2005 Recycling Pilot Program Report

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Recycling tonnages have been between 2,500 and 3,000 since 1992 with no pattem of growth. !C 11� 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Figure Three Raseville Recycling Tons Collected �� g�� h °�� °�� ^� � � � � ti � ti � ti However, when you compare the amount of material collected, Roseville residents are doing a good job. For instance Anoka County requires its cities to callect an averag� of 175 pounds of recycling per person per year. If applied to Roseville participants in the curbs:ide program the target would be just over 2,400 tons a year. In 2004 Roseville residents in the curbside prograrn recycled 2,902 tons. This high level of participation was echoed by the staff at Waste Management. Everyone from drivers to supervisors said, "People in Roseville are good recyclers." Meanwhile the average aunount of garbage generated by Minnesotans has been rising. Statewide each person generated 1.14 tons of garbage in 20d0 that's up from 0.93 tons in 1993. Roseville does not compile garbage figures for the City, so the statewide �gures are used as an analogy. Not everythin.g that is being thrown away is garbage. According to a 1999 study of what's in Minnesotans' trash, almost 25% of our garbage by weight is paper that could be recycled. (Statewide MSW Compositian Study, March 20Q0, the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board (SWMCB), tl�e Mizanesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA)} That mirrors what Rosevilie found in a resident survey in January 2002. Ninety-seven percent of the residents who recycle put newspapers out for collection, that goes down to 92% for tin and aluminuzz� cans, 91% each for glass and plastic botties, 87% for cardboard a.nd boxboard, 78% for xnagazines ax�d 63% for junk mail. In a survey of participants in this pilot program, 72% said they recycle their junk mail every other week and 13% said th.ey never recycle junk mail. While 69% said they recycle maga.zines every other week. When asked why they threw recyclable �naterial in the trash, 19% of respondents said fihey were unsure abaut what to recycle. 4