SWAINTON — Recycling could be made easier: all in one container.
Imagine lower tipping fees and lower solid waste disposal costs. These are not dreams, but could happen as early as March 2013 if Cape May County’s municipalities, which recycle the most tonnage, opt to go “single stream.”
Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton broached the topic of single-stream recycling to board peers at the Tue., June 12 caucus. Thornton’s comment stemmed from a June 8 county Conference of Mayor’s meeting during which Executive Director Charles Norkis, of Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority, informed eight of the county’s 16 mayors present of the proposal that he detailed in a June 1 letter.
“The recyclables have one source. Everything goes into one big can. It can really save time, it’s easier for tourists it makes it easier to separate bottles and paper. He (Norkis) said that recycling increased significantly in places that did this, and tipping fees would go down. It is pretty interesting,” Thornton said.
Don’t start tossing everything recyclable into one can immediately. Before single-stream recycling becomes reality in Cape May County, there must be consensus among the largest recycling tonnage municipalities. That sentiment is being sought from local officials by July 15.
If and when such a nod is given, the MUA would give ReCommunity, operator of the Intermediate Processing Facility, approval to begin a renovation of the plant at the Woodbine Sanitary Landfill. That plant presently has two lines for recyclable materials, paper on one, cans and bottles (plastic and glass) on the other.
A renovation would take about 28 weeks, said Norkis. Work could be completed by March 31, 2013. The changeover would cost an estimated $4 million, and would reduce the rebates to the 16 municipalities by about $139,000 or 25 percent less than the 2010 figure of $555,291.
Norkis told mayors the IPF at Woodbine has been processing the county’s recyclable materials for over 20 years. Because it is a dual-stream facility, residents and businesses must source separate their cans, bottles, and paper.
“While this system has been successful in achieving relatively high recycling rates for Cape May County’s municipalities, the recycling industry has, over the last few years, found that single stream recycling can be more effective and efficient. With single stream recycling, all paper, cardboard, as well as Glass, plastic, tin and aluminum containers are placed in a single bin for collection,” he wrote.
Areas that have implemented single-stream recycling have noted an increase in recycling rates, Norkis said.
Data from around the nation “suggests that significant increases in recycling rates occur when the switch to single stream is combined with the use of large (64 to 96 gallon) collection cart systems, and extensive educational outreach.”
Since the county already experiences good recycling, the change, should it occur, would be expected to increase countywide recycling rates.
Norkis cited Ocean County’s experience when it switched to single from dual stream recycling, and experienced a 24 percent increase in tonnage recycled. The change there was accompanied by a conversion of collection vehicles for recyclables to the automated large collection cart system by about a third of towns.
With such an investment and community outreach that accompanies it, such an increase may be expected compared with municipalities that do not take such action.
“Since there has been a steady downward trend in recycling rates here, as well as statewide over the last several years,” Norkis wrote, “any potential to increase recycling in Cape May County should be persuaded.”
Cost savings can also be expected, Norkis said, from collection of single stream recyclables which will utilize a single, rather than dual pick up.
Norkis further pointed out that municipal recycling collection systems that today use two separate vehicles for collection of recyclables would be able to collect the materials with one truck.
“The county’s municipalities should also financially benefit from single stream recycling by receiving larger annual recycling tonnage grants from the State of New Jersey, which are tied to the tons actually recycled,” Norkis continued. More recycling would mean more rebate money to municipalities that do a better job, he noted.
The last component of financial savings that each municipality should accrue, Norkis said, would be from lower solid waste disposal fees, as each additional ton recycled would mean a savings of $65.95 per ton (based on present user fee) by avoiding the landfill tipping fee.
Finally, Norkis said since all 16 municipalities are served by the IPF, “it is appropriate that the decision whether to convert the IPF from a dual stream facility to single stream recycling facility should be made collaboratively by our partner municipalities.”
Norkis told mayors a decision “needs to be made this summer in order to allow adequate time for the municipalities to rebid or renegotiate their collection contracts and for municipally operated collection programs to modify their public works systems to accommodate the change to single stream collection in time for 2013 municipal budget preparations.”
See related story: http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/node/83995/edit
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com
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Do you think it's appropriate for BLM to call for "Burning down the city" and "Black Vigilantes" because…
