The advantages of single-stream collection are being considered by an Illinois county. Dupage County, with a population of around 900,000 people, is considering putting in new equipment and systems at the county owned Intermediate Processing Facility to allow for recyclables to be sorted from a single recyclables stream. The facility is located in Carol Stream. Waste Management is the contracted operator of the facility.
No decision has yet to be made. Kevin Dixon, director of the county’s solid waste division, although the present equipment “has outlived its usefulness.” According to reports, a number of equipment malfunctions at the facility have sped up the decision making as to changes at the operation.
The facility presently handles around 180 tons of recyclables a day. The county is attempting to decide whether or not to upgrade to a single stream operation.
According to Dixon, advantages of a single stream set up would allow collection vehicles to deliver more recyclables to the IPF, reducing the number of miles haulers would have to travel.
A city that has had success with a single stream is Los Angeles. Dixon notes that many of the advantages the Illinois county could derive from a change in setup have been recognized by the single stream operation in Los Angeles.
Another key advantage is that a single stream setup increases the convenience to the consumers. The convenience would result in an increase in the recyclables being collected.
While noting that residues also increase, Dixon notes that the volume of recyclables outweighs the residue generated.
The cost to upgrade to a single stream system would likely be higher than maintaining the present set up, although the county has yet to even start putting out bids, and in fact has yet to decide whether to pursue this route.
According to local press reports, the county could qualify for a grant to cover some of the costs of new equipment.
The next meeting scheduled to discuss the issue will be Feb. 21.
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