Greetings:
Susan Young, Trash Lady here.
I've replied to several folks off-list; perhaps there is now sufficient
interest in this topic for an on-list response, and I truly do not want
any of my customers to turn blue.
Yes, paper bags are preferred in the recycling program, but as the
Recycling Calendar that recently went out reiterated, any rigid
containers of 10 gallon size or less are also OK. I checked old
calendars, and it's been that way since 1983. The calendar suggests
small bathroom wastebaskets or corrugated boxes; I use containers that I
bought shrubs in. We've got the Red Recycling stickers for you to put
on your own containers, so that the garbage and recycling guys won't
think that you just want to trash the containers. E-mail me off-list
with your address and the number of stickers that you want me to mail
out.
We prefer paper bags for a few reasons. First, they are easy for most
folks to get, and if people don't use paper bags at grocery stores we
have supplies that we can deliver to your house. Second, paper bags are
a good size for customers and for the recyclers. Heaving a container of
junk mail over your head to get it into the recycling truck, and holding
on to an edge so that you can give it back to the customer is much more
difficult, and injury causing, than tossing a paper bag of junk mail
into the proper compartment on the truck. The size of recycling bins,
nationally, is derived from the ability to fit three, or four, paper
bags into the bin. Third, Kraft paper (paper bag paper) is highly
recyclable, and provides strength to recycled paper products, making
them more valuable and insuring the viability of recycling markets.
Fourth, the rigidity of paper bags makes sorting at the side of the
truck possible; it is very difficult to support a large container of
glass and sort it in to the color-specific compartments on the truck, it
is much easier to wrap one arm around the paper bag of glass and use the
other hand to sort with. Finally, when junk mail, or magazines or
boxboard are in paper bags, they have much less chance to blow around
the neighborhood on windy days. Loose papers in 10 gallon containers
seem to try to escape the recycling truck, either as they're being put
in the truck or between stops in the alley, while papers in bags are
much less susceptible to wind borne escape attempts.
If you have some paper bags, please use them for your mail and office
paper. If you would like some paper bags, we do get extras, and will
deliver you a bunch!
In Minneapolis we separate our recyclables so that they can be marketed
for reuse. I've been doing the waste thing for 30 years, and I've never
been able to sell garbage for money. I am able to market recyclables,
and Minneapolis cleared almost 1.4 million dollars (net processing and
marketing) on our recyclables last year. To give you scale, that is the
equivalent of $1.40 per dwelling unit per month on your City Solid Waste
bill that remains in the Solid Waste Fund, and it allowed us to not
raise the Solid waste fee in 2008. There is a second reason to keep
your recyclables separated, and that is energy consumption. Once your
stuff is commingled, it takes person-power and lots of electrical power
to sort the commodities back out. Air separation systems, vortexes,
conveyor belts and mega-magnets draw lots of electrical power; the
person-power is for the stuff that needs to be hand-sorted. As I think
about things that will help Minneapolis be more sustainable, keeping
separated stuff separated and saving the energy to re-sort them is high
on my list.
Finally, all of the Minneapolis solid waste management services:
garbage, recycling, large item collection, yard wastes, the transfer
station, most litter containers, graffiti removal, clean sweeps and
other programs are part of Solid Waste and Recycling services in the
Public Works Department. SW & R is an Enterprise program, which means
that all of the money to do our work comes from the fee on the utility
bill, or specific fees for services. We do not receive funds from the
General Fund (property taxes), in fact, we contribute to that fund. An
Enterprise operation is very similar to a "regular" business; we can
only spend what we make, and we can't "overspend" our money if I make
bad business decisions. I continue to monitor programs in other cities
to see what and how they are doing, and what can be learned from their
efforts. My goal is to continue to provide the most cost effective,
customer oriented and sustainable services to Minneapolis citizens, in
keeping with our Clean City goals.
Thanks for another opportunity to Talk Trash!
Susan Young, Trash Lady, Graffiti Maven and Shopping Cart Diva
Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling Services
Rest of post
-----Original Message-----
From: John Ferman [mailto:<email obscured>]
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:56 PM
To: Mpls Issues
Subject: [Mpls] Recycling a thing of the past?
The city requires cans, bottles, office paper to be in paper sacks.
The new environmentally aware era uses re-usable bags; either cloth,
paper, or plastic - it would be an environmentally criminal act to
place recycable materials in too valuable paper bags. The question is
when will Mpls adapt its so-retro recycling program to the new
realities? Should I hold my breath? Or is that too dangerous?
Jack Ferman
Kingfield Neighborhood
<email obscured>