Recycling Activities Report – First Quarter 2015

City of Lawrence Solid Waste Division

The attached spreadsheets summarize:

· 2015 tons collected for recycling and composting.

· 2015 revenue from sale of recyclable materials.

· 2015 landfill tons and landfill charges.

· Comparison of MRF (single-stream) tons from 2015 and 2014.

· Comparison of landfill tons and charges from 2015, 2014, and 2013.

SINGLE-STREAM RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

The Solid Waste Division began collecting single-stream recyclable materials from residential customers on October 21, 2014. Both single-family and multi-family dwellings (including apartments) are paying for and receiving recycling collection services. In addition, the single-stream recycling program expanded to serve City facilities, Lawrence schools, and public spaces (pilot program: downtown pedestrian recycling bins).

During the first quarter of 2015, a total of 1,269.54 tons of single-stream recyclable materials were collected. Usually during winter months recycling numbers may dip a little, but the tons collected show strong participation. The City paid Hamm $45 per ton for processing fees ($57,129.30).

The City did not receive any rebates from Hamm for the single-stream recyclable materials dropped off during the months of January through March. Hamm provides rebate to the City based upon the actual blended value per ton of recyclable materials with process residue excluded. Calculations for rebate are completed in accordance to the City-Hamm contract and its addendum. When the blended value per ton is under $50, the City does not receive a rebate.

2015 Market Update on Recycled Commodities from GT Environmental, Inc.:

“Organizations and companies which depend on revenue from the sale of the recyclable materials have likely been disappointed through the latter part of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. The price for most recycling commodities has steadily decreased over the past nine to ten months.

What does the future hold for recyclable commodity prices? If the last 10 to 15 years can be used as an indicator, prices will bounce back eventually. Although the average Midwest price of cardboard was only $20 per ton during the recession in 2009, two years later it was $170 per ton. So it seems reasonable to assume the prices will improve… the difficult question to answer is, “When?”.”

OTHER RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

The Solid Waste Division collected 479 tons of source-separated corrugated cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper, and office paper which generated $33,747 in revenue during the first quarter of 2015. In addition, the division collected 159 tons of glass. Glass collected from drop-off boxes has decreased since the start of single-stream recycling collection, but all other source-separated recyclable material tons seem stable. This may change throughout the year.

YARD WASTE

During the winter months, the City’s Compost Facility sees very little activity and thus yard waste collected is minimal. This year in January and February only 209 tons of yard waste were collected compared to 1,066 tons of yard waste in March.

LANDFILL TONS & CHARGES

During the first quarter of 2015, the Solid Waste Division dropped off 13,874 tons of trash at the landfill and paid Hamm $388,274. This is a slight increase from last year’s first quarter report. These landfill tons include residential and commercial trash as well as Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste. The City has seen an increase in roll-off box rentals and C&D waste which is a contributing factor to the higher landfill tons.