Hagerstown s Transition to Single Stream Recycling

Transcription

1 Hagerstown s Transition to Single Stream Recycling

2 Our Moderator: Peter Houstle - MRN Executive Director Our Presenter: Rodney Tissue, PE - City Engineer Department of Parks and Engineering Hagerstown, MD Mark Your Calendars: November 15 America Recycles Day June MRN/SWANA-MA Annual Conference Admin Post questions in chat box on right hand side of screen Recording will be posted on MRN website Maryland Recycling Network

3 Department of Parks and Engineering Hagerstown s Transition to Single Stream Recycling 3

4 Latest Facts About Recycling in America Each person creates about 4.7 pounds of waste every single day 33.4% of solid waste is either recycled or composted, 12.6% is burned in combustion facilities and 54% makes it's way into landfills In % of paper and paperboard were recycled, 64% of yard trimmings are recycled and nearly 35% of metals were recycled The amount of recycling in 2007 saved the energy equivalent of 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline and prevented the release of carbon dioxide equivalent to the emissions from approximately 35 million cars The number of landfills in the US are decreasing while their size is increasing. In 1998 there were 8,000 landfills but only 1,754 in 2007 Each ton of mixed paper that is recycled can save the energy equivalent to 185 gallons of gasoline Approximately 8,660 curbside recycling programs exist in the United States Disposal of waste to landfills has decreased from 89% in 1980 to 54% in 2007 Recycling 1 ton of aluminum cans conserves the equivalent of 1,665 gallons of gasoline source: epa.gov 4

5 Factors That Drove the Decision to Change In Hagerstown in Low recycling rates Very inconvenient system for residents in several ways Collection contract was expiring City Council appointed Task Force to study the collection options and make recommendations. 5

6 In Hagerstown in 2010 City of Hagerstown residents recycled only 10% of their waste. Our long term recycling goal is 33%, the national average. Program was twice a week trash collection, once a week mixed paper recycling and separate bin for comingled plastic/glass aluminum recycling and Wednesday morning yard waste collection (some residents sat out items 4 nights a week)! 1105 tons of material were recycled in the City in 2011 but more than 11,750 tons were placed in the Landfill! Most of that trash (mostly paper) could have been recycled. We can do better. 6

7 Operational Implementation and Planning Met several times with City Council in early 2011 and reviewed the Task Force recommendations. City Council wanted options lots of options. 7

8 Operational Implementation and Planning Bid s for the new collection contract were evaluated and after a lot of discussion, collection contract was awarded in October 2011 to Waste Management Not ready to award the separate contract to supply 12,000 recycling totes yet. 8

9 2012: A new era in greening Hagerstown 9

10 In January, 2012, the City switched from a dual stream program to a single stream curbside recycling program. This means only one separation is required: Put all paper, cans, bottles and jars together in the same container Yard Waste 10

11 Also, new convenience of ONE night of set-outs: Instead of 3 or even 4 nights of set-outs to remember under the old system, set-outs now are ALL on one night. Residents are asked to keep trash and yard waste separate from recyclables so all are easy to identify. 11

12 Initial results of one night and single stream? January 2011: 76.2 tons of recyclables collected tons of trash collected January 2012: tons of recyclables collected (a 28% increase) tons of trash collected (a 6% decrease) 12

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14 Tote Vendor and Reward Program Selection Buying more than a tote buying an asset and a management system Recyclebank program the Council wanted required unique identifiers in cart and a way to track the carts and collections over time Evaluated initial price but also cost of handheld readers, asset management software, distribution, warranty, buyback of old bins, references January 2012 (3 months after awarding the collection contract), the City Council awarded the contract to buy about 12,000 totes to Rehrig Pacific 14

15 All residents in the City were notified that they would be provided a container for recycling. 15

16 The available tote sizes are 95, 65, & 35-gallon totes or residents could still use 18-gallon bins if they chose to do so. Residents were polled on the size they wanted and they could opt out if they wish over several weeks in April 2012, we distributed the containers. 16

17 Consumer Outreach and Education Attached to the Totes 17

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20 Incentive Program Each tote or bin has a unique RFID chip Waste Management s collection trucks read the chip to give credit Weekly tonnage collected is divided by the number of Recyclebank users who participated that week and the same number of points is assigned to the account of each participating Recyclebank user Participants must register with Recyclebank Earn coupons to local businesses, restaurants, or national chains like Olive Garden. Most popular in our program are magazine subscriptions, restaurants, Hagerstown Suns, groceries and sporting goods. Participating family can earn over $200 in coupons annually or contribute the value to a school with an approved green project simply by recycling! 20

21 Results To-Date Rehrig s asset management software shows that of the 11,680 totes in service, 86% were collected from at least once since program inception in April. For month of September, 73% of totes were set curbside at least once and were collected Since April, average collection of recyclables is 210 tons per month (compares with around 92 tons per month in the old 2-bin system) and when included with yard waste represents about a 30% diversion rate from the landfill Recyclebank data shows 25% of residents have registered. 21

22 Tonnage slide 22

23 Recycling ALL ways Have a recycling system for each room of your home. Compost in your backyard. Grass-cycle your lawn clippings. Purchase products made from recycled materials. 23

24 For more information about the City of Hagerstown s recycling program, visit our website at: Rodney Tissue, City Engineer Ext 128 rtissue@hagerstownmd.org 24

25 Thank You! 25