CURBSIDE RECYCLING

CURBSIDE RECYCLING. When the ideas of recycling were being discussed in the 1990s, four local groups began taking action. The Audubon Society, Boy Scout Troop 11, Dubuque Area Congregations United, and the Sierra Club at STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL established a weekly drop-off recycling program. (1) Using a trailer at 3355 John F. Kennedy Road from 8:00 a.m until 1:00 p.m. Saturday, the volunteers and organizations they represented were committed to operating the center until the city of Dubuque began curbside recycling. (2) The city, beginning in July 1990, began charging $1.00 per month on refuse collection as a startup for a recycling program and was anticipating to collect $220,000 in fiscal 1991 ending June 30. (3)

On February 4, 1991 budget recommendations made to the city council included voluntary curbside recycling beginning on September 1, 1991. This pilot program costing $100,000 would run through November and would include the collection of cans, glass, plastic and newspaper by city employees using leased trucks. Based upon the success of the pilot program, city-wide curbside recycling could be expected by the second half of 1992. (4) The council announced on February 10, 1991 that the pilot program would begin on July 1, 1991 with a $95,000 projected cost and would try to help volunteers running a dropoff program until the pilot program began. Representatives of six volunteer groups running the recycling program, said they would quit in the fall and refused to support the pilot program. (5)

In May, 1991 city residents were given a look at the new white recycling truck--a $61,700. 1991 Marathon Precycler model--during DUBUQUEFEST/VERY SPECIAL ARTS. The five-compartment truck allowed separation of each recyclable item by collection crews at the curbside. Each compartment was hydraulically lifted to unload. The city rented two of the trucks for $1,750 a month each with the rental payments applied to the purchase price if the city bought the trucks. The 1,600 households oartcipating in the program picked up their collection bins between July 3-9 at city fire stations. (6)

Five routes were chosen for the pilot curbside collection program. These included Central Avenue between 24th and 29th streets, Loras Blv. between Delhi and Bluff, Grandview-Fremont Avenue area west of Grandview and south of U.S. 20, Arbor Oaks area, and the Hillcrest Road area bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Kennedy and Asbury roads. There were no costs to these residents to be involved in the project. Participants would receive containers for the recyclables. In two of the areas, participants were allowed to mix the different types of materials being collected. In the other areas, the recyclables would have to be separated. The collected materials were sold to ENVIRONMENTAL RECYCLING CORPORATION and to Alter Scrap Company. (7)

Their attendance at a National League of Cities convention in March led several council members to be concerned about the city's role in recycling. From the experience of other cities, it was the marketing of the collected material and not the collection that caused problems. Contracts to purchase the collected recyclable materials were cancelled when prices for the material fell. Concerns voiced by council members included the possibility of rising fees if the program became privately operated. (8)

By April 1991 it was apparent that only about half of the 3,000 eligible households had volunteered to be in the pilot program. Dubuque was working to meet a state-imposed 1994 deadline to cut landfill deposits by twenty-five percent. (9) Efforts to encourage more participation were made through September when the collection of information from the pilot program was stopped. Residents in the areas of the pilot program were reminded that collection would continue until the citywide program began around the first of April. (10)

Between May and December 1991 a total of 81 tons of trash and 352 tons of newspapers was collected by volunteer groups. Prices received for recycled material, however, were not the motivation for all the effort. The recycling effort collected about $75 each week with another $75 from each farmer who took newspaper bundles. (11)

Residents had a chance to view the city's first recycling truck, a 1991 Marathon Recycler model costing $61,700, at DUBUQUEFEST/VERY SPECIAL ARTS in May 1991. The five compartment truck allowed collection crews to sort material at the curbside and then hydraulically lift the compartments to be emptied. (12)

Expectations of two city officials were confirmed during Dubuque first three weeks of curbside recycling. Over half of the collections, equaling 25 tons, was made up of newspapers--some stored in garages in anticipation of the program. (13)

As curbside recycling took effect, members of the DUBUQUE AREA RECYCLING NETWORK (DARN) by September 1992 were making plans to end their recycling effort at ECONOFOODS. In the two and one-half years they had operated the collection site, DARN had logged more than 6,000 volunteer hours and collected more than 1,500 tons of material. There interest as Econofoods collection closed was to find financial support for opening new sites for those people not on the city's curbside program. DARN also believed their efforts had helped to inspire interest in recycling the the community and educate people as to what materials were recyclable. (14)

Recycling continued to expand in October 1992 when the city proposed establishing a drop-off site for magazines at Environmental Recycling on Radford Road until officials decided to add magazines to the curbside recycling program. City staff estimated that the magazine collection could cost just over $5,000 annually and $340 more if the magazines could not be marketed and had to go to the landfill. (15)

In April 1993 city officials declared curbside recycling "a huge success." One year after the voluntary program was started 70% of the residents were participating and city crews had picked up 2,085 tons of recyclables equal to 11% of the municipal garbage pickup. Combined with the yard waste composting program, the amount of waste had been cut by 28% bettering the state mandated reduction of 25% by July 1, 1994. (16)

The addition of curbside collection of magazines became a fiscal 1994 budget amendment. Environmental Recycling had offered to decrease from $33 to $30 the per-ton fee it charged. (17) In June 1993 the city council agreed to add $70,000 to the city's solid waste budget for help purchase two trucks for magazine collection. Realignment of staff and adding trucks might allow the city to add other materials to the collection in the future. (18)

In 2013 in response of the economic challenges facing the Dubuque landfill, a new Dubuque Area Recycling Network was announced. Based on estimates that over one million dollars of marketable materials and items were buried in the landfill annually, the Network announced its goals. (19)

    1) Increase commercial food scraps diversion by 1,000 tons annually.

    2) Bring together eight stakeholders to plan for a facility established to
       take in used building materials and market them for reuse.

    3) Increase the number of identified businesses engaged in significantly
       improved diversion of their discards to recycling by fifty businesses
       annually.

    4) Develop a collaborative campaign to increase the volume of marketable
       reusables being diverted to beneficial use venues by 5% annually.

    5) Reduce toxins in the home by helping to divert household hazardous
       materials from landfill by 5% annually.

In September, 2019 officials with the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency announced that it would establish two glass recycling drop-off containers in Dubuque early in 2020. The city would not have to pay for either although the city council had included $10,000 in the budget for the purchase and installation of one container. Agency officials discovered that state law required landfills to offer glass recycling collection on site. One container would be located at the Municipal Services Center at 925 Kerper Court. The second would be located at the landfill. The landfill officials would construct a bunker to store the glass until it was picked up. An agreement had been signed with Ripple Glass of Kansas City, Missouri to collect the glass free of charge. (20)

The new plan promised to be a revenue generator for the landfill. A $30 per ton fee would be added for clean glass brought to the drop-off locations from outside Dubuque. (21)

In July, 2023 city officials submitted a $2.5 million grant application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling program to fund a community-wide transition to automated recycling. If approved the funds would purchase 18,000 recycling tipper carts that would replace all of the 18-gallon yellow bins currently in use. The money would also help the city purchase four new automated side-load recycling trucks. (22)

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Source:

1. Giannakouros, Raki. "Don't Throw That Away, DARN It!", Julien's Journal, April 2013, p. 44.

2. Hanson, Lyn. "Recyclable Trash Pouring In," Telegraph Herald, January 27, 1991, p. 6A

3. Gilson, Donna. "Volunteers Want Recycling Soon," Telegraph Herald, February 1, 1991, p. 3A

4. Gilson, Donna. "Recycling Program Proposed to Council," Telegraph Herald, February 5, 1991, p. 3A

5. Gilson, Donna. "Recycling Ok'd," Telegraph Herald, February 10, 1991, p. 1

6. Gilson, Donna, "Recycling on Track," Telegraph Herald, May 25, 1991, p. 1

7. Gilson, Donna. "City Chooses Streets for Curbside Recycling," Telegraph Herald, March 3, 1991, p. 1

8. Gilson, Donna "Recycling Plan Still On, If..." Telegraph Herald, April 2, 1991, p. 1

9. Gilson, Donna. "Half of Eligible Households in Recycling Pilot," Telegraph Herald, April 30, 1991, p. 1.

10. "City Urges Project Residents to Recycle," Telegraph Herald, September 26, 1991, p. 3A

11. Hanson

12. Gilson, Donna. "Dubuque Recycling Program on Track," Telegraph Herald, May 25, 1991, p. 3A

13. Gilson, Donna. "Newspapers Bulk of Recycling," Telegraph Herald, July 24, 1991, p. 3A

14. Arnold, Bill. "Recycling Remains After Site Closes," Telegraph Herald, September 24, 1992, p. 1

15. Arnold, Bill. "Drop-Off Site for Magazine Recycling Studied," Telegraph Herald, October 4, 1992, p. 3A

16. Dickel, Dean. "Dubuque Says Curbside Recycling 'Huge Success,'" Telegraph Herald, April 16, 1993, p. 3A

17. Arnold, Bill. "Recycling Efforts Turn New Page: Magazines," Telegraph Herald, March 5, 1993, p. 3A

18. Eiler, Donnelle. "Magazine Recycling Slated," Telegraph Herald, June 8, 1993, p. 3A

19. Giannakouros

20. Fisher, Benjamin, "Dubuque to Enter New Era in Glass Recycling," Telegraph Herald, September 19, 2019, p. 3A

21. Ibid.

22. Kruse, John, "City Eyes Automated Recycling Carts," Telegraph Herald, July 14, 2023, p. 1