Municipal recycling questions -Reply

Wayne Fenton (Wfenton@city.london.on.ca)
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 16:53:18 -0500


Mehrdad,

I have been advised of landfilling of recyclables by BFI from a small
community outside of London, Ontario (reported to me by a municipal
councillor). At the same meeting, another councillor from a neighbouring
community stated that he was aware of Laidlaw also having dumped
recyclables, although this one seemed less certain. I'm not sure of the
time periods involved, but I can follow up if you wish.

Re: measurements of cost-effectiveness, we are involved in the
development of a computer model that will attempt to take into account all
environmental costs and benefits (e.g., saved energy from secondary
materials, additional energy from collection of separate streams, etc.).
I'm not sure if that is the type of info. you are seeking -- if so, let me
know.

Re: specific costs, it is always a question of how your contract is
structured, when tenders were issued, etc. The City of London has a
very attractive contract with Laidlaw Waste Systems (now doing
business in Canada as Canadian Waste Services). The tender was
issued mid-1994. The tender included collection processing and
marketing of materials (ONP, OMG, OBB, OCC, MWP, metal, plastic and
glass containers, aluminum foil). London is a very conservative city and
left all revenue (and all risk!) from the sale of materials with Laidlaw.

The low bidder at that time was Laidlaw at a price of $5.70 per
household per year ($Canadian) from March 1995 to August 1999. I'm
not sure about your area, but this is a very good cost for curbside
recycling in Ontario. However, it was largely due to good timing and
good luck on the part of London, as the contractor obviously counted on
revenues remaining at late 1994 levels. As such, it is obviously difficult
to compare with other communities.

Hope this helps.

Wayne Fenton
Project Manager
London/Middlesex Waste Mgt. Plan

>>> Mehrdad Azemun <crc@cnt.org> 04/30/97 05:34pm >>>
Hi folks:

A few quick questions--most of you are probably aware of the
controversial Blue Bag recycling program in Chicago. If you haven't
seen the news, Waste Management was recently penalized by City Hall
for
landfilling recyclables during the months of January and February.

So my questions are:

*Have any of you read of any contractor (WMX or othewise) landfilling
recyclables during that same period this year, becuase of the slight
slump in markets?
*What kinds of measurements of cost-effectiveness have you seen for
municipal recycling programs? I know it's impossible to come up with an
apple-to-apple comparison, but we're trying to see how our supposedly
cheap program stacks up to other cities.

That's all for now. Please send replies directly to me at
<crc@cnt.org>.
Thanks much! Mehrdad Azemun, Chicago Recycling Coalition