Fayetteville City Council to take on recycling plan Tuesday

FAYETTEVILLE -- What gets recycled and who gets to recycle could soon expand if the city adopts a plan to keep more trash out of the landfill.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider the Solid Waste Reduction, Diversion and Recycling Master Plan from Florida-based Kessler Consulting and a proposal amending parts of the plan. The council set a goal in 2013 to divert 80 percent of its trash. The proposal would change that goal to 40 percent by 2027.

Diversion refers to the amount of garbage that ends up somewhere other than a landfill. The plan has three components focusing on recycling, compost and construction bulk waste.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said he wanted to start the recycling plan with the parts people agreed on, namely food waste compost, construction waste pick-up and collecting recycling at some apartments and multi-family housing.

"We start off with this and then we look at a more regional approach to all this recycling stuff, rather than just having to shoulder the whole thing alone," he said.

Throwing food waste into the city's 3-acre compost heap could happen within the next six months, depending on the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said Brian Pugh, the city's waste reduction coordinator. Work has begun to get the proper permitting from the state to include food waste in the city's yard waste compost, Pugh said.

Once everything is approved, the city will turn to the participants of a pilot program last year for the rollout. Restaurants, a school, the Senior Activity Center and the University of Arkansas took part in the 21-week food waste compost pilot. Participation would grow from there, Pugh said.

The city has never had a plan to collect and recycle construction and demolition debris. The city will put out requests for proposals for an outside company to collect the material. It would be up to that company to find a way to make money off the waste collected, said Transportation Services Director Terry Gulley.

"You could probably come up with enough lumber to build a few houses out of a big complex," he said.

The city also wants to start picking up recycling at multi-family residences and apartment complexes up to 24 units that have fronts facing the street, much like it does with single-family homes and duplexes. A few more trucks and people would be needed to kick off that endeavor, Gulley said.

How we got here

Aldermen saw the plan for the first time last fall and discussed its merits during the Dec. 6 council meeting.

About 20 people showed up to the hours-long meeting, many of whom decried the single-stream method of recycling, which the plan touts as the most effective way to achieve a lofty diversion goal. The council tabled the item until Tuesday's meeting.

Single-stream would have material sorted at a facility rather than at the curb. A significantly higher contamination rate occurs because of the single-compartment truck that transports the material, according to Louise Mann, an outspoken opponent of the method.

The city listened. Aldermen received a proposal at a committee meeting last week accepting Kessler' plan, but amend certain parts including the timeline for implementation. The proposal states the administration "does not support prioritizing" single-stream recycling but would continue to study the feasibility of a state-of-the-art regional material recovery facility.

Without regional support for the plant, the city would have to construct its own "mini-MRF." The consultants estimated it would cost about $3.8 million.

Chief of Staff Don Marr said the city wouldn't generate enough volume to justify the cost of a facility. Plus, a regional facility would supersede a city one if it ever happened. The Boston Mountain and Benton County solid waste districts have shown interest in the idea, he said, but other cities in Northwest Arkansas contract with businesses for trash services.

"What we do know is that it's going to take regional volume to justify any kind of expenditure of a sorting facility locally," Marr said. "You're talking about the kind of capital outlay that would be needed to have the optics and the sorters and the things that we would want to have -- you can't get the payback on the city of Fayetteville's volume alone."

A 40 percent rate would set the diversion goal to something "reasonably attainable" and double its current rate, according to the proposal. The city wouldn't achieve its original 80 percent goal even if it implemented the entire original plan, which culminates with a 50 percent rate by 2025.

The plan calls for single stream to achieve even that much. The city and consultants did a pilot project last year at homes and apartments with on overwhelmingly positive response. Most participants cited the convenience of placing all recyclable material into one bin as the biggest draw.

More than 75 percent of the urban American population uses single stream, according to the consultants. Modern-day equipment is capable of getting 95 percent of material out and the sheer increase in tonnage of material collected makes single stream worthwhile, consultant Mitch Kessler said at the December meeting.

Just because lots of people use it doesn't mean the method works, Mann said.

"Are you asking me if I think it's possible for the American populace to be hoodwinked?" she said.

Mann has advocated for the city to explore more effective options, such as dual stream, which separates paper from items such as glass and plastic. Mann repeatedly has touted education and awareness as key ways to increase the city's diversion rate.

Mann hired a lawyer who drafted a proposal presented to the city calling for ongoing oversight and education about the end uses of collected material.

The proposal the city is considering largely mirrors one drafted by Mann's lawyer, including identifying the diversion rate as unattainable and lack of feasibility for a regional recovery facility. Mann's proposal calls for the city to keep its curb-sort program for the long term while adopting the compost and construction and demolition parts of the Kessler plan.

The proposal also sets aside another controversial aspect of the plan which calls for mandatory participation and bans trashing recyclable material. Alderman John La Tour ardently opposed that measure and Jordan never supported it.

What the council thinks

City Council members have regarded the changes to the plan favorably. The Water, Sewer and Solid Waste Committee, with aldermen Mark Kinion, Sarah Bunch and La Tour present last week, forwarded the proposal to the council with an approve recommendation.

Alderman Matthew Petty said he saw changing the diversion goal as practical.

"We got a roadmap to 80 percent and we can stop and rest anywhere we want," he said.

Alderwoman Adella Gray said she wasn't completely sold on setting aside the single-stream method, but would keep an open mind.

"If that's how our vote ends up Tuesday night, I'll be happy and feel like we've made some progress," she said.

Alderwoman Sarah Marsh said she saw the proposal as simply shifting priorities, although she would have liked to see the revised diversion goal set at 60 percent, she said. The bottom line is to cut waste and the city's underlying intent remains intact, Marsh said.

"I'm not going to object to us improving by doubling. We'll get there and then we'll go further," she said. "We've got a lot of work to do."

NW News on 02/19/2017