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Report Summary Everyone generates waste. By waste we mean things that we have, that we no longer wish to have. Perhaps it's an old piece of furniture, yesterday's newspaper or a candy bar wrapper. Sometimes we give those things away, some- times we recycle them and sometimes we throw them in the garbage. Those are some, but not all, of the parts of the waste system. We all use the waste system, although most of us take it for granted. Our garbage and recy- cling are often picked up when we're not home and taken someplace we don't see. But the choices we make, either explicitly or by de- fault, impact lives and livelihoods, the natural environment and the business environment. The City Council adopted a set of environmen- tal goals in 1992. The goals were based on recommendations in the Vista 2000 report. The environmental goals adopted by the Coun- cil are: III III Identify and solve local pollution problems through clean up, mitigation and prevention. Continue the emphasis on waste reduction and the improvement of the community's recycling efforts. Continue the emphasis on strong programs which develop environmental awareness in all of our citizenry. III In June 2001 the Roseville City Council established a Residential Solid Waste and Recycling Citizens Advisory Committee to review Roseville's practices and policies on garbage and recycling established following a 1991 citizens report, study alternatives and make recommendations. Committee members spent 10 months hearing presentations from officials with the State, Ramsey County and other Minnesota cities. We conducted a survey of homeowners and another of apartment, townhome and condo residents; conducted focus groups with resi- dents, apartment owners and managers, and garbage haulers; conducted a public workshop; and took written and phone comments. Members also toured the Resource Recovery Facility, the Household Hazardous Waste collection site, Waste Management's single stream recycling facility and other cities' clean up day programs. Committee members found most residents are glad that their trash and recycling are picked up in a timely fashion and taken away. Residents surveyed are pleased with their garbage ser- vice. At the same time they are concerned about where their garbage goes for disposal. At the time of the last report in 1991, Ramsey County required all garbage collected go to the Resource Recovery Facility in Newport, Minnesota. But a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared garbage hauling to be inter- state commerce and the County's requirement was made moot. Garbage haulers told the commit- tee they now make decisions about where to take our garbage based prima- rily on cost. It costs more to process waste at a resource recovery facility than to dispose of it in a landfill. As a result, a growing proportion of Minnesota garbage is being taken to landfills in other states; landfills often owned by the largest garbage haulers. 3