Sustainability Think Tank @ Merge

This is a fascinating topic because I would be willing to surmise that from an economic standpoint, not recycling would have a greater impact on taxation than recycling, particularly in the places where the city owns the recycle trucks and has the employees. Sure, they might get "paid" to sell the recyclables, but what is the long term and short term costs to operate the system (manpower, gas, vehicles, etc)?

Better yet, is it environmentally friendly to have have two trucks on the same route collecting two kinds of waste, exhausting tons of pollution into the air, or is it better to have one?

Could you save taxes by not recycling at all as a city and let the place where your trash goes pick out the recyclables like some places already do?

Making a pro-recycling argument on the basis of an assumption of lower taxes is best served if you can answers some of the se guess as alternatives. You're argument is predicated on the assumption that people SHOULD recycle. But if you intend to argue this, that everyone must recycle, by using a "we can save taxes" argument, you should be prepared to listen to suggestions of eliminating recycle all together.

The City of Buffalo recently rfp'd for Recycling. One of the bidders was RecycleBank (RecycleBank.com) which is a really unique company that actually creates an incentive for residents to recycle.

With RecycleBank, the more material a resident recycles - by weight - the more points they are given. The points are redeemable at participating stores for goods, or they can be donated to nonprofits. There is an initial cost for the city to buy totes, much like the garbage totes, that are used for recycled materials; but the City saves money on disposal fees because more materials are diverted from the waste stream and and don't go to landfills.

I was disappointed to see that RecycleBank was not chosen, as they provide the sort fo creativity we need here. They are having great impact in other cities.

Hopefully citizen involvement can help here too. 2011 can be the year of the citizen activist!

Recycling is one component of sustainability. Sounds like a fascinating discussion that could range from sustainable transportation, land use planning, energy efficiency, green construction, and green infrastructure.

By the way, anyone interested in any of these topics should contribute to the public process that will inform Buffalo's new citywide land use plan and "green" zoning code. This is your chance to make sustainability the law of the city. Learn more:

http://www.buffalogreencode.com

The city has been doing a good job on providing recycling services. Whoever gets the new recycling job, a key component is expanding the amount of recyclable materials collected. People don't like to recycle because it involves reading and understanding the difference between types of plastic.

I was heartened to read that the city is attempting to expand the types of materials that can be collected. That will make everything easier. Once a new system is in place, the key is educating the public to understand that when you put something in the recycle bin it does NOT get thrown into the garbage truck. It is amazing that people still think that happens.

This problem is nation wide. The United States doesn't do enough recycling. In places I have visited in NC and FL recycling isn't even an option for curb side pick up. It amazes me. I am surprised by the low number (6%) in Buffalo. Do you have a number for Erie County as a whole?

I am happy to see the issue being raised and addressed with optimism and multiple ideas.

The whole discussion seems very 1990's to me however. How is it that we have not established a working knowledge and process of how to recycle as we approach 2011?

When I look at countries like Germany who utilize inventions that were created here in the United States for solar, recycling, wind and other clean industries to much greater effect, we must say that it is not the science that is flawed but our government policies and public knowledge.

What a shame that our task at hand is still attempting to create incentives for people to do what they should be doing anyway.

but.. but.. the bums make a mess of recycling bins looking for cans. :(

"People don't like to recycle because it involves reading and understanding the difference between types of plastic. "

Well at my house here in the burbs its rather simple. If it looks recyclable, throw it in the recycle bin. The guys on the truck know exactly what does and doesn't get recycled. I brought a bunch of CAR PARTS out to them one day and they told me "That That That, not that, That"

Car parts obviously don't come with the cool little triangle on the bottom that tells you what type of plastic it is, so I wouldn't have known even if I checked the recyclables list.

Everything they don't take goes in the trash for next week. how hard is that ?

I am a landlord in the city; I also occupy one of my own units, so I realize that puts me in rare company among landlords in the city (or so it seems). We have simple rules for our tenants, and one of these is "blue-bin recycling is mandatory." When I get a new tenant, the tenant gets two new, clean bins (I usually pick them up at City Hall, but I have gone to nearby community centers where they are available too) and a copy of the do's and don't's sheet the city puts in my user fee envelope. (What happens to the old bins? I fill them with small e-waste and they're usually so broken up--from USE!--that I just hand them over to the e-waste people at those twice-a-year e-waste collections Erie County cosponsors.)

And then I watch and guide the process (young tenants often goof up the "no pizza boxes" rule, while older tenants seem to fail to realize that the cardboard boxes scoopable kitty litter comes in are cardboard). I also try to impress upon them all that there is no reason to put the damn bins (or the house's garbage totes) to the street UNLESS THEY ARE FULL. (Okay, that last points drives me nuts where my neighbors are concerned: Anyone who puts a 95-gallon tote to the curb with a single 13-gallon bag of kitchen waste in it is just as wasteful (or more)--to my mind--as someone who fails to recycle their junk mail.)

What I'd like to see on user fee bills is a statement of the cost of refuse collection (millions), a line indicating how much the city saved through recycling efforts in the most recent period (thousands) and an estimate of what that user fee COULD BE if recycling efforts were to reach national averages (NOT Pacific Northwest standards!). Show us the money when it matters: When we look at our bills!

My in laws live in Charlottesville, Va. Their county recently changed their recycling process. Now everything gets thrown in the trash--garbage and recycling together. The trash is then processed at a central plant where recyclables are segregated. Result? Huge decreases in landfill costs and trash costs for the county and big profits (from recycled material) for the company doing the separating. I find this approach appealing.

We recycle a good amount, but I'm sure 50% of the rest of our trash could be recycled. Most people don't even bother to recycle what we do. The big benefit of a centralized sorting system is that you don't have to rely on Joe homeowner to do the right thing; workers trained in such things can do it much more efficiently than the novice general population tends to.

Great meeting last night! Next one is set for Tuesday, 2/8 from 5:30-8:30pm, I believe...