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Request for Council Action Date: November 18,2002 Item Number: VIII, F. Department Approval Manager Approval Agenda Section 7 Reports/Recommendations Item Description: Accepting Proposal for Residential Recycling Service Background Roseville established a curbside recycling program in July 1987. The curbside recycling program includes all single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, four-plexes and townhomes. The program began with once a month pickup and the frequency has changed until it reached the current every other week collection. Also more types of materials have been gradually added to the list of items collected. Despite increases in frequency of collection and types of material accepted, there has been very little growth in Roseville's recycling program during the past ten years. Currently residents pay $1.75 per month for recycling. The resident fee is subsidized by an annual SCORE grant of more than $60,000 from Ramsey County and by a recycling fee charged to multi-family complexes that are not included in the program. On June 11, 2001 the City Council established a resident committee to update the 1991 report Options for Residential Waste Collection and Recycling Report for Roseville, Minnesota. The City Council charged the Residential Solid Waste and Recycling Citizens Advisory Committee (RSWRCAC) with updating the April 1991 Report and to "evaluate the existing residential waste collection services and explore opportunities for improvement." The RSWRCAC presented its Report to the City Council on May 20, 2002. In the Report, members said the participation rate and tonnage of recycling collected in Roseville's curbside recycling program have remained fairly stagnant over the past ten years. Meanwhile we are all generating more garbage. Each Minnesotan produced, on average, 1.14 tons of garbage in 2000; that's up from 0.93 tons in 1993. Much of that waste is paper that could be recycled and organic material that could be composted. RSWRCAC members felt Roseville residents should generate less garbage. One of the ways to do that is to increase the amount of waste that is recycled. Members believe that making recycling more convenient will lead to more people participating in the recycling program. They looked at different options to improve convenience and participation in the recycling program and included those options in their report. First, the Committee recommended Roseville comply with State law and ensure residents of apartments, condominiums and manufactured home parks have the opportunity to recycle at the place they live. Members felt the best way to do that would be to expand the City's recycling program to include multi-family complexes. The Committee also put forward three options on residential curbside collection for the Council to consider: continue with the City's current two-sort system with bi-weekly collection and enhanced and expanded recycling education, switch to every week collection, or switch to a single-stream system with bi-weekly collection. The Report lists the pros and cons of each option (see attachment). The Committee recommended