4A, 09/24/12-WS Draft Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 2 City Planner Beekman noted that even if we do go out for an RFP process, she has been told by Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC, that the City should extend the contract with Eureka Recycling for six months in order to ensure a thorough RFP process. City Planner Beekman explained that one of the biggest issues that has changed since 2008 is how cities deal with plastics. In 2008, most haulers were just collecting plastic types #1 and #2. Now they are accepting all types of plastics. Eureka Recycling is different, however, than other companies. They are a non-profit organization whose mission is zero-waste, which means they do not collect materials that they cannot sell to a market that can certify that the materials are being recycled. For-profit commercial recycling providers are more driven by customer service. They will collect a broader mix of materials because the materials that do not have a post- consumer market can be discarded in the regular waste system (i.e. landfills, incinerators). The advantage of for-profit recycling haulers is convenience to the resident. Often, they will collect using a single-stream system, which means residents have one container for all recycling materials. The container can be picked up mechanically by the truck. Eureka Recycling uses a dual-sort approach and hand-picks recycling materials, which means the driver is visually inspecting materials and removing the items that do not have a post-consumer market. It should be noted that Eureka Recycling is working on a system that will broaden the materials they will pick up. Councilmember Holmes questioned which option offers the lowest cost. Eureka Recycling offers revenue sharing, but she is unsure if any of the other companies have revenue sharing. She knows that people have a tendency to get upset with Eureka Recycling because they do not take as many plastics and are not concerned about the reasons why certain plastics are unacceptable. Her priority is cost. Councilmember Holden stated that the graph that Ramsey County provided shows that the recycling tonnage numbers in the City were down in 2011. She questioned if they do weighted averages. She noted that people may not be producing as much waste or that the packaging is not producing as much waste. City Planner Beekman pointed out that page three of the Recycling Performance Report depicts that the City of Arden Hills has the highest pounds of recycling when ranked among other communities. She believes that the decline in the overall recycling tonnage numbers that Councilmember Holden inquired about is due to the decline in newspaper, which affects all of the surrounding communities. Councilmember Holden indicated that the lowest cost is not as important to her as ensuring that materials are actually being recycled. She stated that with the single sort system, when glass breaks and mixes in with the newspaper, it prevents the newspaper from being recycled because it is difficult to get the glass out of the paper and it breaks the equipment. City Administrator Klaers noted that with the current hauler, Eureka Recycling, everything they take is 100% recycled. As far as cost, he thinks the best price will come from renegotiating the current contract rather than going out for RFP's.