2005 Recycling Pilot Program Report

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Pilo� Study Design and Methodologv Goals The goal of this study is to help Roseville design a curbside recycling program that will successfully capture tz�ore recyclable material. The purpose of the pilot program was to field test different strategies to increase the effectiveness of the City's recycling program by maximizing participation, increasing tonnage collected and increasing tonnage successfuily processed for sale to manufacturers. It will also assess the cost to hameowners and resident saiisfaction for the different strategies. Key Concepts for Pilot Study Several key concepts emerged for study in this groject: • Trend for Increasing Comxningiing • Education • Bin/cart capacity; and • Materials recovered and contamination Trend for Increasing Commingling Beginning in the 1980s and early i 990s in much of Minnesota and the metropolitan area, residential curbside collection programs rec�uired residents to separate recyclables into several cat:egories. Following a trend that had already begun elsewhere in North America, by ihe Iater 1990s some vtTaste haulers and recycling collectors in Mintxesota were shifting to the commingled duai-stream system (also known as dual�sort or two-sort). Yn this system, residents place all grades of paper and fiber in one bin and alI metal cans, piastic bottles, and glass bottles (coilectively called mixed rigid containers or mixed rigids) in a�tother bin. This is the City's current system. More recentiy, Waste Management, Inc., the City's contracted recycling vendor since 1999, has led a rnovement in Minnesota and elsewhere in North Arnerica towards single-stream (also known as single-sort or one-sort) collection, whereby mixed fibers and mixed rigid containers can all be combined in one container, usually a large, wheeled cart. A few other haulers in the metropolitan area are beginning to or expECt to offer single-stream service as well. A key reason touted for the shift to dual�stream ar single-stream commingling is to rz�ake recycling more convenient for residents, thereby fostering additional participation and recovery of materials, and potentially lowering costs. The tradeoff in this sysiem is that more processing is required at maierials recovery facilities {MRFs) to separate mixed recyclable materials and make them acceptable to ei�d-use markets. Some indushy professionals have cited concerns that comrningled systems result in increased containinants that have to be disposed as refuse, as well as an increase in the amount of broken glass generated as a result of cammingling. Education Data collected by the City of Roseville and results o�the R.AM and Eureka Recycling studies indicate additional resident education could increase the arnount of material put out for collection. Ten percent of calls to Roseville's Recycling Coardinator from 20Q1 to 2004 were from current residents with questions about what was accepted in the two-sort, curbside program (new residents are not included in this figure). This includes people who want to icnow if it's okay to miar your bottles with your cans. G