2005-07-26_PWETC_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

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Pilot Study Desil!n and Methodolol!v Goals The goal of this study is to help Roseville design a curbside recycling program that will successfully capture more recyclable material. The purpose of the pilot program was to field test different strategies to increase the effectiveness ofthe City's recycling program by maximizing participation, increasing tonnage collected and increasing tonnage successfully processed for sale to manufacturers. It will also assess the cost to homeowners and resident satisfaction for the different strategies. Key Concepts for Pilot Study Several key concepts emerged for study in this project: . Trend for Increasing Commingling . Education . Bin/cart capacity; and . Materials recovered and contamination Trend for Increasing Commingling Beginning in the 1980s and early 1990s in muchpf Minnesota andtl1e. metropolitan area, residential curbside collection programs required residents to separatt:;Tt:;c~9I~bles into sev~raJc~tegories. Following a trend that had already begun elsewhere in North America, by the later)990s some waste haulers and recycling collectors in Minnesota were shifting to the commin~led d1iaFstI9T ~ystem (also known as dual-sort or two-sort). In this system, residents place all grades of paper andfi1:Jei in one bin and all metal cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles (collectiveJY<;!liled mixed rigid containers or mixed rigids) in another bin. This is the City's current system. More recently, Waste Management,IIlc.,tht:;Gity's contracted recycling vendor since 1999, has led a movement in Minne~otailI14elsewheiem North Afuerica towards single-stream (also known as single-sort or one-sort) colle9ti6n, whereby Tixed fi1:J~rs and mixed rigid containers can all be combined in one container, usually a large, wheele4cart. Aft:;wpther haulers in the metropolitan area are beginning to or expect to offer sirigle;stream service as well. A key reason touted fortht:; shift to dllal-stream or single-stream commingling is to make recycling more convenient for residents, thereby fostering additional participation and recovery of materials, and potentially lowering costs. The tradeoffinthis system is that more processing is required at materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to separate mixed recyclable materials and make them acceptable to end-use markets. Some industry professionals have cited concerns that commingled systems result in increased contaminants that have to be disposed as refuse, as well as an increase in the amount of broken glass generated as a result of commingling. Education Data collected by the City of Roseville and results of the RAM and Eureka Recycling studies indicate additional resident education could increase the amount of material put out for collection. Ten percent of calls to Roseville' s Recycling Coordinator from 200 I to 2004 were from current residents with questions 6