[greenyes] Seattle approves mandatory recycling for residents/businesses- starting 2005

["Pat Franklin" <pfranklin@no.address>]

Thanks to Gary Liss for forwarding the article below about new recycling
proposal in Seattle.  Some of you may be interested to know that in it's
heyday, Seattle conducted a study to determine the impact of a national
bottle bill on the economics of the City?s recycling program and found that
42% to 54% more beverage container tonnage would be diverted at a cost
savings to the city of between $591,245 and $849,219.  After paying private
recyclers a maximum of $354,329 as compensation for revenue loss, the
overall net system savings to the city would be between $236,917 and
$632,774  (difference between sum of avoided recycling collection/disposal
costs and compensation payments to curbside recycling operators.)

The study conclusions:  ?In short, a bottle bill would divert additional
tonnage with no significant impact to either City costs or curbside
recycling profits.?

****************************************************

Seattle approves mandatory recycling for
residents/businesses- starting 2005

Story from the 12/16/03 Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/152676_recycle16.html

We'll all recycle or else, City Council decides
By 2005, we have to sort our rubbish from the reusables

By KATHY MULADY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Seattle, you're slacking off.

In the early 1990s, you were the nation's recycling leader. In some
neighborhoods, eight out of 10 households recycled. Congress lauded your
efforts.

But that was then.

Since 1995, you've been increasingly sloppy in separating aluminum,
glass and garbage.

Yesterday, the City Council decided to get tough.

Starting in January 2005, residents and businesses will have to change
their wasteful ways. Recycling will be mandatory.

And by 2006, homeowners who don't recycle won't have their garbage
picked up until the trash is sorted.

Commercial customers -- the worst offenders -- face fines of up to $50
per collection. (Note: The fine amount was misstated when this article
was originally published.)

That means no more soda cans, glass jars, newspapers or cardboard mixed
in with the regular garbage.

"Oh, wow," said Sara Hardy, amid the recycling bins in front of her
Ballard apartment on Northwest 58th Street.

"I may have thrown a can or bottle in the garbage," she said. "I'd hate
to have my garbage not picked up."

Sound extreme?

Perhaps.

But hey, Seattle, your reputation as one of the country's most
environmentally savvy cities is at stake.

And no, the city isn't hiring a fleet of garbage inspectors to hunt
through cans for illegal pickle jars.

But it will be giving customers a lot more information on how and why to
recycle.

"Everyone is envisioning gremlins crawling in the garbage can and
weighing how much paper is there," said Councilwoman Margaret Pageler.

"You don't have to be a committed environmentalist to do this. I think
once people know what the rules are, 95 percent will act responsibly."

The ambitious recycling program was proposed earlier this year by Mayor
Greg Nickels, and introduced in council by Pageler.

The city will spend about $748,000 on education programs and service
improvements.

If more trash is recycled, the city figures it could save as much as $2
million in landfill costs.

Recycling here began in earnest in 1988, when the city was running out
of landfill space. So it talked about building an incinerator in
southeast Seattle.

Neighbors rebelled.

Then, city garbage officials suggested aggressive recycling could be the
answer.

Charles Royer, the mayor at the time, set a goal of recycling 60 percent
of the city's garbage.

We never came close.

In 1995, recycling peaked at 44 percent. Since then, that figure has
been steadily declining.

At the same time, Seattle has emerged as a national leader in water
conservation.

We use less water per capita than almost any other city.

"For a city that has shown such commitment to water conservation," said
Susan Stoltzfus, a spokeswoman for Seattle Public Utilities, "we could
be a lot better on recycling."

Although cities use different ways of calculating, some boast of a 50
percent recycling rate.

But all of this is lost on Hardy, the Ballard resident.

She grew up in Texas, where, she says, recycling isn't as popular as in
Seattle. So it's taken her a while to get used to recycling aluminum,
paper and glass. She likes the ideas of gentle reminders.

Around the corner, on 26th Avenue Northwest, Todd Waffner liked the
idea, though he wondered how it would be enforced.

"As long as it's clear it's coming and there are some warnings, then
it's fine," he said. "I can see it more as a threat. But I can't see
people picking through garbage."

P-I reporter Kathy Mulady can be reached at 206-448-8029 or
kathymulady@no.address P-I reporter Brad Wong contributed to this
report


****************************************
Patricia Franklin
Executive Director
Container Recycling Institute
1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, Ste. 702
Arlington, VA 22209

TEL:   703.276.9800
FAX:   703.276.9587
EMAIL: pfranklin@no.address

http://www.container-recycling.org
http://www.bottlebill.info
****************************************
Patricia Franklin
Executive Director
Container Recycling Institute
1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, Ste. 702
Arlington, VA 22209

TEL:   703.276.9800
FAX:   703.276.9587
EMAIL: pfranklin@no.address

http://www.container-recycling.org
http://www.bottlebill.info
****************************************