A city task force is recommending the city adopt single stream recycling that would not require residents to separate recyclable materials.
The Recycling Task Force also is recommending that the city immediately adopt a three-week recycling collection schedule and implement a “pay-as-you-throw” system under which, in its most common form, the city would charge residents for garbage carts but provide recycling carts for free.
“The PAYT program results in a decrease in the trash tonnage and increase in recycling tonnage. A 16 to 17 percent diversion from residential trash is the average, which is generally divided equally among recycling, yard waste and source reduction,” the task force said in its report.
The city collects recyclables once a month from 95-gallon carts in 85% of the city and weekly from 18-gallon bins in the other 15%. The system in the bulk of the city uses divided recycling carts, with one-half reserved for containers and the other half reserved for paper. The larger carts generally are not big enough to hold a month’s worth of recyclables, particularly for newspaper subscribers.
The task force’s report is scheduled to be discussed Thursday by the Common Council’s Public Works Committee.
Recycling by city residents has declined sharply.
Source: Recycling Task Force Final Report and Recommendations to the Common Council
The single stream recommendation, if adopted, would eliminate the need for divided recycling carts.
“Single stream recycling is more user friendly because the public can simply consolidate all recyclables in the home and place them all in one cart without further sorting,” the task force said in its report. “The recycling industry is moving toward single stream recycling nationwide. Single stream can accommodate fully automated collection, which improves efficiency by allowing carts to be serviced without the driver exiting the vehicle.”
Under a single stream recycling program, recyclables would be sorted after they are collected. The task force recommended two options for handling the materials after they are collected — one recommendation assumes the city would work on its own and the other assumes it would team up with Waukesha County and Wauwatosa to develop a materials recycling facility.
Putting aside any green reasons, a move like this could be good for Milwaukee’s bottom line as it could receive more aid for doing a better job recycling and avoid paying more tipping fees as well.
The presentation of the report was held until a future meeting of the Public Works Committee, likely March 9th. I also have a clarification regarding the graph caption, “Recycling by city residents has declined sharply.” Recycling TONNAGE has declined (due to steep declines in print circulation of newspapers as well as light-weighting of packaging products), but recycling PARTICIPATION in Milwaukee’s program is as high as ever. The graph’s decline is reflective of the fact that there’s simply less weight of recyclables generated.