Minutes - 1992/09/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council Page Four ~gular Meeting September 14, 1992 Oman reported that the County has a Joint Powers Agreement for funding which would place the recycling charges on the property tax roles. The City needs to work on a budget for recycling. For example, a charge could be $1.25 per month or $15 per year. The average cost is $18 per year. The Environmental Quality Task Force urged the Council to take action. The two options for funding would be the Ramsey County Property Tax Fund or a City Utility. There would be no added expense to the City if billing were done on the property tax roles. It is important that the City continue to work on funding for educating the residents on the importance of recycling. Councilmember Rickaby asked if the best way to do recycling is per ton. Oman stated that recycling could be done weekly or twice monthly. It costs approximately $85 per ton for recycling collected based upon tonnages collected over the past and calculated out. If recycling were done twice a month it would reduce the cost to $81 per ton. The system recommended by the EQTF would reduce truck traffic and street wear. Oman also stated that participation in the • recycling program is higher when picked up twice per month. Collection of recyclables on a weekly basis is done primarily for convenience to the residents. Councilmember Rickaby stated that at one of the meetings the haulers talked about charges per household rather than per ton. Oman stated that charges would be based on the number of estimated stops made. Oman stated that it would be a fixed amount for all pick ups for the entire year. This does not give incentive to the haulers to increase materials being picked up. Increased. recycling would reduce the amount of waste hauled out of the City and the goal of recycling is to reduce waste hauled to the landfills. Councilmember Rickaby asked how the recyclables could be increased when the haulers can only pick up what is put out unless there is an education program conducted. The residents, in her opinion, have the feeling that the less they put out, the less they pay. Oman explained that the bulk of waste is in the paper collected because of its weight. Residents who have concerns about costs could continue to give the paper waste to the Boy Scouts or their church or whomever and this would decrease the amount paid to the recycler. The City must choose what recyclables would be collected. For example, plastic is very costly to recycle. The more items that • can be recycled, the more that is taken out of the general waste stream.