All posts in the topic Recycling a thing of the past? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 26 posts — by 18 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Mark Snyder at Jun 05 19:33 UTC
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>
On 5/20/08, John Ferman <jwferman@ties2.net> wrote:
> 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?
Holding your breath might not be that dangerous.
From the solid waste and recycling part of the city website:
Recycling Container Options
We prefer that you use our recycling bins, and they are available to
you at no cost. Additional recycling bins can be requested by calling
our office.
Acceptable alternatives:
Small wastebaskets, pails and corrugated boxes less than 10 gallons in
size may be used instead of paper bags to hold cans, paper or plastic.
Large containers, less then 30 gallons in size, may be used. However,
recyclables must still be in separate paper bags inside the container.
If you plan to regularly use a non-city-provided container for your
recycling, you must place city recycling stickers on at least one side
of the container. To request recycling stickers be mailed to you,
please call Solid Waste & Recycling at (612) 673-2917.
Do not use 12 or 24 pack beer or soda boxes for recycling.
John Harris
webber-camden
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
Young, Susan wrote:
> Greetings:
Great post! Thanks for the info.
Shawne FitzGerald
Powderhorn
Early Mornings with
Elizabeth!
Friday, May 23rd
7:30-9:00am
Turtle Bread
4762 Chicago Ave. S.
In the Pizza Biga Room
Go Green!
Join Elizabeth for a discussion of "green" initiatives in our
neighborhoods. We will be joined by Diana McKeown, of the Green
institute, who coordinates the Metro CERT program (Clean Energy Resource
Teams). The purpose of CERT is to give community members a voice in
energy planning and organizing activities - how can we work together on
clean energy projects? We will also be joined by Amy Arcand, of
Corcoran Neighborhood, and Sarah Linnes-Robinson, of Kingfield
Neighborhood, who will describe creative neighborhood initiatives that
encourage residents to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as Erika
from Do it Green (www.doitgreen.org). From schools, to faith
institutions, to neighborhoods and public entities, we all have a role
to play in reducing global warming. Come to Early Mornings and learn
more from neighbors and friends!
BAN THE DELIVERY OF PHONE BOOKS!
I think the city council should look at some initiatives to reduce and/OR ban
the door to door delivery of phone books. The city council has shown a history
of being interested in environmentally friendly ideas, and this could be a
major one.
We must get about 5 or 6 new phone books per year from various marketers.
How about the city council adopts an ordiance that bans the door to door
deliverY and requires the marketing companies to make initial contact with some
one at the residence, via telephone or return post card, and requires a
positive response from someone in the house that indicates they are interested
and in need of a new phone book. And possibly require the marketers to place a
big recycling reminder/instructions on the new phone book.
I recently received the most recent delivery of 2 new books, and promptly
decided I would throw the old and the new books in the recycling container due
to the fact that I can't even remember the last time I cracked the spine of a
phone book, if I need to 'look up something' I just head to Google.com.
Here on the north side, with our vacant vs. occupied ratio, we have plenty of
unclaimed, un-needed white bags of phone books adding to the litter of our
neighborhood.
So, CITY COUNCIL PEOPLE! If you are reading this, can you look in to the idea
of banning the door to door delivery of phone books in the city?
-Megan G.
Jordan
Sure, why not? While we're at it lets ban delivery of
newspapers and all non-government approved information
while we're at it.
Banning is just bad public policy. Why is everyone in such a hurry to ban?
Mike Thompson
Windom
Quoting Megan Goodmundson <goodponyz@yahoo.com>:
On 5/22/08, <email obscured> <mthomps@mninter.net> wrote:
> Banning is just bad public policy. Why is everyone in such a hurry to ban?
I agree that banning is a little excessive in this case. What I don't
understand is I received a phone call from whoever the phone book was
from, asking me if i received them yet. I quickly said i did hoping I
didn't and wouldn't get them but when I got home, they were on my
step.
I'd think it would be reasonable to have an option to opt out.
John Harris
webber-camden
According to the Star Tribune 3/31/08: http://www.startribune.com/17144696.html “…85 percent of the telephone directories are dumped into the regular trash, even though it has been illegal to do so since 1992. State pollution officials call it one of Minnesota’s biggest solid-waste problems…. A 1992 Minnesota law prohibits putting phone directories in landfills or incinerators, and requires directory publishers to provide and publicize drop-off collection bins, make arrangements with recycling firms and report annually on recycling rates.” Why are so few people recycling phone books? Why is it so hard to recycle a phone book in Minneapolis? Instructions from the city: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/recycling-separating.asp Phone Books: Keep dry. Place on top or inside the bin. What happens if you follow the directions provided by the city? In my case, nothing. They left my phone books but took the rest of the recycling! No wonder so many phone books are found illegally in the garbage. Why can't we have an opt in system rather than an opt out system for phone books? Our household views receiving a phone book without a request as spam. Removal is a pain so I'd like to bill someone for this waste. In fact, I'd like a credit for using the phone book features on-line or over the phone. I think the city should educate residents and recyclers that everyone should be able to recycle their phone books all year round but also tie the recycling to an annual event, like National Night Out or something. Information on Phone Book Recycling from a major phone book company: https://www.advertisewithdex.com/Dex/CDA/Directory/Recycling_Results.jsp -Amanda Tempel, NE Minneapolis
I'd love an opt out on the phone books! No one in my household uses
them and since its a duplex, we sometimes get a stack of them that is
at least a couple feet high. They typically sit on the front porch or
the entryway until someone feels like dragging them out back to the
recycling.
I agree with Kevin that a ban may be a bit draconian but I think that
requiring an opt-out on all periodically delivered unsolicited
materials might be reasonable.
Its especially annoying given that a large percentage (a quarter to
half of it some months) of the recycling I have to take out is junk
mail, phone books and those commercial circulars that keep ending up
in my front lawn. The only unrequested mail I don't mind getting is
the Northeaster because I like reading it and black & white newsprint
is really good for cleaning/polishing mirrors, windows, and metal
fixtures.
I'm thinking of saving up all those advertising circulars
mini-newspaper things (there's the reddish one and the glossy one that
often has Rainbow and/or Menards in them) and every couple months
leaving them on the counter of one of the stores that advertise in
them. What do you think? I mean, these people are paying to have
people come on to my property and leaving trash in my front yard or on
my porch which is pretty much never OK with me. At a minimum, the
people who leave them in my lawn should get tickets for littering.
Also, as the originator of this thread noted, I have to intentionally
get paper bags to have something to put the recycling in. I normally
shop with reusable bags or just use my bike panniers and feel like a
jerk taking a couple paper bags and sticking them in with my groceries
every so often, but what are you going to do?
It should be noted that St. Paul can just put their recycling directly
in the blue bins and only has to sort it into two categories -
paper/cardboard and metal/glass/plastic/milk cartons/juice boxes.
Seems like a nicer setup to me.
- phaedrus (jason.goray), 3-6, minneapolis, minnesota, usa, earth.
I hate having phone books show up at my door. Does anyone know if we can opt
out on this special deliveries?
It's such a waste. They go from their delivery bag to our recycling bin ASAP.
-Jennife Rubenzer, Maple Grove
Jennifer Rubenzer - Sent Via Blackberry
RE/MAX Results
763-439-4663 ~ cell
763-591-6029 ~ office
763-590-6030 ~ fax
www.EasyHomeInfo.net ~ web
I've been using plastic waste bins for a couple years for cans and glass with
no problem. The only problem is that the aluminum thieves like to grab the
taller kitchen bins if I put the cans out too early.
The question I have is why can't we recycle more of the plastics with recycling
marks like yogurt containers. It seems to me that if they can't really be
recycled this "green" city should address the issue at the grocery store level.
Steven Clift
Yesterday, a friend happened to tell me about a pilot program for recycling various types of plastic at the Eastside Food Co-op, 2551 Central Ave. in northeast Minneapolis: http://www.eastsidefood.coop/ retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp? storeID=4BDBCB19C9F6461490FDC3F35FB2A851 Hal Johnson Seward
Well, it was pointed out to me that a number of my statements re: the
recycling program in Minneapolis were addressed earlier in Susan
Young's post on bags and seperation.
So, yeah, my face is a bit pink. Apologies and please disregard what
I had to say on that.
So, that leaves:
- Opting out of phone book delivery (or, preferably, only getting them
if you opt in)
- Opting out of unsolicited periodic commercial junk mail like those
little red newspapery things.
- And add my support to the concept of recycling more types of plastic
(and yes, I know of and intend to participate in the pilot program at
eastside coop).
I'm hoping I didn't miss the solutions to these already being posted.
- phaedrus (jason.goray), 3-6, minneapolis, minnesota, usa, earth.
At 2:28 PM -0500 5/22/08, Hal Johnson wrote: >Yesterday, a friend happened to tell me about a pilot program for >recycling various types of plastic at the Eastside Food Co-op, 2551 >Central Ave. in northeast Minneapolis: http://www.eastsidefood.coop/ >retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp? >storeID=4BDBCB19C9F6461490FDC3F35FB2A851 > >Hal Johnson >Seward > Connie here: Thanks to Hal for the URL for the East Side Co-Op. I think everyone should participate as fully as possible in this pilot program, which is an experiment to see whether people really want to do the sorting and the rinsing out. They say on the Co-Op's page: "There MUST BE" significant participation for the NE company to figure if recycling those plastics is feasible for their business. Let's encvourage them by schlepping our stuff up to them, and telling everyone we know about the pilot program. You have to do the sorting. By the number on the bottom of the container. I'm already putting together those yoghurt, cottage cheese, and sour cream tubs, and all those clear plastic thingies you get berries in, etc. Let's hope this works! Connie Como, in Southeast Mpls
The reason we all get those advertisements and catalogs in the mail
box is a result of Postal Regulations to implement Federal law. The
shippers pay a very minimal postal fee, which nowhere near covers the
actual cost. So the opt-out solution requires a lobbying of Congress
(ie, letter to Keith Eliason). But note: this is not a Mpls specific
topic so it is not proper on this venue. I don't know if there is an
appropriate eDemocracy venue.
John Ferman
<email obscured>
"- Opting out of unsolicited periodic commercial junk mail like those
little red newspapery things."
The only way I know of doing this is by entering your name & address at the
Direct Mailers Assn website (www.DMAchoice.com) and indicating that you do not
want to receive this mail. But that won't affect inserts in your newspaper,
nor mailings that go to every address on the carrier route (addressed to
"Postal Customer 55406" or similar). The Post Office is required to deliver
every item that is mailed.
"- And add my support to the concept of recycling more types of plastic
(and yes, I know of and intend to participate in the pilot program at
eastside coop)."
I believe the city used to do this, but stopped because it was not cost
effective. Most people did not properly sort their plastic containers into 6
different types, and no company was interested in buying this recycled plastic
from the city -- the prices offered were less than the cost of collecting it.
Apparently just a few of the wrong type plastic in the mix will mess up a whole
batch when they are melted down for reuse.
So now the city cheerfully accepts them into the refuse stream that goes to the
garbage burner -- being made from oil originally, they burn quite well and
produce a lot of energy. So just throwing them into the garbage is a form of
recycling -- much of the energy in them IS recycled.
Unfortunately you can't currently opt out of receiving a phone book like you
can with junk mail. The opt out vs opt in issue might not seem like a city
issue but that doesn't mean that our local city elected officials can take the
lead on this issue when discussing ways to make the city greener. Until a
poster here mentioned it I hadn't even thought of all of the phone books being
left at foreclosed homes across the city and what an eyesore it is before the
city has to clean it up.
Again to make this a city issue and keep to the recycling topic, I'd like to
see the city use an insert or reminder note on our water and solid waste bills
reminding us that it's the law to recycle our phone books and how to do it all
year round. I still believe that if we asked people to bring their unwanted
phone books to national night out or the aquatennial, we could make it fun and
easy to recycle phone books. The volume would show the problem and provide a
photo op that could help us change hearts and minds about the opt in and opt
out options for phone books.
-Mandy Tempel, NE Park
Since people have been asking I thought I'd post some information on the
Eastside Food Co-Op's Pilot Plastic Recycling Program. -Mandy Tempel, NE Park
& EFC member
* Plastics MUST be sorted according to numbers #1 thru #6
* Plastics must be free of food waste
* Participation must be high
Please check for the recycling triangle on your plastics, sort, and bring to
the co-op:
#1 PETE
#2 HDPE
#3 PVC
#4 LDPE
#5 PP
#6 PS - NO "styrofoam"
Please rinse out your containers before bringing them to the collection bins.
The program is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.
NEW EXTENDED HOURS BEGINNING JUNE 5! The program will be open on Thursday
evenings until 9 p.m.
VOLUNTEER TRAINING NEXT FRIDAY: Jon Stein of Consolidated Container will
conduct a volunteer training Friday, May 30 at 4:00 p.m. for people interested
in volunteering to staff the plastics recycling center for extended hours. If
you can't make the training, but you want to volunteer, please contact Amy at
Eastside Food Co-op, <email obscured>.
This Pilot Program is a partnership among the City of Minneapolis, the Eastside
Food Co-op (EFC), and Consolidated Containers, a Northeast Minneapolis
business.
Information found in this post is also located at: http://www.eastsidefood.coop
Reminder - extended hours for the Pilot Plastic Recycling Program hosted by the
Eastside Food Co-op begins tonight and will run until 9:00 PM on Thursday
nights through the summer. Anyone who wants to test my knowledge of plastics
can come by next Thursday (June 12th) from 7:00-9:00 PM.
* Plastics MUST be sorted according to numbers #1 thru #6
* Plastics must be free of food waste
* Participation must be high
Please check for the recycling triangle on your plastics, sort, and bring to
the co-op:
#1 PETE
#2 HDPE
#3 PVC
#4 LDPE
#5 PP
#6 PS - NO "styrofoam"
Please rinse out your containers before bringing them to the collection bins.
The program is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.
NEW EXTENDED HOURS BEGINNING JUNE 5! The program will be open on Thursday
evenings until 9 p.m.
This Pilot Program is a partnership among the City of Minneapolis, the Eastside
Food Co-op (EFC), and Consolidated Containers, a Northeast Minneapolis
business.
Information found in this post is also located at: http://www.eastsidefood.coop
Mark Snyder
Windom Park
Founder, Trash Lady Fan Club :-)
http://northeastbeat.ning.com/group/trashladyfanclub
On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 05:12:07 +1200 (NZST), Mark Snyder wrote:
>Reminder - extended hours for the Pilot Plastic Recycling Program hosted by
the Eastside Food Co-op begins tonight and will run until 9:00 PM on Thursday
nights through the summer. Anyone who wants to test my knowledge of plastics
can come by next Thursday (June 12th) from 7:00-9:00 PM.
You do realize that most of us don't have a clue where the Eastside Food
Co-op is, a top-secret bit of info that's not even divulged on their
website?
On 6/5/08, Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> wrote:
> You do realize that most of us don't have a clue where the Eastside Food
> Co-op is, a top-secret bit of info that's not even divulged on their
> website?
2551 Central Ave. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
(612) 788-0950
(612) 781-2324 (fax)
E-mail Our Store
Driving Directions
or so says www.eastsidefood.coop
its on the right hand side of the home page about half way down near
where the hours are listed.
John Harris
webber-camden, mpls
Actually, the address is shown on the co-op home page on the right-hand-side
under "Visit our Store" - there's also a "driving directions" link available
there for anyone who needs directions.
But for those who missed it, the address is:
2551 Central Ave. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
Or one block north of the Lowry Ave. and Central Ave. intersection in Northeast
Minneapolis.
I'll grant that it could be more prominent, I'll suggest that to the web
master.
Mark Snyder
Windom Park