Agenda Packets - 1989/02/21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Ramsey County Master Plan subscribes to the theory that participation must be built first through efforts in public education, containers, and increased collection frequency. Once these program components are in place and if a city is still not meeting their goal, then the Master Plan calls for consideration of a mandatory ordinance. The Master Plan calls for this evaluation to take place in 1991. This schedule allows time to demonstrate whether voluntary efforts will achieve the recycling goals. The Metropolitan Council has recently recommended that Ramsey County adopt a mandatory source separation ordinance by January 1, 1989. The main difference between the Metropolitan Council recommendation and the current policy in the Master Plan is the timing of implementation. Ramsey County staff believe that promotion and public education, convenient collections, special containers, and economic incentives through volume -based fees will increase participation so that the source separation goals will be achieved with voluntary programs. if not, then a mandatory source separation ordinance should be adopted, but only when: - voluntary participation has been given an adequate chance; - there is some method for enforcement; and - sufficient forewarning has been given to allow the implemen- tation of a major promotional effort explaining the ordinance. To allow time to address the problems with a mandatory ordinance, Ramsey County has adopted the Opportunity to Recycle policy with an effective date in early 1989, with mandatory ordinances enacted in 1991 for cities not meeting the 1990 source separation goal. This approach is consistent with the Solid Waste Master Plan. If a city should decide that they need to adopt a mandatory ordinance before 1991 in order to meet their recycling goals, this would still be consistent with Ramsey County's plans. For instance, it appears that the City of Saint Paul may adopt a mandatory ordinance with an effective date in the fall of 1989. Although it is unknown at this.time what form tks ordinance may take, much of their discussion to date has focused on the need for containers and incentives for increasing participation. These are components that Ramsey County has determined to be necessary for an effective recycling program (see discussion below) and so Saint Paul's intentions are very consistent with the County's plans. Ramsey County staff will be monitoring Saint Paul's progress in developing and enforcing such an ordinance. Frequency of Collections Policy Statement: Curbside recycling programs should be conducted on a twice -a -month basis or provide a similar level of convenience. This goal should be met in 1990. 40 Curbside collection should be conducted twice -monthly at a