Most people will say recycling is a good thing.
In fact, 85 percent of city residents who participated in an online non-scientific city survey said they recycle, and 77 percent of those respondents called the city’s recycling program good or excellent.
But the statistics show a far different story. The amount of materials that city residents recycle is small, and since 2000, the percentage of the city’s total waste stream that goes to recycling has slowly eroded.
Last year, Fort Wayne residents recycled 8.5 percent of the 107,307 tons of total waste they created. The recycling portion was 11 percent in 2000.
This drop in participation has happened during a decade when “being green” took on a new meaning across America and environmentalism and protecting the planet have often been at the center of national debates.
“It’s definitely much lower than many Indiana communities,” said Carey Hamilton, executive director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition, who noted Bloomington’s rate is more than 30 percent and Valparaiso’s approaches half of its total waste.
Local officials blame a number of factors: Inconvenience of the current recycling program, a lack of promotion and education about recycling, and the fact that yard waste goes to the landfill.
Bob Kennedy, Fort Wayne director of public works, said giving residents one large recycling cart – dubbed single-stream recycling – instead of two smaller bins likely would provide the biggest boost to improve participation.
“Moving to single-stream recycling is a big step to reversing that trend,” he said.
City officials have conducted meetings to discuss the city’s next garbage contract. One of the most agreed-upon changes is switching to one large recycling bin. Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, said while she thinks the existing program is simple enough, she agrees it can be made even easier.
“Curb-side recycling, personally, I think is pretty convenient, but I think we can do better,” she said.
The single recycling bin would be similar to garbage carts, and residents would be able to combine any recyclable materials, including paper, cardboard, plastics and glass. Yard waste would not be collected under this plan.
But the change to a single container would not be made available to all residents at the same time.
If the single-stream recycling system is part of the city’s next garbage contract, large carts would be given first to residents who regularly recycle.
Matt Gratz, city solid waste director, said if the city gave them to everyone, it would get calls from numerous residents who don’t want them, adding to the city’s costs.
Outside success
The key to a successful recycling program is to push it while also making it convenient, according to Ron DeTorrice, public works director in Valparaiso.
He said more than 60 percent of his city’s residents regularly recycle – the participation rate has been estimated at 30 percent in Fort Wayne.
Fort Wayne officials said Valparaiso has some factors in its favor, such as being a college town and having a smaller population, but they admit Fort Wayne should strive to recycle more.
The communities’ garbage services vary greatly. Valparaiso residents’ trash is limited to what can fit in their 96-gallon cart, while Fort Wayne residents can throw away unlimited amounts of garbage.
Valparaiso shares in the profits from its recycling program, while Fort Wayne pays National Serv-All more to haul away recyclables than it does for garbage removal.
Valparaiso prohibits residents from throwing yard waste into the landfill, while Fort Wayne residents’ grass and brush – even if placed in brown yard waste bags – is taken away with the trash.
Valparaiso collects residents’ brush separately, and the amount is equal to the amount of recyclables collected – doubling the city’s diversion rate of keeping garbage from the landfill.
Goldner said she would like the city to consider reinstituting its ban on yard waste in trash. The ban was lifted in 2000 when a statewide ban was lifted.
In 1999, the city reported keeping 6,475 tons of yard waste out of the landfill, and the amount the city population generates has likely grown as the city has annexed areas where large homes and yards are typical.
Banning yard waste from the garbage might even start to change behaviors, prompting residents to mulch their lawns when they mow instead of putting the clippings in bags, Goldner said.
The city committee, however, noted that trucks making a separate collection could cause more environmental harm than good. The group did not recommend a yard waste service for Fort Wayne.
Education, promotion
Many people in Allen County have a habit of throwing everything in the trash, and breaking that habit is difficult, according to Tony Burrus, director of the Allen County Solid Waste District. The district’s mission is to reduce waste going to the landfill.
While he said recycling volumes have dropped across the country because of changes in packaging and consumption, there is no question that people in Fort Wayne and Allen County put a lower priority on recycling.
“We’re trying to change the behavior of folks who just throw things away,” Burrus said. “We’ve become the convenient society.”
His department has two employees dedicated to outreach and education, and it spends an additional $50,000 annually on the effort, but Burrus admits gauging success is difficult.
Gratz, the city solid waste manager, said his office has no money for outreach and education, leaving those duties to the district.
That could change under a new waste contract, however. Gratz said the city could include money for education in the contract. He said education will be crucial if the city begins any new policies with its garbage – such as single-stream recycling or limiting how much garbage residents can pitch.
The district has had success in getting people to dispose of electronic waste properly. Last year, the district kept 6.5 tons of household batteries and 147 tons of computers and other electronics out of the landfill.
Burrus said while those have been successes, it has been difficult to carry that over to regular recycling.
“I think for some reason, people see those things as a real threat to them,” Burrus said of electronic waste. He said people might not think throwing away a plastic water bottle is a big deal.
The easiest way to get people to change behavior, he said, is to enact laws or create a financial incentive to change. Many experts have said allowing residents the ability to throw away as much garbage as they want for one fee provides no incentive for them to separate items that can be recycled.
DeTorrice, of Valparaiso, said his city has strict enforcement to ensure residents don’t improperly use their recycling carts. For example, people who use recycling bins for garbage can lose the carts entirely.
Cost concerns
Improving recycling participation is a goal of the city, according to Kennedy and Gratz, but they also agree there is typically a cost to adding services for residents. And increases to residents’ $11.24 monthly garbage bill would be unpopular, Kennedy concedes.
“There’s a cost to everything,” he said.
Responses to the unscientific city garbage and recycling survey were dominated by people who favor recycling, but the top priority of that group was to keep costs down, not to keep garbage from the landfill.
Burrus said one of the problems in promoting recycling in this area is the fact that landfill space is easily available and cheap. He said Allen County’s landfill has more than 30 years of life remaining.
In an effort to better manage costs, the city plans to have potential contractors submit separate prices for different activities. This includes having one contract for collecting garbage and one for disposing it at the landfill.
Single-stream recycling would be included as part of the bids, as would other services like a pay-as-you-throw program, to determine whether these new policies would be worth the cost.
Kennedy said he thinks there is enough time to complete a complex bid process so the city can select its new contractor or contractors this summer and have them begin work
