas to make sure that liquid and beverage cartons are recycled and kept out of landfills," Mary Nix, director of sanitation services for Dallas, told the news source. "Carton recycling is good for our customers and for the environment."

The carton recycling program is not only an advantage for Dallas residents, but for the nation at large. In 2008, only 18 percent of American citizens had access to this kind of recycling program, and now that rate has jumped to 36 percent. Dallas alone will add 235,000 households to this recycling rate, which could drastically reduce the amount of unnecessary material heading to local landfills.

The initiative should help the city recycle nearly 65,000 tons of spent material by the end of 2011, up from 50,000 tons during 2010. Additionally, by increasing the amount of products that can be recycled, the city will be able to save $1,185,260.21 in landfill space, which can go to fund public programs and put money in taxpayer's pockets.

Dallas' expanded recycling program should be a boon for the city, and hopefully other communities around the country will follow suit. Large-scale recycling programs have the ability to add jobs, improve sustainability and reduce the amount of money spent on waste removal costs.