Municipal Recycling

CALIFORNIA REGIONS PLAN TO EXCEED DIVERSION GOAL

Several municipalities in California claim they will exceed the 50 percent waste diversion goal the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires communities to achieve by the year 2000. Already planning to surpass the goal are Yolo and San Diego Counties and the city of Carson.

Yolo County includes the cities of Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland; while San Diego County includes the city of San Diego, El Cajon, Coronado and La Jolla.

Reportedly, other regions are having similar success due to a framework of initiatives and legislation that has been developed in that state to assist in municipal recycling efforts.

Those initiatives include the state’s Recycling Market Development Zone program, which was formed to create markets for diverted materials by increasing the use of recycled materials as manufacturing feedstock. This was the first program in the nation to couple established economic development practices with integrated waste management efforts. The program provides local governments with a tool to reduce dependence on diminishing landfill space and meet mandated waste diversion goals by working with the private manufacturing sector.

The state has also developed a comprehensive "Private Buy Recycled" program for businesses and has developed a loan program to help recyclers.

Overall, CIWMB has undertaken 16 priority actions to stimulate use of secondary materials and demand for products made from these materials. The list continues the priority materials selected in the Board’s 1993 plan, such as paper, plastic and compostables and expands the priority list to include additional materials such as tires, urban wood debris and inerts.

Additionally, the priority actions in CIWMB’s 1996 plan depart from those in the 1993 plan by recognizing the importance of targeting collection efficiency by reducing the emphasis on mandatory programs, and emphasizing voluntary actions through partnerships and alliances among state agencies, local governments, and private businesses.

California, which has some of the longest running curbside collection and recycling programs in the country, generates about 45 million tons of waste annually.

BALTIMORE EXPERIENCES CURBSIDE RECYCLING TURMOIL

After handling Baltimore’s 300-ton-per-month blue bag curbside recycling collection and processing program for six years, G&L Recycling Co. Inc., terminated their contract, effective February 1. The recycling company claims that the indexes which the city used to calculate payment for recyclable materials were lower than market value, causing G&L to lose so much money it was unable to pay its employees. In addition, the city has consistently been three months behind in its payments, according to G&L.

After repeated failed attempts to get the city to change its payment rates, G & L resigned its contract, with the understanding that it would be able to handle the city’s recyclables on a temporary basis and then put in a bid for the redesigned contract at a later date. However, the temporary contract was instead awarded to Resource Recovery of Maryland, Baltimore, a glass processor that ships the blue bags to a sister company, Todd Heller Inc., Allentown, Pa., for processing. As a result, G&L has been forced to lay off 25 employees and – at least temporarily – close its doors.

Although G&L was offered the chance to subcontract with Resource Recovery, whose officials were sympathetic, the company refused. "Mr. Leach, our president, did not want to subcontract because by doing so we couldn’t deal directly with the city," explains Larry Small of G&L. "And it would be an affront to be in the position of subcontractor after being the main contractor."

According to a city spokeswoman, Baltimore will go out to bid this month for the new contract to handle the city’s curbside recyclables, and G&L has as much chance as any other company to get the contract.

LAIDLAW RAMPS UP CAPACITY IN DALLAS

As many material recovery facilities across the country appear to be floundering, Laidlaw Waste Systems seems to be on the move in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The company’s MRF in Dallas has taken over the processing of blue bags for the entire city, and will continue to process the bags until April when the job will be formally bid.

"We have been processing the bags since October of last year, and just received a 60-day extension," says Roy Dooley, market recycling manager for Laidlaw. "The city is very pleased with our performance so far."

The company, which was originally processing blue bags from 56,000 homes, is now handling 285,000 homes. Part of the new business previously belonged to Vista Fibers, Dallas.

Laidlaw also secured the nearby city of Mesquite’s blue bag program. "With Dallas and Mesquite, we are now processing 900 tons a month," says Dooley.

In addition, Laidlaw’s Dallas MRF won ALCOA’s regional contract to process aluminum used beverage cans. The contract is for 3 years, and amounts to about 230 tons per month. Weyerhaeuser previously had that contract.

Dooley says that his MRF can handle up to 2,000 tons per month, and that he is only running one shift right now.

IOWA WORKS TO ADVANCE CURBSIDE RECYCLING

The state of Iowa has begun a new approach designed to help advance curbside recycling efforts. Known as "The Beautify Iowa Recycling Program," the plan brings together the efforts of local businesses, industries, private citizens, recyclers and government officials to further promote curbside collection efforts.

Some of the main goals of the program are to serve as a clearinghouse of information for recycling programs around the state; provide educational materials to local recyclers, schools, community groups, individuals and others; and to provide assistance to recyclers on a variety of issues, including equipment availability and market development for recyclables.

For more information about the program, call (319) 232-7463.

NORTON TO BUILD MRF IN NORTHERN ARIZONA

The city of Flagstaff, Ariz., has signed a contract with Norton Environmental, Cleveland, to build and operate a materials recovery facility in that northern Arizona city. The contract is in response to Flagstaff’s request for proposals issued in March 1996. The MRF will be designed to process more than 80 tons per day of residential commingled recyclables and commercial waste. With the new MRF, Flagstaff officials anticipate a minimum of 30 percent reduction of residential waste material and a 35 percent reduction of commercial material through an expanded recycling program.

RECYCLERS WANT FEE REAUTHORIZED

Recyclers in Pennsylvania are asking the state legislature to reauthorize a $2 recycling fee that has been assessed on every ton of municipal waste disposed in that state. Since the fee was imposed in 1988, recycling has been an overwhelming success, according to the Public Recycling Officials of Pennsylvania, a recycling association based in Harrisburg, Pa.

The organization says the state now recycles more than 20 percent of its municipal waste, whereas before 1988 only 2 percent was recycled.

In addition, Pennsylvania now has the largest curbside and drop-off recycling program in the country, according to PROP, with more than 9 million people participating in 1,355 communities. The money generated from the $2 fee also provided for more than $183 million in grants to support county and local recycling efforts, aid recycling companies, and purchase recycled-content materials.

WISCONSIN MRF ADDS CAPACITY

The Winnebago County, Wis., materials recovery facility has been recently expanded to accommodate the growth of the region’s municipal recycling programs. RRT Design and Construction Corp., Melville, N.Y., under the consultation of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc., Falls Church, Va., doubled the size of the facility – from 18,000 square feet to 36,000 square feet – and added new equipment. The company also purchased a larger baler and installed another manual sorting line. The upgrade cost $660,000, with an additional $1 million going to a private contractor to make associated building changes.

RECYCLED COMMODITIES DATABASE PUT ON INTERNET

The National Association of State Purchasing Officials, Lexington, Ky., has provided a national database of procured recycled products on the Internet. The site provides a medium for states to call up products used by other states to help promote the procurement of recycled products.

As of press time, the database consists of information from the states of Florida, Mississippi, Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin. Information from Georgia, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont will soon be available, too.

The site can be accessed, with reading rights only, through the NASPO site at www.naspo.org . For additional information call (606) 231-1877.

NEW YORK ACHIEVES RECORD FOR RECYCLED CONTENT BUYS

The Office of General Services, Albany, N.Y., says that 96 percent of paper bought by the state of New York and its local governments in 1996 contained some amount of recycled content, a new record. OGS estimates that more than $29 million of the paper purchased had recycled content. This is up from only 24 percent in 1987. OGS began bidding out recycled-content paper in 1981.

SAN FRANCISCO RECYCLING REACHES RECORD LEVEL

The volume of recyclable materials collected through San Francisco’s curbside and apartment recycling programs rose 18 percent in 1996, making last year a record year for recycling in the city, according to the San Francisco Recycling Program. Residents recycled 111 pounds of paper, glass, aluminum, steel and plastics — up almost 17 percent from 1995. The average household recycled about 340 pounds of recyclables.

RECYCLING FOR DOLLARS STARTS IN VIRGINIA

Last month, the Southeastern Public Service Authority – which covers the southeastern region of Virginia – began a program called "Recycling for Dollars." The program selects two homes per week that participate in SPSA’s curbside recycling program and awards residents of those homes with $50 if they meet the minimum requirements for separating their recyclables. Those requirements include having bins out by 7 a.m. on the collection day and having only recyclables in the bins. SPSA officials hope that this lottery game will increase awareness of and participation in its curbside recycling program. The first program winner was Raymond Jones of Portsmouth, Va.

EFFECTS OF ANTI-RECYCLING ARTICLE FELT IN BRAZIL

Last July, the New York Times printed an article titled "Recycling is Garbage" which questioned the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of curbside recycling. That article not only caused a uproar among recycling advocates in the United States, but it now has also caused a stir in South America. The Jornal do Brasil has reprinted the article, which claims that New York City spends almost $3,000 to recycle each ton of municipal waste.

While in Brazil it costs only about $240 a ton to collect and process recyclables, according to a recent study by Cempre, that country’s nonprofit recycling association based in Sao Paulo, the article has put recyclers on the defensive.

Advocates of recycling say that costs to process recyclables in Brazil are still comparatively high, considering the average income of a household, but recycling costs would decrease significantly if more residents were to cooperate with curbside programs by putting out only designated items, source-separated. "We have found that those communities that have solid recycling education programs are the ones with the lowest cost per ton," says one Cempre official.

Another member of Cempre, Marcio Amzaonas, environmental manager at Coca-Cola Brasil, says that "we must also increase the competitiveness of recycled products."

Others look beyond recycling as a profit making concern. "The social and environmental benefits of recycling must also be taken into account," says Andre Vilhena, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

N.H. RECYCLING SITE DESTROYED BY FIRE

A collection, storage and transfer facility that serves as the drop-off center for recyclables for the towns of Barnstead, Epsom, Chichester and Pittsfield in New Hampshire, was destroyed by fire last December. The fire gutted the entire building and destroyed numerous vehicles and trailers, resulting in more than $1 million in damage. The cause is still under investigation.

While steel and aluminum cans, glass and plastic were stored at the facility, there were also storage containers for used oil, paints and other recoverable liquid materials.