[Summit] I fail to see the logic in the new GreenUp requirements.

Mon Nov 2 04:21:59 UTC 2009

The Mayor's plan for increasing recycling rates is not without precedent and
is certainly warranted, in my opinion, considering our city's poor trash and
recycling habits.

In 2006, the town of Smithfield had budget problems for sending too much
waste to the landfill and came up with a winning plan. They sought to
address the issue of compulsive non-recycling with the same plan, a "No Bin,
No Barrel" policy. It successfully reduced their over-tonnage by 50% and has
increased their rates from 19% in 2006 to a projected 24% in 2009. Here's
the scoop on how RI's trash fees work and the incentives created to reduce,
reuse and recycle.

Each municipality in Rhode Island that sends its solid waste to the Johnston
landfill is charged per ton. It's called the tipping fee. The fee runs on a
sliding scale from $32/ton down to $29/ton depending upon how much the city
manages to direct to the recycling center (green and blue bins) versus the
landfill itself (the big green barrel).

Each town is allocated a certain number of tons of trash into the landfill.
It is termed the Municipal Solid Waste Cap, or MSW Cap. The Municipal Solid
Waste Cap allocation is "based on the previous Calendar year’s waste
generation and population estimates" and are applied to the coming fiscal
year's municipal cap. Here's a document which describes the MSW cap
calculation in detail:

http://tinyurl.com/yepzzea

And this next document has interesting numbers which show the 2009
projections for the participating municipalities in Rhode Island
(Narragansett and Tiverton dump elsewhere):

http://tinyurl.com/yblbuag

So, our city pays per ton up to an allocated cap. Here's the kicker. If a
town exceeds its MSW Cap, it is charged an additional $26/ton on top of the
standard rate. This is the case for Providence - $58/ton.

In fiscal year 2009, the city of Providence was projected to generate 68,324
tons of MSW (trash), exceeding its cap of 60,629 tons in FY 2009 by 7,695
tons. That additional 7695 tons will cost the city of Providence ~$438,615.

Sadly, Providence ranks at the bottom of the list in the state in terms of
recycling rates. In that second document, you'll see we're projected to only
recycle approximately 10% of that 68,324 for the fiscal year. We get charged
the highest rate at $32/ton.

The bottom line is that less refuse means lower landfill fees. To get the
citizens of Providence to just meet the cap and avoid paying a severe
penalty would require a much tougher campaign of discipline - REDUCE. This
campaign is attempting what will hopefully be an easier campaign - RECYCLE.

I fully support the Mayor. It's good for the taxpayers and it's good for the
state.

One additional comment. There's a rebate incentive, again on a sliding
scale, for those cities that reach recycling rates of 24% or better.

Imagine if Providence were to be as successful as East Providence or Central
Falls. By my calculation, if we were to stay below our cap and recycle just
over 24%, we'd pay ~$1.4M and even get a rebate check for $60,629. Instead,
if we do nothing and track according to the projection, we'll be paying
$2.4M at the end of this fiscal year. A million dollars is no small change.

-Tony Adams
286 Rochambeau Avenue

On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 8:14 PM, Theresa Mathiesen <elvamath at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi, all,
>
> Well, Providence has been trying to get us to voluntarily recycle for
> years, right?  Why aren't we?  From my observations at work, where
> recycling containers are all over the place, some people think about
> recycling a lot and others don't think about it at all.  My guess is
> that this is an attempt to get the nonthinkers to think about it.
>
> The plain fact is that the Johnston Landfill is running out of room.
> It has only one or two years left.  A little more, if we can dump
> less.  What happens when it *is* out of room?  Do we taxpayers have to
> pay lots more to dump in someone else's landfill?  All the garbage has
> to go somewhere.
>
> My hat's off to those who finish the week with so little garbage,
> cans, and paper.  Please, put out your wheeled bin, and  feel free to
> stop by and borrow a can, bottle, or newspaper off me for your blue
> and green bins.
>
> Best,
> Elva
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com>
> wrote:
> > The stickers cost way less than the $300K that more recycling will save
> the
> > city.  More and more cities around the country and the world are going to
> > mandatory recycing.  It is about time.  And if there is no enforcement,
> you
> > get no additional recycling. Greg gerritt
> >
> >
> > on 10/28/09 12:12 PM, David Zenofsky at davidzen at yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> > So I guess that explains the new stickers on the trash cans... Wonder how
> > much those cost us? I thought the city was hurting for cash, but they can
> > afford frivolous things like stickers hawking a new recycling initiative?
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Brian Leveille <brian.leveille at gmail.com>
> > To: Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> > Sent: Wed, October 28, 2009 11:23:11 AM
> > Subject: [Summit] I fail to see the logic in the new GreenUp
> requirements.
> >
> > So I just got an email from the City announcing the upcoming change in
> trash
> > pickup:
> >
> >
> > GREEN UP PROVIDENCE is part of Operation Opportunity
> > <http://www.providenceri.com/press/article.php?id=490> , a new
> initiative to
> > double Providence’s recycling rate and save nearly $300,000 in waste
> > disposal fees. Starting on Monday, November 2, 2009, residents will need
> to
> > place BOTH their recycling bins (or containers for segregated
> recyclables)
> > at the curb on trash day next to their Big Green Can. Two recycling
> > containers must be placed at the curb with each Big Green Can or the
> trash
> > will not be picked up.
> >
> >
> > Looking at the FAQ (
> http://www.providenceri.com/green/docs/GreenUP_faq.pdf)
> > I see a tad more info like:
> >
> > What if I don’t have enough recyclables to fill my bins each week?
> > Your recycling bins don’t have to be full for your trash to be collected.
> > All you need is to put out your bin.
> >
> > The recycling truck collects before the trash truck, and I bring my bins
> in
> > right away. How will they know I recycle?
> > The garbage collectors won’t know you recycle if you bring your bins in
> > right away, so residents need to leave their empty bins next to their
> trash
> > cans and bring all containers in at the same time.
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm an avid recycler, but I probably only fill my recycling bins twice a
> > month.
> >
> > My question to everyone is: what is the city trying to do by forcing me
> to
> > put empty bins out every other week?  It seems silly to me to not get my
> > trash picked up (which I pay (a lot of) taxes for) because I don't use
> > enough plastic bottles to fill my recycle bins every week.  (Heh, maybe I
> > should just get an extra 6 pack of beer every now and then to put in the
> > bin.  Ya, I like that idea!)
> >
> > Is this a social experiment to see if forcing people to put out
> recycling,
> > by NOT picking up trash, will encourage more recycling?  Won't NOT
> picking
> > up trash cause MORE rodent problems (which is why we got the bins in the
> > first place)??
> >
> > -BL
> >
> > ________________________________
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> >
> http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> > SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> > SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
> >
>
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>
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>
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