Municipal Recycling

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has announced that the recycling participation rate in the six cities and two counties served by the state’s Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) reached 40.2 percent in 2005.

Debra Devine, SPSA recycling director, says the volume of primary recycled material rose by 2 percent, while supplementary materials rose by 11 percent and municipal solid waste decreased by 8 percent statewide.

The statewide recycling rate was 32.2 percent in 2005—up from 29.8 percent in 2004. Forty-five of Virginia’s 74 solid-waste management districts reported recycling rates of 25 percent or greater in 2005.

However, because of budgetary issues, in late January the SPSA announced plans to reorganize its operations.

John Hadfield, SPSA executive director, proposed reductions in operational and personnel expenses that do not impact SPSA’s core contractual services and referred certain program and operational issues to the board for consideration.

Key elements of the proposed restructuring plan included reducing certain operating budget expenditures, outsourcing recycling programs, selling the waste-to-energy system and exploring managed competition.

"Over the years there have been new services requested by the member communities, shifts in costs from the member communities to SPSA and the addition of services to enhance environmental stewardship. These policy and service adjustments have contributed to SPSA’s operating budget increases," Hadfield says.

North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County is the 24th community to partner with the Aluminum Can Council’s (ACC) Curbside Value Partnership (CVP).

Beginning in January 2007, four Mecklenburg County communities (including the city of Charlotte) launched a countywide education program communicating the importance of curbside recycling that has the potential to reach more than 200,000 households.

"CVP will help us pool resources and collaborate in one cohesive and integrated campaign, enabling us to better engage members of the community in recycling. We look forward to seeing even more curbside bins lining the streets filled with recyclables," Brandi Williams, public information officer for Charlotte’s Solid Waste Services, says.

Communities are invited to participate in the CVP by the Aluminum Association and the Can Manufacturer’s Institute as well as by their funding members, including Alcoa, Anheiser-Busch Metal Container, ARCO, Ball, Novelis and REXAM. To become a CVP partner, a community must already have a strong and stable curbside recycling program in place. It must also have good data to measure recycling volume, value and commodity mix before and after the campaign so the education program’s effectiveness can be measured. Lastly, to participate in the CVP, a community must be enthusiastic and passionate about improving participation rates.

Gary Wygant, director of recycling for Novelis Corp., says, "Few people realize the significant impact curbside recycling can have on the community and the environment. It is our goal to make the residents of Mecklenburg Co. aware of how important their individual contribution can be."

County and CVP representatives say they plan to rely heavily on education, public relations, grassroots outreach to underserved communities and direct marketing to specific homeowners who could participate, but choose not to for a variety of reasons, including not having a bin or not knowing what and when to recycle.

"This partnership is a wonderful opportunity for us to maximize our resources and work to make our already strong recycling programs even stronger," says Laurette Hall, Environmental Manager-Waste Reduction for Mecklenburg County.

Created three years ago, the national Curbside Value Partnership program is a research-based partnership with communities, haulers, material recovery facilities (MRFs) and other stakeholders to identify solutions to improve curbside recycling programs and address falling recycling rates. Current CVP partner communities include, but are not limited to, Arlington County, Va.; Brevard County, Fla.; Burlington County, N.J.; Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; Indian River, Fla.; Omaha; Orlando, Fla., and several counties in Pennsylvania. More information is available at www.RecycleCurbside.org.

Abitibi Recycling has decided to withdraw its Paper Retriever program from Wichita, Kan., creating a void within the city’s collection program.

Montreal-based Abitibi Consolidated, which recently announced plans to merge with Greenville, S.C.-based Bowater Inc., sent a letter to various centers in Wichita where it had its Paper Retriever containers, telling them that within the next several months the company would be taking back its containers. Roughly 200 containers are scattered throughout the city.

Wichita’s Paper Retriever program began approximately six months ago. A source with the city says that the collection containers were slow to arrive in the beginning.

According to published reports, Abitibi decided that it could not justify the program costs based on the amount of paper collected through the Paper Retriever containers dispersed throughout the city.

The paper collected through the program in Wichita was sent to Weyerhaeuser Recycling’s Wichita plant. A representative from the city says that Wichita hopes that Weyerhaeuser will step in to place containers throughout the city to make up for the loss of the Paper Retriever containers.

The city of Wichita presently has a subscription-based curbside collection program. Waste Connections, an integrated solid waste services company that provides solid waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services in secondary markets in the Western and Southern United States, also offers collection containers at a number of large retail stores in the city.

The Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet’s Division of Waste Management (DWM) has announced that it is accepting recycling grant proposals for projects that promote an integrated infrastructure and public education, with special priority to be given to regional recycling proposals.

Applications are due Monday, April 2, and will be accepted from city and county governments, solid waste districts, schools and school districts and other political subdivisions of the state.

According to the DWM’s State Solid Waste Report, Kentucky’s household recycling rate, which stands at 22 percent compared to the U.S. rate of 26.7 percent, reflects a lack of funding for local governments’ recycling infrastructure. The new funding source, which the 2006 General Assembly authorized, is intended to address this issue.

The Kentucky Pride Fund, established July 15, 2002, was amended July 16, 2006, to include grant funding for recycling and household waste programs. The fund collects a $1.75-per-ton fee on municipal solid waste disposed in the state’s landfills. It also provides grants to eliminate illegal open dumps and to promote environmental education.

The grant application and more information are available at www.waste.ky.gov/recycling.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has announced that grants totaling more than $3.2 million have been awarded to 41 applicants for use toward the cleanup of scrap tire sites in the state.

According to the DEQ, more than 3.1 million passenger tire equivalents will be removed as a result of the funding.

The grantees have until Aug. 31, 2007, to complete the contract requirements for removing and processing their tires in accordance with the Michigan DEQ-approved tire removal plan.

A complete list of the grant recipients is available on the Recycling Today Web site at www.recyclingtoday.com/news/images/michigantirelist.doc.