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shredder or not. The office paper is actually high-quality material and if it is going <br />to the shredder there is the security of having it shredded and also going to a higher <br />and better use. If it comes through a facility like theirs there is no way to separate <br />the office paper from the junk mail and is getting recycled back into cereal boxes, <br />but the shredded paper will more likely get turned back into a higher quality <br />material and have a more environmental use. <br />Member Spencer asked if there was any push from the industry standard to migrate <br />away from plastics and put more into aluminum and glass. <br />Ms. Davenport explained there really has not been that kind of a push. The push <br />being seen is brands and packagers committing to recycled content in the plastic. <br />Plastic is lighter and cheaper to ship. There is also another dynamic going on right <br />now as well which is natural gas is really cheap right now in the US and plastic <br />comes from natural gas and oil and that is the cheaper product to package in and <br />the dynamic does not appear to be changing anytime soon. <br />Ms. Davenport thought another dynamic that is happening is the passage of <br />extended producer responsibility, which is if you produce it, you are responsible <br />for the management of the end of its life. Canada and Europe use this as well. The <br />people that are burdened with the cost of recycling are the communities, the cities <br />and their partners. The people that are making the packaging have no responsibility <br />for investing in that and the people at Eureka does believe that there needs to be <br />some responsibility on the producer's side. She noted it will be very interesting to <br />see what happens in the next few years around policy mechanisms to address some <br />of these challenges. <br />Member Misra asked if there was any possibility of returning to consumer <br />separation of the recyclables. <br />Ms. Davenport indicated she did not. Some communities have gone back to duel <br />stream, which is where Roseville was at before the conversion to single stream. <br />She thought there were some challenges there in terms of the major investments <br />that have been made in single stream to go back to source separation. <br />Member Misra was curious about how much of the cardboard boxing that arrives <br />at consumers homes are being recycled. <br />Ms. Davenport did not know that number off the top of her head. The thing that <br />gets recycled the most is metals, but paper and cardboard is close behind that. <br />Member Wozniak noted the recycling and energy board in Ramsey County is close <br />to deciding to invest in additional processing equipment to remove plastics 1 and 2 <br />and cardboard because there is enough of it in the way stream to recover and market. <br />Ms. Davenport noted forty to fifty percent of what is seen in the trash is recyclable. <br />Page 4 of 10 <br />