Collect calls: curbside program supervisors face decisions on best methods to improve participation and tonnage collected

Recycling Today, August, 2005 by Brian Taylor

Secondary commodity prices have seldom been stronger, across the board, than they were in 2004. The strong markets helped provide a measure of confidence to municipal recycling advocates who have seen programs at times slashed or halted when city and state budgets have come under pressure.

Recycling as an important component of an overall solid waste plan remains an acceptable idea throughout most of North America, but how to approach municipal recycling effectively and affordably remains a source of experimentation.

Program coordinators and the solid waste and recycling companies with which they contract face the task of collecting enough tonnage to make a program worthwhile, while keeping collection and processing costs at a minimum. Even though some curbside programs are in their third decade, trial and error continues and adjustments are necessary as factors such as fuel costs, labor costs, commodity pricing and processing technology all change over time.

BEST PRACTICES. While some of municipal recycling's earliest advocates may have had resource conservation as their foremost goal, paper manufacturers have subsequently become among the major stakeholders in advocating for effective municipal programs.

Paper industry trade group the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, now honors top recycling programs each year. The AF&PA's 2005 awards were presented as part of the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show, which took place in Atlanta in late June.

Programs honored in 2005 were those run by the City of Clearwater (Fla.) Solid Waste and Recycling Department and the Oconee County (S.C.) Solid Waste department, based in Seneca, S.C.

The City of Clearwater Solid Waste and Recycling Department designed a program directed at students and residents that raised awareness about paper recovery. As a direct result of this program, the city avoided disposal costs of nearly $20,000 and generated revenue of more than $36,000 in the first year.

Through its outreach in the community and in schools, the Oconee County Solid Waste department has increased its residential recycling volume by 26 percent, which has resulted in a cost savings of nearly $350,000 in the last three years, according to the AF&PA.

The Solid Waste Authority (SWA) of Palm Beach County (Fla.), which has been honored in the past by used beverage container (UBC) consumer Alcoa for the quality of its collected product, continues to seek ways to improve its program.

In 2005, the SWA launched a mass media campaign promoting residential recycling for residents with curbside recycling service in a bid to increase participation and tons collected. The "Jump on the Bin Wagon" media campaign has publicized a toll-free number to call for the delivery of bins. Initial results are demonstrating that the campaign has hit its primary objective of increasing participation and tons recovered.

The SWA conducted a two-month promotional campaign that cost nearly $225,000, according to Special Projects Manager Susan Chapman. Most of the budget was spent on television advertising, while other media used included newspapers and radio.

The campaign and the resulting calls to the new hotline accomplished the placement of additional recycling bins, just as the SWA envisioned.

During the two-month media campaign, the authority received 10,288 countywide requests, resulting in the placement of more than 19,500 blue and yellow recycling bins in Palm Beach County. On average, the department has received 1,200 requests for bins each month. (Previously, the county placed bins only in the un-incorporated areas of Palm Beach County; with the start of the campaign, SWA was able to place bins in the county's 37 cities.)

In terms of tonnage, the SWA's residential material recovery facility (R-MRF) began to see more volume in May of this year, with 8,300 tons of material being processed--an increase of about 4.5 percent compared to the two previous May figures.

In June, which the SWA says is traditionally a low recovery month, the R-MRF instead set a June record for incoming tonnage with more than 7,900 tons of material received and processed.

The SWA staff attributes the success to the media campaign and the rise in awareness of recycling, says Chapman.

If Palm Beach County's experience can provide evidence of a suitable return on the expense of promotional dollars, this could help convince other municipalities of the wisdom of restoring program education budgets, which as a trend have spiraled downward in recent years.

AUTOMATING. In North America, efficiency has by most measures equated with keeping productivity rates high--accomplishing more with fewer people.

Within municipal recycling programs, this presents the challenge of collecting and processing more material with fewer people--yet still producing a desirable end product.

The trend for the last several years has been toward single-stream collection followed by highly automated sorting at the MRF to accomplish each of these goals.