ISRI 2006 CONVENTION & EXPOSITION: The Power of Partnership

Panelists at the 2006 ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.) Convention & Exposition discussed a number of measures that municipalities can take to increase the curbside recovery of recyclables at a session titled “Municipal and Community Partnerships,” Wednesday, April 5.

Steve Thompson of the Curbside Value Partnership, a project of the Aluminum Association and the Can Manufacturers Institute, spoke about the consortium’s efforts to boost curbside recycling participation to increase recovery rates for recyclables, specifically aluminum cans.

Thompson said curbside recycling programs represent the “lowest-hanging fruit” in increasing diversion rates, as 54 percent of single-family homes are serviced by curbside recycling programs.

The Curbside Value Partnership is focused on recovering the most valuable commodities first, such as paper and aluminum cans, according to Thompson, as well as on compiling good data and sharing best practices among partner communities. Current CVP partner communities are Kansas City, Mo.; San Antonio, Texas; Brevard County, Fla.; Indian River, Fla.; Denver; Orlando, Fla., and Omaha, Neb. 

In the last two years, the Curbside Value Partnership has found that public education efforts can pay for themselves. By way of example, Thompson cited the 132 percent return on investment that Brevard County, Fla., saw on its community education efforts. Additionally, contract design is key to improving program effectiveness and efficiency, according to Curbside Value Partnership findings. By using bigger bins, communities can increase recovery and lower their costs, according to Thompson. The partnership also found that Pay-As-You-Throw programs boost recycling tonnage.

Charlotte Pitt of Denver Recycles spoke about that Denver’s overhaul of its 160,000-home curbside recycling program that began in 2005 when the city launched a single-stream program and added seven new materials to its collection efforts.

The success Denver Recycles has seen is largely in light of the contracts it uses for processing and container purchasing, which include money for education efforts, Pitt said. Denver Recycles also solicits corporate sponsors to help with its educational efforts, including Coca Cola, Waste Management (through its processing contract), Rehrig-Pacific (through its container contract) and the Denver Newspaper Agency, to name a few.

Pitt said Denver Recycles tries to find corporate sponsors for mutually beneficial relationships and then sets up an informal MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) process using e-mail. She said that partnerships between government organizations and the private sector should be mutually beneficial, incorporate creativity and flexibility and offer both parties what they need.

Carmen Cognetta of the New York City Council offered an overview of recycling in that city, from its rocky start through to today.

Initially, the city’s recycling contracts were too short term, Cognetta said. Because of this, none of the contracted companies invested in infrastructure development. Today, the city has a long-term contract with Hugo Neu, which has helped to reduce program costs.

Ron Gonen of RecycleBank, Philadelphia, told attendees about his companies efforts to increase diversion and provide quality data to municipalities that contract with his company.

RecycleBank, which tracks recycling participation by household in the communities it services, and awards residents for their recycling efforts, boasts a 90-percent participation rate in the communities it services and a 50-percent recycling rate, Gonen said. The company presents recycling as an environmental and a economic opportunity to the communities it approaches, highlighting the tax savings and local jobs that recycling can create.

RecycleBank offers municipalities a single-stream recycling program and provides households with a cart that includes an RFID tag. The company’s trucks scan the RFID tags and weigh the carts as they are tipped. Households are then provided with RecycleBank Dollars that they can use to shop at partner stores, which include national and local retailers. The company can also track the households’ recycling habits and provide that information to the municipalities it services, so they can tailor their education efforts for maximum efficiency as well as design more efficient routes.  

Gonen summed up the cornerstones of the RecycleBank system as incentive-based recycling; container management; research and reporting; and community outreach.

RecycleBank gets paid through a municipalities landfill diversion rates. While the company is not yet profitable after a year in a half in business, Gonen said he expects to be profitable in a year. The company currently services parts of Philadelphia and New England and will begin serving Wilmington, Del., this June. RecycleBank is also preparing to launch an apartment building collection model, as well, Gonen said.

The 2006 ISRI Convention & Exposition was April 2-6 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.