Trash managers dispel myths about recycling

November sees push to change minds, habits

BY BECKY IANNOTTA

Citizen Staff

Key West businessman Chris Belland walked out of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and joined the growing legions of Americans pushing the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

"It made me think about everything I do," said the 60-year-old Belland. "I'm not going to pay the price for our environmental sins, but my grandchildren are. I think we need to take some responsibility for our environmental legacy."

Belland, who is spearheading the Key West Chamber of Commerce's Love Your Island effort, has been delivering his message to individuals and businesses for months. During this designated Recycling Month, the focus for Belland and the group Green Living and Energy Education (GLEE) intensifies as they try to boost Key West's and Monroe County's dismal 6 percent recycle rate, compared with a national average of 30 percent.

The first plan of attack: Eliminate the widespread belief that cans, bottles and newspapers that Waste Management picks up from curbside recycle bins are not recycled.

"It really has to be a consistent effort," said Jody Smith-Williams of GLEE, adding that educating children also should be a primary focus. "People have to realize it is getting recycled."

Perception vs. reality

Newly painted yellow trucks are driving around Key West, just in time for this month's festivities recognizing Recycle Month, aimed at educating residents and businesses about the environmental and financial benefits of recycling.

"One of the complaints we always hear is that they're throwing recyclables into the garbage truck," Annalise Mannix, deputy assistant city manager, said of the company's all-green trucks. "So we asked Waste Management to change the color of the [recycling] trucks to help promote recycling."

The trucks have two compartments, one for newspapers and boxes and one for cans, plastic and glass bottles. They replaced older trucks into which Waste Management crews sorted each type of recyclable into separate compartments.

The change to trucks with two compartments has not affected what gets recycled, but has lessened the amount of time the truck has to sit idle on some of Key West's narrow streets while drivers sort the items, said Greg Sullivan, district manager for Waste Management.

Everything that is taken from curbside is sent to the mainland to be recycled, he said, adding that the only things not being recycled are those the drivers leave behind in recycle bins.

"Their job is to put the right material in there," Sullivan said. "Once the driver picks it up, it starts in the process."

The belief that recycling is combined with regular garbage after it's taken away may be fueling the Florida Keys' low recycling rate.

"We did a study in 2004 and found one in 10 houses participate in the recycling program," said R.B. Havens, manager of Key West's Public Works Department. "That number has not changed. It's always between 5.6 and 6.1 percent."

At least 10 percent of Key West's 60,000 tons of garbage collected annually must be recycled before the city will realize a cost benefit, Havens said. The city has budgeted $377,340 for its recycling pickup this year and $1.92 million for residential and city trash pickup. In addition, it will cost almost $4 million to haul and dispose of the garbage, Havens said.

Sullivan's estimate for the amount that is recycled in Key West and throughout unincorporated Monroe County is higher, at about 10 percent, because grocery stores and some large companies, such as The Citizen, recycle through other companies. He also includes appliances and other metals in his calculations.

Commercial challenge

Key West businesses produce 42.7 percent of the city's garbage, but recycling participation is extremely low. Four lodging facilities in Key West and one on Big Pine Key, however, have been recognized as "Green Lodges" by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in part for their recycling efforts.

Businesses, particularly Old Town bars and restaurants, pose a challenge for recycling efforts primarily due to a lack of staff and space to sort and store the many cans, bottles and plastics for pickup, said Alison Higgins, president of GLEE.

Business owners also believe it costs more to recycle, but in reality it can save them money, said Waste Management's Sullivan. For example, a 96-gallon trash can of recyclables costs $31 per pickup, while the same size can of garbage costs $73.25 per pickup. The theory is that removing recycling from the garbage should allow for fewer garbage pickups or smaller cans.

"If you can divert things that have been going into your trash can, into recycling, it makes a lot of economic sense," Smith-Williams said.

At Hog's Breath Saloon, where bar backs have been sorting bottles by color and placing them in recycle bins since 1992, General Manager Charlie Bauer said savings are not obvious, but recycling is just the right thing to do.

"My goal is hopefully someday it will save money down the line, if everyone gets on board with it," he said. "We're doing what we can without it costing a whole lot of money."

Waste Management picks up recyclable bottles from Hog's Breath five days a week, but members of the staff take cardboard to the Waste Management facility on Rockland Key, Bauer said.

Other businesses, such as the restaurant Croissants de France, also drive their recyclables to Rockland Key, an option that is available to anyone, Mannix said.

The city may consider installing a central recycling location downtown that would provide a drop-off spot for businesses that can't wait for pickups, Mannix said.

"There are all these reasons why it could be a problem, but we're looking at what could be the solution," she said.

Changes coming

A more imminent change in Key West is the addition of 1,000 recycle bins that are on order, some of which will be placed throughout the city during festivals and other events that draw large numbers of people.

Recycling bins also will be stored at the city's Public Works building so people will not have to drive to Waste Management on Rockland Key to pick them up. Waste Management will deliver the bins, but it can take up to five days, Mannix said.

"Things like that will help with consistency in getting the message out that it is important," Smith-Williams said.

One idea for new bins is to put some near the cruise ship ports, another is to put them at sports fields.

"We need to get people used to something we've never had before," Mannix said.

Recently, the city placed recycle cans at the soccer field, but later found them full of trash such as diapers and cake. Those bins were replaced with the familiar green bins used by residents for their recycling at home, which worked better, she said.

Another possibility is enacting mandatory recycling laws for cans and bottles, in which garbage would actually be checked to make sure no cans or bottles are present, Mannix said.

Outside Key West, the city of Marathon recently placed recycle bins around its parks and athletic fields, and Islamorada plans to establish recycling goals and develop incentives for participation.

Belland, who is pushing for the elimination of Styrofoam throughout the Florida Keys, including in school cafeterias, said he is sending to every restaurant samples of biodegradable take-out containers and bags. The containers feel like plastic but are made of corn polymers that quickly disintegrate when they are thrown away with regular garbage. The Trellis Earth products cost about the same as Styrofoam, Belland said.

"People get into habits of doing things and we just need to change our mind-set," he said. "Plastic bags and Styrofoam cups, all these have a life cycle in a landfill of 500 years, and that's just a wild guess by people that it will break down by then."

Sullivan of Waste Management said recycling is one way to help the environment, but reminds people of the other two Rs in the "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" slogan. For example, parents might buy larger bottles of juice and use cups that can be washed, and people can buy products in larger volumes to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they need.

At a minimum, people should take responsibility for properly rinsing and disposing of their recyclable items, he said.

"You kind of have to start looking around at your own house and see what you can do," he said. "That's why I start my commercials with, 'It all starts with you.' "

riannotta@keysnews.com

Cleaner recyclables fetch higher prices

BY BECKY IANNOTTA

Citizen Staff

Greg Sullivan compares recycling to diamonds. The more you polish and refine, the more it is worth when you try to sell it.

As the district manager in the Florida Keys for Waste Management, Sullivan is responsible for sending recycled products to a 40-acre materials recovery center in Pembroke Pines. There, it is sorted, compressed and sold to the highest bidder based on its quality.

"It's all about price and commodity at that level," Sullivan said last week.

Buyers are looking for the cleanest, highest quality recyclable plastic, glass, aluminum or paper; those with dirt or food on them will not fetch a good price.

"If you finish your mayonnaise and put your jar out and it's still full of mayonnaise, guess what, we can't use it," he said, explaining that either his crews would have to clean the jar or crews in Pembroke Pines would — at a price. "We have to take the initiative to clean stuff out."

Waste Management hauls about nine trucks that carry 100 cubic yards of recyclables each week. At Waste Management's Pembroke Pines facility, the plastics are sorted by color, with milk jugs being the most valuable and colored soda bottles drawing less money. Paper and cardboard are sorted on a separate side of the building.

Some local businesses, such as The Citizen and grocery stores, can make more money by shipping their own recyclables to the mainland.

The Citizen, for example, transports extra newspapers that have remained indoors and are considered high quality because they are not wet or dirty. That paper will draw more money than Waste Management's shipment of newspapers collected from the side of the road that may have gotten wet, Sullivan said.

Grocery stores often send their recyclables back on trucks that have driven to the Florida Keys to restock shelves, rather than paying Waste Management to take cardboard or other recyclables to the mainland.

"The clean stuff is what we compete with," Sullivan said.

riannotta@keysnews.com