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Recycling success continues to grow
(by Sue Reid - July 29, 2009)
Recycling success continues to grow
By SUE REID
The Solon Service Department has kept track of the historical data since a recycling program began in the city in the late 1980s, and the number of stops continues to rise.
Service Director Thomas Bandiera told City Council's public works committee that residents' participation in recycling has resulted in sky-high numbers.
In January 2007, the number of recycling stops in the city was around 5,000, Mr. Bandiera said. In January 2009, it was near 12,000 stops. That was a direct result of an automated rubbish program that began last December, he said.
"When we started the automated program, we were seeing growth in that specific area," he said. For example, the recycling participation six months into phase one of the automated rubbish program increased 50 percent, he said. "It was huge." In direct correlation, the city's solid-waste tonnage was down about 35 percent, he said. "We wanted to do apples to apples."
Mr. Bandiera said that, in the next six months of phase one of the automated program, he expects those numbers to be even better.
"The residents love the program," Mr. Bandiera said. "They know where to put the recyclables out. It's second nature now."
The city has been doing single-stream recycling for about three years, Mr. Bandiera said. That is where residents can commingle all of their recycled products in one bag. Prior to that, they were required to sort everything, including plastic, glass and aluminum, Mr. Bandiera said.
"That had a huge impact on our recycling program and greatly affected participation," he said of the commingling. "It made it easier for residents."
Mr. Bandiera said there was no reason to sort materials any longer because the material handling facilities were taking them in a commingled state.
"There was more of a market to send it to these stations in a commingled state instead of separating it," he said.
Mr. Bandiera also said that before going to single-stream recycling, the city had good participation and was seeing good recycling numbers, "but the single stream gave us that little edge."
The other program the city began at that same time involved secondary recycling. Secondary recyclable material is only picked up the first full week of every month. He said that his department did a great deal of research involving secondary recyclable material and identified items that residents just did not have every week. Those common items included computers, propane bottles, fire extinguishers, pesticides, pool chemicals and hazardous household waste products.
"Now we have the residents used to holding those particular products to the first full week of the month," Mr. Bandiera said. "That makes us much more productive because we don't have to put the truck out every day." Because of that change, the city has seen huge savings in the area of fuel by not having the truck out every day.
"We knew we really were gong in the right direction with our recycling program," he said.
Mr. Bandiera said that city is still in phase one of the automated rubbish program and the phase two mailing has just gone out to residents who will be included in that phase. That phase is scheduled to tentatively begin around mid-September, he said.
"Automated rubbish contributes to more recycling because people are thinking more about recycling," he said. In addition, his department has worked to educate the public as much as possible, by showing them what things they are able to recycle in the single stream, commingling process.
"This is a good mix with recycling and solid waste," Mr. Bandiera said. "The goal is to reduce the amount of solid waste that we as a community produce, because it costs money to get rid of it."
A lot of strategic planning has been involved in this process, Mr. Bandiera said.
Looking ahead, he said, his department will continue with events like Earth Day as well as participate in Solon Home Days as it did last weekend.
"Those are good opportunities to reach out to the community and get them information on the benefits of recycling," Mr. Bandiera said.
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