DUBUQUE AREA RECYCLING NETWORK

DUBUQUE AREA RECYCLING NETWORK (DARN). 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)

While magazines were not taken, the collection included a pile for No. 1 plastics like soft drink containers and No. 2 plastics like colored bottles. A truck collected newspapers for reprocessing into new newsprint or for farmers who requested it for livestock bedding. Aluminum cans were culled for those with Iowa refund labels and another area was reserved for glass. (3)

Representatives of Mississippi River Revival and Boy Scout Troop II addressed the city council about the need to expand recycling in February, 1991. The city had requested proposals from private companies for collection, processing and selling recyclables and applied for a $300,000 state grant for a citywide curbside program. Mississippi River Revival proposed the city pay "landfill diversion credits" to volunteer groups which operate recycling dropoff centers since the centers saved the city the $22 per ton tipping fee at the landfill. Another proposal for the city to participate in sponsoring a newspaper-to-livestock-bedding demonstration. (4) In 1991, according to the Dubuque Area Recycling Network, ten farmers in Dubuque County were using newspaper for animal bedding on a regular basis for the Network's collection site. According to studies, newspaper compared to straw bedding was less expensive, needed less storage space, decomposed more quickly in the field, created fewer odors, and was more absorbent and sterile. (5)

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. (6)

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. (7)

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. (8)

    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.

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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. Ibid.

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

5. Arnold, Bill. "Farmers Use Shredded Newspaper," Telegraph Herald, February 2, 1991, p. 3A

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

7. Hanson

8. Giannakouros