City,
Residents At Odds Over Curbside Recycling Costs (Las Cruces)
By Pamela
Adams Hirst, Grassroots Press, December 2006/January 2007
edition
After two curbside recycling
pilot programs and a round of public hearings, the
Las Cruces City Council is soon to hunker down and
set a future course for recycling in this growing city.
Results from the pilot
programs led the City Council to ask Klaus Kemmer,
Administrator of Solid Waste, for a city-wide recycling
proposal, which includes weekly pickup and a partial
subsidization structure for low-income families.
In a recent run of public
hearings, sponsored by Councilor José Frieze, it was
Kemmer’s dubious job to present the Power Point pitch for a
potential $5.59 hike in utility bills to pay for a mandatory
curbside program. Audiences were overwhelmingly opposed.
The final meeting, Oct. 24. in
the Munson Senior Center, included findings of the pilot
programs and public discourse. Kemmer gave a brief history
of the pilot process, explaining he picked the neighborhoods
in the first program to include a good cross-section of old
and new, small and large homes.
The Pilot Curbside Recycling
Program began in 2004 with twice-a-month pickup for about
1000 homes in the North Main/ North Triviz area of the city.
Eighteen-gallon blue bins were provided for the
“commingling” of newspaper, cardboard, and aluminum.
Every week for one year two
workers separated items curbside into multiple bins on the
trucks. The task was a manual, labor-intensive operation,
according to Kemmer.
After one year the average
participation in the program was 27 percent, he reported.
Monthly tonnage of 4.1 created $459.60 in revenue compared
to the operation costs of $715, not including sorting and
baling.
After this program the City
Council suggested trying another neighborhood to see if the
city could generate better participation with a weekly
program. The second pilot program, established in the old
High Range area off Roadrunner Parkway, included larger
homes in a more upscale neighborhood. Curbside recycling
began again in August 2005.
The blue bins were picked up
every week along with the trash. Participation grew to 39
percent, Kemmer said. Average monthly tonnage grew to 7.1,
revenue to $721.82, and costs amounted to $1,650, not
including sorting and baling.
Bridgett Hines, a community
activist who walked the sidewalks of High Range and surveyed
residents about the program while it was in operation,
claims participation was closer to 80 per cent.
“The study didn’t take into
consideration that people who were actually recycling didn’t
always put a bin out every week,” she said in a recent
interview.
According to her research,
residents wanted additional items such as tin, plastic, and
glass included in the recycling process. Because these items
were not included, residents didn’t always have enough
material to recycle weekly and therefore were not included
in the final statistics.
Regardless of participation,
it was obvious that both programs cost significantly more
than the materials collected. But not everyone saw that as
grounds for discouragement.
“Recycling is not about
profit. It's about reducing cost,” said Mike Jago,
Communications Co-Chair for the
New Mexico Recycling Coalition (NMRC). He was present
at the recycling meeting and commented later to Grassroots
Press about the subject.
With all costs of creating and
maintaining a landfill considered, Jago estimated it costs
cities $1000 to bury a cubic yard of trash when there are
profits to be made through resourceful recycling efforts.
“China, India and
Malaysia are driving the world markets for scrap,”
said Jago, a licensed recycle center operator and compost
operator. “The idea is to not bury anything.”
“Curbside recycling turns
plastic into more plastic, fuel, clothing, and chemicals.
Recycling paper creates books, magazines, home insulation
and building products,” he continued. And the growing metals
market will help create income to make recycling work, he
added.
But costs in the short term,
and especially if they must be borne by residents, could
doom the curbside effort.
All of Kemmer’s proposed costs
and charges to make the
Las Cruces recycling program work are formulated
around a rate of 39 percent participation, based on the
second pilot project.
In order to subsidize
low-income families, Kemmer said, others will have to make
up the difference, so solid waste collection charges will
rise $5.59 for most households. If council approves the
program, the current residential rate will increase from
$15.10 to $20.69; seniors will pay $16.88 instead of $11.29,
and those who qualify for
assistance will pay $17.10.
Approximately one in four residents in
Las Cruces will be eligible for assistance. (Many
seniors may not be aware that a senior discount for Solid
Waste Service is available to residents over 60. Customers
with more than one container are not eligible. In order to
apply for a senior discount, go to the Customer Service
Dept. at City Hall, 200 N. Church St., with a photo ID for
the current $11.29 rate.)
This increase to utility bills
is the major issue for opponents, not recycling in general.
A show of hands indicated that most of the audience members
were already conscientious recyclers who use the drop-off
bins or the recycling center on West Amador. They registered
their opposition to paying for additional curbside
recycling.
Kemmer has upgraded the
recycling project to include a 64-gallon container on
wheels. These containers combine all cardboard, newspaper,
and aluminum together in a single covered bin that enables
“single-stream recycling.”
“If you look nationwide,
statistics show there is better participation and more
volume collected if a large bin that can hold all recycled
items is provided,” Kemmer said. EPA findings support this.
Kemmer’s startup costs
included an eight-year loan of $2.4 million to purchase six
recycling trucks and 25,000 recycling bins on rollers.
His choice of bins on wheels
is recommended by the EPA. All recyclables are put into one
covered bin and sorted at the recycling center. Carts can be
wheeled to the curb versus lifted. Contents are not revealed
to the elements and residents do not have to separate any
materials. “Our current process means big trucks of material
come in, and the entire load is dumped on a big floor. Four
employees separate usable material from non-usable,” said
Kemmer. “A lot of manual labor is involved before it can be
sorted baled and sold.”
The Pay as You Throw system of
solid waste management has proven successful for many
communities both large and small, with its built-in
incentives for recycling. Under PAYT, residents are charged
for the collection of municipal solid waste based on the
amount they throw away. This type of program creates an
economic incentive for residents to generate less waste.
Seattle provides residents with a choice of 10-, 20-,
30-, 60-, or 90-gallon containers; larger containers cost
more than smaller ones. Austin offers a choice of 30-, 60-,
or 90-gallon containers and charges a flat user fee, plus a
rate charge based on container size and quantity, according
to statistics from the EPA.
The total charge appears on
residents’ municipal utility bills. Austin also lets
residents buy extra garbage “stickers” for weeks when their
garbage capacity exceeds container size. Both cities use the
revenue generated by PAYT to cover costs for solid waste
education, transfer stations, recycling and disposal.
The PAYT method is exactly the
way business owners of
Las Cruces are charged -- by the size of the bin and
the frequency of collections.
There is currently a double
standard in how customers are dealt with, according to
Miguel Silva, initial recycling coordinator for the City,
and a former member of the
New Mexico Recycling Coalition.
Silva said in a recent
interview that he wants to see recycling presented in a
manner that encourages participation. He is a strong
advocate of PAYT.
“Businesses are encouraged to
watch their waste stream, frequency of pickups, and
container size. Residents should have the same option,”
Silva stated.
“Do city leaders really want
this [curbside recycling] service?” he asked. “If they did,
they would present the issue in a way that is agreeable to
the residents and cost-effective.”
Bridgett Hines said she also
doubted the commitment of some of the city’s administrators
to the project and called for more dialogue with other
successful communities.
“The city could cooperate with
Silver City,
Albuquerque, Sante Fe,
Taos, and/or
Carlsbad to lower shipping costs.”
“I see in the minutes taken
from City Council meetings that the city pays for grant
seekers. Use some of that money to hire people to look for
better solutions,” she suggested.
There was no denying the
recycling pitch looked like a losing operation to the Munson
Center audience. Perhaps the most telling observation of the
evening came from resident Tammy Smith. After looking at the
profit and loss sheets, she said, no reasonable business
person would invest in a business plan as presented.
Such disappointing numbers are
common, however. The study “A Strategic Plan to Transform
the Economics of Recycling in New Mexico” acknowledged the
problem of supply and demand.
The research was presented in
2004 jointly by The
New Mexico Recycling Coalition, The
New Mexico Environment Dept. and the
New Mexico Economic Development Dept.
“The public is demanding more
access to recycling while communities operating
independently cannot offer the services economically,” the
study observed.
Others who spoke asked why not
redirect the expense of the whole curbside project into more
recycling drop-off locations.
Kemmer responded that he
supported the possibility of containers at Walgreens,
Albertsons and other neighborhood centers but that the
curbside issue needed to be resolved first.
“Once the decision is made on
curbside recycling, then the decision on more centers will
be made,” he said.
For those who wanted to argue
that recycling doesn’t costs in other cities, Kemmer
replied, “Recycling does cost. It costs something, somehow.
It can be funded from sales taxes, property taxes, and you
don’t notice it because it’s all lumped together.”
But the City of the Crosses
doesn’t work that way. Kemmer explained.
“Las Cruces utilities are
enterprise funds .That means waste revenues are spent on
expenses of that department only. We do not get general fund
or tax money.”
Hines expressed her
disappointment because the City does not seem to be more
pro-active in establishing a curbside recycling program.
“The City can use other
cities, although further away, as good models. My examples
are
Tuscaloosa, Ala., and
College Station, Texas,” she said. “It should not use
bad
models as a justification for
not implementing curbside recycling in
Las Cruces, but take the best out of each model and
improve it.”
Silva also challenged the city
fathers in this respect.
“If the decision makers
private and public want to sell this city as one of the best
cities in which to retire, then let’s make it that city.
Sell
Las Cruces on its merits, not because it is a cheap
place to retire.”
Pamela Adams Hirst is a
free-lance journalist in
Las Cruces, New Mexico. She can be reached at
publishingpamela@yahoo.com
NMRC UPDATE: As of
Monday, December 11th's Las Cruces City Council meeting, the
curbside pilot program had been put on hold.
University Scraps Its Way To Top Of Recycling Heap
by Jeremy
Hunt, Daily Lobo, December 6, 2006 edition
It's taken three years for UNM to build up to the top recycling
college in the state, said Linda McCormick, manager of UNM's
Recycling Department.
"The state of New Mexico, as a whole, only recycles something
like 9 percent, so we at UNM are trailblazing," she said. "We at
UNM are kicking butt - kicking recycling butt."
In 2004 and 2006, UNM won the award for the state's Best
Postsecondary Education Institute Recycling Program, which is
given out every other year by the New Mexico Recycling
Coalition.
UNM recycles 30 percent of all the recyclable material on
campus, McCormick said. The department receives about $175,000
per year to manage the costs of recycling. With about $30,000 in
additional funding, she said the department could recycle as
much as 40 percent.
It isn't practical to salvage all the recyclable materials, said
Willie West, manager of the grounds and landscaping division.
"Recycling is very important, but you have to look at it from a
cost-effective point of view," he said. "We do a very good job
with what allocations we have."
Dean Jojola, recycling coordinator at UNM, said more students
are getting involved because they are becoming aware of the
opportunity to help the environment.
"They didn't know there was recycling," he said. "More or less,
it's the students we need to get involved."
Jojola said UNM recycled 629 tons of material in 2005, including
paper and aluminum cans.
"We're probably going to get over that (this year), because more
people are doing it," he said.
The department also recycles construction materials and computer
parts, such as printer cartridges, CDs and circuit boards,
Jojola said. The department goes through buildings that are
scheduled for renovation or demolition and takes whatever can be
recycled, such as stainless steel and copper wire and tubing, he
said.
McCormick said the department recycled more than 92,000 pounds
of paper products in October and almost 26,000 pounds of
iron-type metal in November.
The department
takes the profits from recycling and puts the money toward its
operating costs, McCormick said. Last year, it made about
$25,000, she said. The department put 30 bins by the Student
Residence Center this semester.
She said the department isn't limited to recycling traditional
materials, such as paper and aluminum cans. Last year, the
department collected unwanted items from students as they moved
out of the dorms and gave them to the Albuquerque Rescue
Mission.
"I got about 450 pounds of materials - things like clothing,
shoes, some household goods, some food items - and donated them
to a local charity," she said.
McCormick said she also wants to collect cardboard boxes and
other things that can be recycled or reused when students move
into the dorms.
Jojola said it is important for the University to promote
recycling to students, especially freshmen. Students who get
used to recycling during their time at UNM will continue the
habit when they graduate, he said.
The department is working with the Physical Plant to build
recycling containers and place them in areas that generate a lot
of recyclable material, she said. West said the containers are
going to cost about $2,000 to make, about what a vendor charges.
Solid Waste
Management Plan Update
The New Mexico Environment
Department: Solid Waste Bureau Solid Waste Management Plan is
in its final draft phase before heading to the Environmental
Improvement Board early next year for review. The latest version
is slimmed down to 27 pages and clearly states objectives and
responsibility for solid waste initiatives, most of which deal
with recycling and solid waste reduction.
The comment period
is closed and the plan will go to EIB on Monday,
December 18 in order to be placed on their January 3 meeting
agenda. At that meeting, NM Environment Department: Solid Waste
Bureau will formally request a hearing at the EIB April 3
meeting.
View the plan online at
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swb/index.htm
RAID Update - Act
Passes Initial EIB Meeting
The Recycling and Illegal Dumping
Act has passed a major hurdle at the December 5th Environmental
Improvement Board (EIB) meeting by receiving approval. The board
must complete a final review and vote in early 2007, with final
acceptance of the Act allowing enactment of the new regulations
regarding tires and opening up the Tire Recycling Grant fund to
allowing 1/3 of the funds to go directly to recycling and
illegal dumping grants.
Municipalities Partner with Dex so Consumers Know Recycling and
Solid Waste Information
Municipalities
throughout the Pacific Northwest embrace an innovative method to
educating residents about recycling and solid waste information
24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year! The Dex
“Recycling and Garbage Guide” (the Guide), a specialty 4-color
print and CD-ROM product designed to help municipalities educate
and inform the public can be sponsored in four-page increments.
The Guide follows the green Community Pages in the front of the
local Dex directory. The brown border—used exclusively for the
Guide—makes the special section easy to identify.
Washington, a
role model in environmental outreach, blazed the trail using the
educational Guide in 2002. Many municipalities have utilized
the Guide for several years. The City of Vancouver and Clark
County pioneered a Guide in Washington within the Vancouver Dex
directory in this year. Elsie Deatherage, City of Vancouver
Solid Waste Specialist, states, “Our
customers have recycling and solid waste information that they
search for in a place they can always find it.” Deatherage
said it is the primary reason for Vancouver’s continued
sponsorship of the Guide.
In 2003, the
Dex Kitsap County directory Guide was spearheaded by Terri
Washburn, Kitsap County Solid Waste Education and Outreach
Coordinator. "Our Guide is convenient, cost effective and
comprehensive, giving our residents (in our multiple area codes)
information on solid and hazardous waste management options for
less than 10 cents per household,” says Washburn. “The Guide
provides a full range of garbage service, curbside and drop-off
site recycling, transfer station, household hazardous waste
disposal, yard waste management, and SWAC information. Most
importantly, the Guide is available 24 hours a day, seven days a
week--with or without a computer--making it an exceptional
value!"
In September
2004, the Dex Olympia and Spokane directories began showcasing
Guides to help meet each municipality’s need to communicate and
educate their customers. David Baker, Solid Waste Environmental
Educator for Thurston County says, “We chose the Guide because
when people pick up Dex, they are looking for information. The
guide answers common questions before a phone call is made, and
it doesn't close at five o'clock. Just like our transfer
station--it's available seven days a week.” Ann Murphy, Spokane
County Regional Solid Waste System Education Coordinator adds,
“We sponsored a Guide to provide easy access to pertinent
recycling and solid waste information in one document,
whenever our customers need it.”
Michelle Kincheloe,
Dex Environmental Marketing Manager shares, “It’s really
exciting to see municipalities utilizing the Recycling and
Garbage Guide as an educational and informational tool for the
communities they serve. Dex and the Guides provide a great
educational tool at a tremendous value per household to any
municipality in Oregon and Washington.” For information
regarding a Dex Recycling and Garbage Guide for your community,
contact Michelle at 303-784-2582 or via email at
michelle.kincheloe@dexmedia.com.
With the help of
many local partners, Dex is pleased to promote phone book
recycling options in Albuquerque (including Rio Rancho, Los
Lunas, etc) from December 28, 2006 through February 17, 2007.
Dex Phone book recycling is available during phone book
delivery. Visitwww.dexonline.com/recycle
to search for specific drop-off locations and collection dates
for Albuquerque and cities around New Mexico.
Kick-Starting
Recycled-Content Paper Purchasing in NMED Offices
The New Mexico
Environment Department has begun efforts to support
recycled-content purchasing by targeting its paper purchasing. According to
the New Mexico Solid Waste Act, section 74-9-19, state offices
shall purchase supplies and materials made in whole or part of
recycled materials. There is a price preference of five percent
(which allows purchaser to pay 5 percent more than the price of
comparable 100% virgin product). According to the NMED vendor, the current price of non-recycled copy paper is
$25.50 per case, versus $27.10 for a case of 30%
recycled-content paper. This is a difference of 6.27 percent. While this slightly exceeds the 5 percent preference,
NMED is recommending that all bureau personnel involved with purchasing
should cover the extra cost in support of the law's intent ($1.60/case).
Holiday Waste
Reduction Tips Links
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swb/index.htm
http://shea.unm.edu/holiday_recycle.html
