[GreenYes] Re: Single Stream Using 18-gallon Curbside as opposed to Carts?

["Mike" <giuranna.mike@no.address>]

Christine, Montgomery County, MD made a change a few years ago, they 
went from 18 to  22 gallon bins for commingled bottles and cans and 
added wheeled carts for mixed paper.   Therir reasoning for these 
changes is described below:

 Hello , I have attached a fairly detailed description of our wheeled 
cart program, which I wrote earlier this year.  The carts are 
exclusively for mixed paper recycling. The cart distribution is now 
largely complete; there are just a few thousand more carts to go out.
Note that our commingled bins have not changed significantly in size. 
We started with 18-gallon bins and now issue 22-gallon bins.  Please 
let me know what questions you have once you have read the program 
description.

Regards, Susanne
Susanne Brunhart Wiggins
IT Specialist
Montgomery County, MD, Division of Solid Waste Services
susanne.wiggins@no.address
240-777-6461
Wheeled Carts for Paper Recycling

prepared in January 2005 by
Susanne Brunhart Wiggins
susanne.wiggins@no.address
Background
	In 1999, Montgomery County expanded the paper component of its 
residential recycling program to include all types of paper.  Prior to 
this, the program had been limited to newspapers and their inserts.  
Residents had been required to prepare their newspapers for collection 
by bagging, bundling, or tying them.  Newspaper alone bundled up very 
neatly; in fact, a week's worth of the local paper fit conveniently 
into a paper grocery bag.
	The addition of cardboard, magazines, catalogs, unwanted mail, 
cereal, pasta and other boxes, telephone books, egg cartons, and more 
changed things dramatically.  Containerization of paper became a 
problem, both for residents gathering paper throughout the week and 
then setting it out for collection, as well as for collection crews.  
Residents found the additional paper recyclables they were now 
gathering in their homes to be challenging to store, heavy, and 
difficult to bring to the curb.  Once at the curb, papers often 
fluttered out of their bundles, creating neighborhood litter.
	The trucks used by collection crews were similarly prone to litter 
creation.  To load the truck, side hoppers lifted recyclables up over 
the top of the truck body.  Even the slightest breeze was wont to send 
scraps sailing.
	Additionally, residents had long been asking for recycling containers 
with wheels, lids, and handles.  With respect to paper, they often 
found the bundling requirement to be onerous.  Flattening cardboard 
and cutting it to size in order to fit into the truck hoppers was 
challenging, especially for older residents.
	In the face of these barriers, the County paper capture goal was 15 
pounds/house/week.  Still, despite aggressive outreach efforts, the 
County-wide weekly average hovered around 10 pounds/week.   Improving 
resident convenience is always paramount, yet improving this bottom 
line was a significant driving factor as the County sought to increase 
its overall recycling rate.
	Large lidded, wheeled carts were proposed as another tool in the 
County's recycling support arsenal.  But, such large containers are 
heavy when full - easily tipping the scales at over 200 pounds - too 
heavy for a person to empty unassisted.  Thus, if carts were to be 
issued to residents, the collection infrastructure would have to 
include lift-equipped trucks.
Pilot Testing to assess potential cart success
	Groundwork for the wheeled carts began with a pilot program in 2000.  
In order to gauge residents' reaction, measure recycling behavior 
change, and test equipment, three small neighborhoods - including 525 
homes -- were selected for study.  These neighborhoods, in three 
separate locations, presented three discrete socioeconomic samples.  
Enthusiasm for the project was something they all had in common.   
And, the first two were ones whose capture rate was already an 
acceptable 12 pounds/house/week.
	A baseline capture rate was set from collection data gathered during 
the six-month period prior to the pilot test's start date.  Then, 
carts were presented without fanfare: they were simply delivered along 
with a brochure on how they were to be used.  Weekly data collection 
continued, with County staff simply observing cart use and the 
results.  After six months, capture rates rose to 24 and 26 pounds, 
respectively, in the initially well-performing neighborhoods.  The 
third neighborhood consistently ranks near the bottom with respect to 
recycling participation.  However, it, too, doubled its paper capture 
rate.
	A second pilot test followed, in which carts were given to 900 
homes.  Unlike in the previous test, these homes represented an entire 
collection route, and included both detached single family houses and 
townhouses.  Here, an additional factor being tested was the rejection 
rate: how many households would return their cart?  The answer was 
nine percent, a figure staff felt would be representative of the 
County as a whole.  A number of the returned carts came from 
townhouses; when these were removed from the analysis, the rejection 
rate dropped to about five percent.  During the course of this test, 
the capture rate rose from 13 to 20 pounds/house/week.
	Big, bright blue carts are hard to hide, especially when set at the 
curb regularly by eagerly participating residents.  Calls and emails 
began to come in from residents in other communities and 
neighborhoods, who had seen the carts when driving past, or when 
visiting family and friends.  They wanted to know how they could get 
carts for their own households.
In general, the carts were found to be less well-suited for townhouse 
residents.  The most common complaint was lack of space to store the 
cart between recycling days.  Therefore, plans for County-wide 
distribution focused on detached single-family homes, with carts 
available to townhouse residents upon request.
	Several carts from various manufacturers were evaluated over the 
course of the pilot tests.   A critical quality turned out to be the 
inherent weight of the cart; for example, one cart, lacking the proper 
weight and balance, tended to tip over.
The carts' large capacity meant that they could become extremely heavy 
when full.  Lift-equipped trucks would be required to service the 
carts.  The trucks currently used were side-loading, with hoppers that 
lifted recyclables into the truck body.  Trucks with lifts, on the 
other hand, would be rear-loading vehicles.  These have the added 
advantage of having compactors.  Not only would they accommodate the 
carts and their lifts, but they would be able to crush unflattened 
cardboard - long the bane of residents with unwieldy boxes.
Cart Purchase and Delivery
	Strong data in hand, the Division of Solid Waste Services moved 
forward with pursuing funding for a County-wide paper recycling cart 
distribution.  Staff anticipated implementation over a four-year 
period.  The County Council, however, decided otherwise.  Receptive to 
the test neighborhoods' positive experiences with the carts, the 
significant improvements in the paper capture rate, and the cart 
requests their offices had fielded from residents, Council members 
voted to purchase all of the carts at once.
Blanket distribution of carts to detached single-family homes started 
in Fall 2004. The purchase contract included delivery services, and 
carts were delivered at a rate of approximately 1,000/day.
Program Cost
	The wheeled cart program is a $4.6 million project.  A total of 
140,000 wheeled carts were purchased: one for each single-family 
homes, excluding townhouses, taking into account the 5% rejection 
rate.  Division staff shopped carefully to locate carts which would 
provide the best value for County residents.  In the end, using a 
bridge contract, Montgomery County was able to benefit from the 
extremely favorable cart price ($33.32/cart) negotiated by another 
jurisdiction.  This low price was also realized because the entire 
purchase was made at one time, rather than over a multi-year period.
	The cart purchase was a significant capital investment for Montgomery 
County.  Given the carts' 10-year warranty, the per-cart cost over 
their estimated lifetime is $3.32.  In light of the benefits provided 
by the cart, including increased paper capture rate, increased 
convenience to residents, and reduced litter, the annualized cost is 
modest.
	The project did not incur any appreciable operating costs.  The cart 
pilots began two years before collection contracts were rebid.  Using 
the data gathered from the test neighborhoods, specifications for the 
new contracts were written to include the necessary equipment.  The 
new contracts cost more than the previous ones.  However, the 
increases were due to the fact that residents are now recycling more 
material in general, now that the curbside program is well-
established.  They were not incurred by the addition of the carts.
If cart use boosts the capture rate as anticipated, the carts will 
essentially have paid for themselves within the next five years.  
Moving paper from the trash waste stream to the recycling stream saves 
on trash processing costs; trash is more expensive to process than 
recyclables.  Additionally, the increased amount of captured paper 
enables the County to use its paper processing contract more 
efficiently.  Plus, income will be realized from marketing the paper.
Preliminary Results
	Three months into the cart distribution, the weekly per-house County-
wide paper capture rate had already increased markedly.  As more and 
more residents receive and start using their carts, the County-wide 
capture rate is expected to rise to 15 pounds, with rates of 20 pounds 
being achieved in areas with carts.
	The rejection rate, one-third of the way through the distribution 
process, averaged about six percent, in line with the projections from 
the pilot tests.
A small number of townhouse residents requested that carts be issued 
to them.  The currently available cart is a 65-gallon container.  To 
address the smaller storage opportunities and the relatively smaller 
amount of paper generated in this type of house, townhouse residents 
may be offered a 30-gallon cart in the future.
Overall, residents are delighted with their new carts and the 
conveniences which accompany them.  Because of the compactor trucks 
now used, cardboard boxes no longer need to be flattened.  The carts 
serve as a place to store paper between collection days, and paper can 
now be stored outdoors without getting wet.  The heavy paper can now 
be easily rolled to the curb for collection.  And, residents may go 
two, or even three, weeks between paper collections if they wish, 
since they now have a container large enough to accommodate that 
volume of material.  Finally, there is now more room in the 
traditionally-used recycling bins for cans, bottles, and jars.

On Jan 29, 12:25 pm, <Christine.Mc...@no.address> wrote:
Has anyone switched to single stream, but still use the curbsides 
boxes as
opposed to carts? Please let me know if you are out there and how you 
made
the choice to stick with these containers. For those who needed to 
urge
the change to carts - what were the arguments that helped you win 
folks
over?  Does anyone have information on how long it took to recover the
cost of the carts?
Also, can you provide the per household cost for outreach education 
that
was needed to initiate this change?

Any info. and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Christine McCoy
City of Alexandria
703/519-3486 ext. 132


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