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Introduction Everyone generates waste. By waste we mean things that we have, that we no ]onger 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, sometimes we recycle them and sometimes we throw them in the garbage. Those are some of the most recognizable parts, 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 recycling 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 default, impact lives and livelihoods, the natural environment and the business environ- ment. We will explore those choices and their impacts throughout this report. Roseville and other Minnesota cities are charged by the State with protecting public health, safety and welfare, and protecting the environment. Garbage and recycling collection are necessary public services to assure those charges, much as proper handling of sewage, provision of safe drinking water, providing safe roads and fire and police protection services. In 1980 the Minnesota Legislature established an order of preference for managing waste in order to protect the state's environment and public health. This preferential order is � Reduction and Reuse � Recycling � Yard and Food Waste Composting � Resource Recovery � Landfilling with methane collection � Landfilling with no methane collection Roseville last examined its residential solid waste and recycling practices in 1991 when a citizens advisory committee was appointed by the City Council. That committee released the report "Options for Residential Waste Collection and Recycling for Roseville." The City Council enacted a number of the Committee's recommendations the main one being to divide the City into five zones each with its own day for pickup of garbage and recycling. Since then there have been a number of developments in the garbage and recycling industries that prompted the City Council to re-examine Rosevi]]e's solid waste and recycling policies. Those changes include consolidations in the garbage hauling industry; stagnation of recycling rates in Roseville and Minnesota; an increase in the amount of garbage produced per person despite efforts at waste reduction, reuse and increased recycling; and an increase in out of state landfilling of garbage following a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Ramsey County's requirement that garbage haulers take their waste collected to the Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), a waste to energy plant, in Newport, Minnesota. Additionally the City Council adopted a set of environmental goals in 1992. The goals were 15