Recycling works in recreation

Parks & Recreation, Jan, 1994 by Jane Buckley

From abating violence to curtailing drug use to promoting physical fitness, our parks and recreation facilities offer programs and opportunities that our country--specifically our inner cities--cannot afford to lose. Nevertheless, community parks across the country are cutting back services or closing facilities because they have no funding. The fact that parks and recreation facilities are among the first to suffer the blows of the budgetary axe is widely known; how to reverse the trend is the question. One answer comes in rather surprising packaging: recycling.

Just 20 years ago, national campaigns begged Americans to stop littering; today, we have taken this initiative one step further by implementing comprehensive recycling programs in communities across the country. With jurisdictions recovering as much as 60 percent of their waste streams, recycling has proven to be not only a means of diverting waste from landfills and reducing or eliminating the need for incinerators, but data shows that it is actually the most cost-effective means of waste disposal currently available. In addition, recent technological advancements have rendered recycling a means of generating municipal income, as communities begin marketing their collected recyclables to scrap-based manufacturers, who use the materials as a feedstock for production.

Having established recycling as the "conventional wisdom" among solid waste planners, the country is now striving to close the recycling loop by creating viable, consistent markets for collected recyclables. Scrap-based manufacturing answers this need. Entrepreneurs across the country have developed innovative processing and manufacturing technologies, creating myriad products from collected recyclables. From plastic lumber to commercial waste bins, standard office papers to janitorial supplies, weight room flooring to construction materials, what was once seen as waste is now being converted into commercial dollars, increased local tax bases, and industrial jobs.

Jurisdictions that sell their recyclables to manufacturers find that the revenues not only pay for the cost of the community's comprehensive recycling initiative, but often generate a profit as well. In addition, scrap-based manufacturers often establish joint ventures with community development corporations, providing community equity in the enterprise, and sometimes a host-community fee.

The potential impact of scrap-based manufacturing industries on local economies is staggering: A city of one million whose collected recyclables are used as an industrial feedstock can earn an annual $750 in value-added to its local economy, creating as many as 1,800 new jobs. In an era when cities and counties throughout the nation are struggling to cut budgets without losing programs, increase their tax bases without increasing taxes and meet both the environmental and the economic needs of their communities, none can afford to miss this opportunity for environmentally sound industrial expansion.

Just as the manufacturers create a market for collected recyclables, they, too, require a market for their products. U.S. consumers have become increasingly "green," demanding a level of environmental accountability from our manufacturers. The public sector, however, has not matched pace with this consumer awareness. Implementing procurement initiatives at every government level, including park and recreation agencies, is the key to public sector participation, and could provide the necessary financial impetus to not only maintain but improve the financial stability of cities across the country.

Cities and states across the country are enacting minimum scrap-content legislation, which mandates the purchase of items that contain an established minimum of post-consumer recycled materials. Municipalities are buying items manufactured with post-consumer waste, spending an additional percentage (generally five to ten percent) to purchase products with a recycled content rather than those made exclusively from virgin materials. In 1991, Cleveland became the first city in Ohio to mandate a five percent contracting preference for products with recycled content. According to Public Services Director Jeff Tierce, in 1992 the city saved more than $8,500 in the purchase of recycled toilet paper alone. Further, the city's street paving contract was awarded to a company that uses recycled materials, saving Cleveland $252,000 over its previous contract with a firm using virgin materials.

This information seems geared toward economic development or solid waste management officials; what impact could it have on parks and recreation directors? The key is in coordinated local, regional and state procurement efforts. Where procurement policies have not been enacted, park and recreation departments can urge the purchase of scrap-based products. Stuart Strong of the Austin, Texas, Department of Parks and Recreation, says that despite the lack of a specific policy, "The parks and recreation department is researching and testing a variety of products with recycled content."