ANN ARBOR TO EXPAND RECYCLING PROGRAM:
SINGLE-STREAM SERVICE ANTICIPATED JULY 2010
The City of Ann Arbor is planning to reconfigure its recycling plant to accept an expanded range of materials from residents, schools, and businesses. On Nov. 5, 2009 City Council authorized staff to pursue development of a single-stream recycling program at the city-owned Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which is operated by the private contractor FCR/Casella, based in Rutland, Vt. Key components of a single-stream recycling program are that separated recyclables are placed in one recycling bin for collection, and additional materials—especially a wider range of plastics—are added to the list of accepted recyclables.
- What is single-stream recycling? Single stream recycling allows residents and businesses to put all their recyclable materials in one convenient wheeled recycling cart. No recyclables will be collected outside the recycling carts. Trash will still be put in a separate cart. The attached video clip (created by RecycleBank) provides a generic overview of the process.
- What is RecycleBank? RecycleBank is a program that provides rewards to residents who recycle. This program is being proposed for the city’s single-stream recycling program, and will be evaluated by City Council in March, 2010.
- Why convert to single-stream recycling? The combination of the single-stream program with the RecycleBank incentive program will substantially increase the city’s recycling rate and decrease solid waste costs. The city is spending $3.25 million to upgrade their MRF and $1.4 million for new recycling carts, as well funding for automated lift arms on the new recycle trucks. It is anticipated that the program savings will pay back this investment in less than 6 years. For more information, please see the Powerpoint that was presented to City Council or the more detailed project budget spreadsheet (5-page pdf spreadsheet).
- What additional materials will we be able to recycle? All plastic bottles and tubs except #3 and styrofoam will be accepted under the new program. In addition, Bulky plastic HDPE #2 items such as buckets, crates, trays, and outdoor furniture will be accepted. For more details, open to a new Web page here,
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Why go to single-stream recycling now? At a February 18, 2010 Webinar sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Jerry Powell, featured speaker and editor of the recycling trade journal Resource Recycling, responded to a call-in question on the future of single-stream recycling as follows: Within the next 4-5 years, I anticipate that more than 80% of the U.S. recycling plants serving non-rural communities will switch to single-stream because co-mingled collection and processing represent the future of recycling markets. The only delays to having this changeover happen more quickly is budgeting the purchase of new collection vehicles in coordination with recycling plant (MRF) building improvements. As older recycling vehicles reach their service expectancy and are upgraded to single-stream collection models, most MRFs will upgrade to single-stream.
Resources:
Please send comments to recycle@a2gov.org. Thank you!
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