Friday, May. 29, 2009

City pondering recycling for all residents

Every Olathe residential household could have a blue bin for recycling next year.

In the next couple of months, City Council members will consider a proposal to make recycling mandatory throughout Olathe. Don Siefert, director of the Municipal Services Department, proposed the idea as part of the department’s 2010 budget.

A mandatory citywide recycling program would save the city money, divert more waste from the landfill — a goal of the City Council to make Olathe more energy and economically efficient and a leader in environmental stewardship — and stay ahead of federal and county regulations, Siefert said.

Municipal Services has more than 11,000 recycling customers, who, on a weekly basis, place recycling on the curb for pickup 90 percent of the time, Siefert said.

The percent of weekly participation would be expected to drop under a mandatory plan, Siefert said, but the amount of waste the city could divert from landfill would increase because there would be more residential participation.

It costs the city $30 a ton to deposit solid waste in the Hamm Landfill in Jefferson County just north of Lawrence. The city closed its landfill on Hedge Lane in 1993, and used the Johnson County landfill, operated by Deffenbaugh, for about 18 months before signing a 20-year agreement with Hamm in 1995.

The city would like to divert 32 percent of all residential waste from the landfill. In 2008, it diverted 26.8 percent, but a large majority of that was yard waste, recyclable solid materials were about six percent.

The city would like to see the recyclable material percentage increase. Siefert said that won’t happen unless the program goes citywide. But another reason for the push is to stay ahead of government mandates.

In the Johnson County Solid Waste Plan, the county already is considering a mandate on diverting recyclable material from landfills. If the county institutes that mandate, Siefert said, the city would have to convert to a citywide program.

That plan would require all haulers, including Olathe, to become licensed and to regulate the amount of recyclables and yard waste deposited in landfills.

Some states, such as Missouri, already prohibit yard waste in landfills and have looked at regulating the amount of other recyclable materials haulers can deposit in landfills. These changes would extend the life of landfills and transfer stations, proponents say.

“The more we recycle, the more we extend the life of those facilities,” Siefert said.

To make the citywide recycling program work, Municipal Services would increase the number of collection trucks from six to 10, but Siefert said they can do this without purchasing any new trucks.

The city switched to what’s called a single-stream collection of recyclables at the beginning of May. Workers no longer sort material at the curb. They pick it up as one bundle and a machine sorts the material at a transfer station, thus single-stream.

The city still has four trucks outfitted to sort material at the curb. Siefert said they would retrofit those trucks to a single-stream model, saving the city from purchasing a new vehicle.

Residents not currently on the recycling program would see an increase in their solid waste bill, while those on the program now would see a slight decrease.

The proposed rate adjustment for 2010 would reduce a current recycling subscriber’s solid waste bill from $19.25 to $18.50 a month – a person pays $3.25 a month for recycling. A nonsubscriber would see their bill increase from $16 to $18.50.

“We got the economy of scale across the whole community,” Siefert said. “We had tested through surveys and studying other providers’ fees what the community would be willing to pay.”

What Municipal Services found is that by decreasing the recyclable subscriber fee by 75 cents, but going to a citywide program, it would remain economical, but still meet expenses. Overland Park’s solid waste provider charges a variable rate of $18.50 to $24.25 for trash and recycling while Lenexa charges $26.10, according to 2009 fee structures.

Overall, Municipal Services has seen its solid waste revenue increase because of growth, but also because of a push to grow its commercial customer base. The city set record numbers in commercial solid waste collection in the first four months of this year.

In January 2008, the city had about 550 commercial accounts. In January 2009, the number of accounts increased 590. By March the number was up to 600. That also includes adding more multi-family complexes, such as apartments, as commercial customers.

Because of this, Municipal Services wants to add one commercial truck and one driver in 2010.

Finding money for the truck and driver might be more feasible because of some good news council members heard Tuesday during the Muncipal Services budget presentation. Since Municipal Services converted to the automated trash pick-up – converting to the gray residential containers that trucks outfitted with lifts pick up at the curb – there has been a drop in the number of solid waste worker compensation claims due to injuries.

In 2004, the department had $410,885 in claims, according to a department report. By 2008, claims had dropped to $9,360. The claims in 2007 and 2008, after the conversion, were related to injuries caused by picking up yard waste.

“We have not near the turnover in solid waste workers,” Siefert said about the conversion. “They can get their routes done more timely and cut down on overtime.”

And even with the growth, Siefert said the department won’t need to add more drivers or trucks until 2012.

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