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<br />Recycling in the U.S. is a $236 billion a year industry. According to the EPA 2001 study more than 56,000 <br />recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1 million workers nationwide. The EPA 2001 study also notes that <br />reducing waste and increasing recycling also: reduces pollution and conserves natural resources; saves energy by <br />reducing the need to extract and process virgin raw materials to manufacture new products; reduces greenhouse <br />gas emissions; stimulates the development of greener technology and avoids the cost of waste disposal in <br />landfills. Additional social benefits of waste reduction are outlined in the SBI report as including reduced public <br />health risk associated with air and water emissions that can seep into the soil and waterways from landfills. <br /> <br />Current city recycling initiatives <br />City staff in all Departments are implementing a number of solid waste reduction and recycling efforts. <br /> <br />A brief summary of current internal city waste reduction initiatives include: <br />? <br /> Sustainable procurement policy <br />? <br /> Periodic waste audits, both for content and volume <br />? <br /> Collection system efficiency improvements <br />? <br /> Staff education and outreach, currently focused on increasing commingled recycling <br />? <br /> Internal recycling website developed <br />? <br /> Tracking volume and cost of office waste and recycling for performance measurement <br />? <br /> Prioritizing next program efforts based on initial waste audit results and LEED-Existing Building <br />implementation <br />? <br /> Convened inter-departmental group to identify other existing waste reduction efforts. <br />? <br /> ISD Electronic Equipment recycling program <br />? <br /> Light bulb, metal and construction waste recycling in City facilities <br />? <br /> City Paper policy requiring double sided printing and use of 100% post consumer waste paper <br />? <br /> Pilot Projects e.g. Library and ISD rigid plastic recycling, Waste Water plastic recycling focused on <br />plastics not accepted by Sanipac in the comingled recycling. <br /> <br />Challenges <br />The current economic recession has had a marked negative impact on the recycled commodities market. Most <br />recycled materials e.g. plastics, steel, paper, aluminum are worth significantly less than they were six months ago. <br />This has resulted in reduced demand for some products. Local waste haulers are still collecting a full range of <br />recyclable materials but other non-commodity waste (including plastic film, Styrofoam) collection is currently not <br />viable. The future viability of recycling a wide variety of plastics will depend on market conditions. The majority <br />of the collected material is being bailed and stockpiled until commodity markets improve. Fluctuations in global <br />recycled materials markets will impact the volume and type of material the city is able to divert from landfill. <br /> <br />Next Steps <br />Staff implementation of this recommendation would include the development of an internal city waste reduction <br />plan with strategies to target enhanced city action on waste reduction and diversion and metrics to enable <br />measurement and reporting on progress. Financial, social and environmental impacts of the proposed action plan <br />would need to be assessed prior to implementation. <br /> <br /> <br />Z:\CMO\2009 Council Agendas\M090209\S090209B.doc <br /> <br />