Published: August 28, 2008 01:12 am      

CITY OF LOCKPORT: Recycling panel forming

Mayor Michael Tucker will appoint a three-person committee to determine the best means of delivering full curbside recycling service to city residents.

Tucker announced the committee Wednesday as aldermen met with representatives of Waste Management Inc. to get an overview of recycling.

A first-term alderman, Richelle Pasceri of the First Ward, had reacted with disgust earlier this year when she asked veteran Council members why the city doesn’t already offer the service and they told her it already does — through collection of cardboard and newsprint only. The veterans informed Pasceri the city meets the state’s recycling mandate by operating a composting plant, and anything more would cost too much money.

Waste Management officials said improved collection methods and sorting methods have driven down costs enough that the city shouldn’t be reluctant to pursue full recycling, anymore. It could have full curbside service for “almost nothing,” depending on how the service is arranged, Waste Management business development manager Peter Martin said.

Waste Management’s collection and sorting method, “single stream,” allows households to put all their recyclables — metals, plastics, glass and various paper products — in one bin. The bins are collected, the contents are baled and trucked to Cheektowaga, then taken to a plant in Liverpool, where the contents are sorted mechanically. Waste Management then sells the separated materials and keeps the proceeds.

Single-stream processing cuts costs overall, because special collection trucks are no longer needed, Martin said; regular garbage trucks can be used by the collector, whether it’s a private company or city crew. Thanks to sorting technology, it no longer matters whether different materials are mixed at the start of the process, he said; plus, some formerly unacceptable goods like spray cans can now be handled.

Martin and commodities marketing manager Michael T. Florio were in the Council work session informally and would not suggest estimated costs of recycling set-ups for the city.

Were his company to provide some or all of the collection and transport, there are many variables involved, from the distance between houses to the amount and weight of trash being recycled, Martin said.

Currently, all the city’s trash is burned by American Ref-Fuel. Florio said the loads include “valuable” commodities such as PET plastics, currently selling for $300 a ton, and aluminum, which fetches $2,000 per ton. Asian demand for recycled plastic is growing steadily and, by volume, recycled materials are the United States’ largest export, he said.

Pasceri inquired whether Waste Management would cut the city in on commodity profits if city garbage crews collected and compacted recyclables. Martin suggested its contracts with municipalities normally are not structured that way. The benefit for the city would be in reduced “tipping” fees, the per-ton charge by American Ref-Fuel to dispose of garbage, he said.

In discussion, it seemed clear the city would incur some costs to run or have a full curbside operation, such as the purchase of bins for households and, if it planned to use municipal crews for collection, purchase of at least one additional garbage truck. The recycling committee’s charge will be to price out the options for private, public or shared-duty collection.

The City of Lockport is one of the few municipalities in Niagara and Erie counties that does not provide full curbside recycling service. That should change, Tucker said.

“I’ve had more people ask me about recycling in the past six months than in my first four years as mayor, so obviously people are more aware and interested,” he said. “We have a duty to watch the bottom line, but this may be a case where the more responsible thing is to look beyond it. ... I’d be very surprised if (recycling) doesn’t happen in this administration.”

The state ordered municipalities to undertake recycling in the late 1980s, in whatever form was “economically viable.”

City officials periodically have examined full curbside service and found it to be costly. Council president John Lombardi said operation of a sewer sludge composting plant meets the state mandate, so it seemed like unnecessary spending to facilitate residential recycling.

According to Fourth Ward Alderman Patrick Schrader, the city last looked at recycling costs maybe four or five years ago — and it has always looked exclusively at the costs of having city crews perform the service. Those costs would include not just mailing literature to households to teach people about recycling but also special trucks, totes and several additional employees.

“We’ve never really looked into privatization,” Schrader said. “For a while, there was some talk about recycling with Modern (Disposal) but it died for a lack of interest.”

The new recycling committee, consisting of an alderman and two interested citizens, is to be named next week, Tucker said.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.