POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro Friday signed the county legislature’s resolution to adopt the county’s solid waste management plan dubbed “Rethinking Waste.”

The 10-year plan is focused on significantly increasing recycling volume as a means to decrease the total amount of waste. The plan calls to almost triple the current recycling rate, increasing total recycling to nearly 60 percent by 2022.

“For the first time, Dutchess County has established a clear policy for solid waste management,” Molinaro said. “The Rethinking Waste plan moves us toward an aggressive, yet achievable goal to increase our recycling rate to nearly 60 percent by 2022, and provides us a working blueprint for the next 10 years. There are clear economical and economic benefits for all of our residents to in recycling and we are focused on realizing those benefits.”

Even though recycling has been the law in Dutchess since 1990 for both residents and businesses, but only 23 percent of materials were recycled. The solid waste management plan provides more than 100 specific tasks and objectives to increase the recycling rate including education and promotion.