Looking at all angles of curbside recycling
A little history.
Several years ago, when Bossier City and Bossier Parish were planning the details of the collaboratively built North Bossier Park, a group of Bossier residents lobbied for a tennis center in the park.
But they didn’t just lobby by attending meetings and voicing a desire for the tennis center. Tennis advocate and local attorney Jennifer McKay’s well-researched and presented presentation on the advantages of a Bossier tennis center was instrumental in swaying the police jury and city council’s decision to include this sports aspect in the park.
Over a couple of years, the tennis courts and small clubhouse proved very successful with both local players and out-of-town players attending tournaments in north Bossier. It was so successful, in fact, that the center was recently enlarged, including an even larger clubhouse.
I remind folks of that bit of Bossier history in response to the several contacts I’ve had from readers of my last Forum column concerning a new solid waste collection contract for Bossier City.
Those callers and emailers expressed an interest in curbside recycling as part of the new contract, and most wondered why city of cials would not include such service at the outset of the contract period instead of waiting to address the issue.
If any number of Bossier City residents are interested in a curbside recycling program, their efforts are more likely to count in convincing the city council if the McKay & Company approach is employed.
Consideration of a curbside recycling program for Bossier City should depend on more than the “feel good” aspect of keeping plastics, paper and metals such as aluminum out of the local land lls. Just a cursory review of the considerable amount of literature and research on recycling available on the Internet suggests a number of issues that should be addressed when looking at a major city-wide recycling program.
While the city’s solid waste contract would ultimately be the responsible party for collecting recyclable materials and arranging for transport to a recycler, there are still questions to be asked relative to the current market for recyclables and what happens when that market declines as it did just before 2010.
Research shows that a number of municipal governments found it necessary to either greatly reduce or discontinue recycling programs due to the reduced market and the costs of storing recyclable material while waiting for the market to rebound.
For many of those cities and towns, the good intention of collecting recyclables turned to the reality of dumping much of what became unmarketable into land lls. Ensuring that there’s an enduring market for what’s collected, by whatever entity does the collecting, should be a rst step in the process.
Beyond that, it’s also important to keep in mind that the recycling of some of the material designated for repurposing sometimes costs more to process than the processing cost of the original item. And, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, another type of processing costs is found in the local collection effort. Per the EPA, “Processing costs are also impacted by how the materials are collected, the type of facilities locally available, and a variety of other factors. Striking the right balance between processing costs and program revenues can have a dramatic effect on program economics.”
For local proponents of curbside recycling, this “balance” could mean the difference between a curbside pickup monthly fee to residents that is acceptable to recyclers – or considered too high to pay.
These are just a few considerations Bossier City curbside recycling advocates will want to look at before pushing for the service.
In the meantime, however, Bossier City already has a recycling program for those who don’t mind dropping items off at the city’s recycling center at 3001 Old Shed Road. According to the city’s website (bossiercity.org), recyclables can be dropped off 24 hours a day to “drop-off bins … under a well-lit, drive through area.”
Items accepted at the center include clear plastic, cloudy plastic, cans, newspapers and telephone books, mixed paper and corrugated paper/cardboard. Speci c preparation requirements for these items – as well as other items accepted at the site – are listed on the city website.
And perhaps another aspect of recycling research will include the number of users of the service already available to help substantiate (or not) the real local interest in an expanded city recycling program.
Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 13 years. She can be reached via email at m_carlso@bellsouth.net.
