I live in a small southern Arkansas town of about 13,000. We have a single countywide drop off recycling center accepting plastic (which, because of the small amount dropped off, ends up in the land fill), various metals & cardboard & newspapers (the latter three are actually recycled somehow). Our garbage pickup was reduced from 2 times a week to once a week a year or two ago, & we have the large rolling bins that are picked up by an arm on the truck operated by the single driver. One can have garbage picked up by workers who will walk up to your house if you are ill or elderly, etc. I think there is a fee for this. Does any one know of websites, programs, or have tips, etc. on how I might motivate our city, & then county, to start a curbside pick up? I am particularly interested in case studies or statistics comparing likely recycling participation numbers-- with similar demographics (if possible)of a single point drop off verses curbside pick up. One specific question would concern the plastics, & if curbside pickup could generate enough volume quickly enough to make it marketable. Lack of covered storage is another obstacle to generating enough plastic to make a load. Or could increased metal recycling pay for the other less profitable items? Also, does anyone know of any economic equations for recycling where the environmental cost of not recycling is included in the equation? I keep hitting the wall of we dont make any money on it, or it wont pay for itself.
Thank you,
Rebecca Hiatt
Camden, Arkansas
Starting a Curbside Pick Up-Sm Town
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Rebecca,
Unfortunately curbside is very costly and seldom pays for itself in my understanding. Lest no one else suggests it, your state Dept. of Env. Quality has a solid waste division. Seems they would be a good place to start. They may have grants available to assist you and educational materials as well. For most communities, it comes down to cost - but I'm sure the right education can lead to a successful program even if it is a net loss price-wise. http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/solwaste/default.htm
Good luck.
Ginger
Ginger Wireman
Community Outreach and Environmental Education Ecology,
Nuclear Waste Program
3100 Port of Benton Bl.
Richland, WA 99354
509-372-7935
Rebecca,
The National Recycling Coalition (US) has assembled a great deal of data on economic viability of recycling collection systems. Visit http://www.nrc-recycle.org/resources/resources.htm. If you or your state recycling association is an NRC member, there are further resources available from the members-only area of the website.
Bill Carter
Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment MC
165 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087
Phone: 512-239-6771
Fax: 512-239-4410
[email protected]
Hi Rebecca
You might be interested in the experiences of Victoria, Australia. Kerbside recycling pickups are pretty much the norm here now, in large urban areas as well as in country areas and small towns. Waste collection companies are typically contracted to collect and receive recyclable material by the local council, although in some areas it is still managed by the council. Our company has been involved in assisting the implementation of these services for about the last ten years. Websites which might be of interest to you would be: www.sustainability.vic.gov.au www.cleanaway.com.au www.thiess-services.com.au www.skmrecycling.com.au www.visy.com.au
Cheers
Bronwyn Sutton
Manager Marketing & Communications
Kenmore-DMP Pty Ltd
www.kenmore-dmp.com
Suite 3, 1-3 Compark Circuit
Mulgrave Vic 3179
Telephone: 9562 5367
Fax: 9562 5399
Unfortunately I couldn't open the links as it said I wasn't authorised to view the page but just a word of warning to all when comparing recycling statistics between Europe and Australia. In Australia our volume of recycling is reported at the end of the process, that is, only the material that was able to be recycled and is recycled is counted. In Europe the volume of recycling is counted as everything that goes into the process. Everything that is collected is counted including all materials that are not recyclable or can contaminate the process. This is why people often think that the Europeans are much better at recycling than we are, when in fact, it is not able to be compared with the figures being reported differently. Whilst the idea of offering recycling bins every three or so blocks that gets collected each night sounds great for cities that are densely populated, it would be a very costly proposition for Australian cities. Not only are our dwellings further apart etc, I wonder if having recycling trucks on the road every night would cause more environmental damage with pollution, use of oil etc then the weekly pick ups that we currently have. In other words would the cost to the environment outweigh the benefits? Food for thought.
Prudence Frost
Education and Community Awareness Manager
The Packaging Council of Australia Inc.
Level 3 15-17 Park St South
Melbourne Vic 3205
T: 03 9690 1955
F: 03 9690 3514
E: [email protected]
W: www.packcoun.com.au/education.htm
And, the true cost of landfilling may not be borne until leachate and methane remediation is compelled. Good point - if the future cost of remediating land was included in landfill prices, and if the costs (financially unaccounted for impacts) associated with the use of virgin resources were factored in - particularly 'lost' energy embedded in materials sent to landfill - it would be a very different picture. If only we had a system of economics that reflected this accurately. Perhaps we should embark on a campaign of CBSM with the world's economists!
Sharon Ede
Zero Waste SA
Adelaide, South Australia
There are some starting points around energy savings from recycling. This US EPA presentation is a good framework, particularly the energy savings by material http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/events/2005-09-23_CALEPA/2005-09-23_
FERLAND_USEPA_GCC+RECYCLING.PDF The California Integrated Waste Management Board is undertaking a lifecycle assessment of organic materials diversion options, and an economic analysis of greenhouse gas reduction options http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Agendas/Agenda.asp?RecID=1328&Year=2007&Comm
=BRD&Month=1 The CIWMB previously initiated a study of long-term financial requirements to assure adequate post-closure maintenance (i.e., what will it cost to care for closed landfills and how will those costs be funded) If anyone is interested in pooling knowledge around these topics, I am ready to participate (and I know some economists who can contribute).
Please call me! I am in the process of helping Waldron, Arkansas kick-off a curb-side pickup. It has been very well received and a product of three years of education and a very active coalition - Ginny Hartnett and Alice Guffey Miller have been involved with the grass roots mobilization and it has been an incredible experience. Please contact me and I will give up all the contact information, etc that I have.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Abbie Taylor
Cox Recycle Works
24087 Hwy 164
Clarksville, AR 72830
(479) 754-7475 or (479) 462-1440
www.Recycleworks.us
With regards to curbside pickup of waste, the small province of Nova Scotia (population 900,000) leads Canada in waste reduction. I live in rural Nova Scotia and we have green bins for compostables, blue bags for recyclables and clear bags for regular garbage (which is usually the smallest bag). The province manages this through the RRFB ( Resource Recovery Fund (rrfb.com) . Information can be found through the RRFB or the Nova Scotia Department of the Environment. In 1989, the province generated 641,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste; much of it sent to landfills and open dumps where it was burned. That year no more than 3% of the provinces waste was diverted from the dump. Jump ahead 15 years, and in 2004 46% of the provinces garbage no longer ends up in a landfill. Not only is the provinces solid- waste management system reducing air pollutants and energy consumption but it also saves taxpayers money, according to GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group . Compared to the old landfill system, the new process saves about $31 million a year, or $33 for every Nova Scotian. I have not been involved in the development of this system other than to design education programs in our local municipality but know that when others come from other parts of the country they are impressed with the comprehensiveness of the program.
regards
Anne Camozzi
Principal Corvid Enterprises
PO Box 1514 Antigonish NS B2G 2L8
ph:902 867 1842
[email protected]
I'd like to tell you about a couple of efforts here. The "Friends of Recycling" group has been meeting and taking action for several years. We still don't have curbside pickup as a public service. The local Americorps group (SAGA) runs some pickup service. There is a local courier service (Wolverine) that picks up white paper from office buildings (that pay for the service). I gather that the startegy is to provide some pickup of recycling (since we do have a recycling depot to deliver the stuff to) and hope to convince more people to do it. One of the long range strategies is to influence the contract that the City negotiates with WasteManagement, Inc for garbarge collection and for recycling.
Anne Fuller
Hello Rebecca:
Talk to the folks at RecycleBank. They have an interesting business model that is getting great results: www.recyclebank.com. Not sure if they can get inot your area, but they may.
George F. Hoguet
Director, Mid-Atlantic Operations
NativeEnergy, LLC
P.O. Box 1463 Media, PA 19063
(610)566-1332
www.nativeenergy.com