Published: January 12, 2008 09:49 pm            

STEPHANIE SALTER: Years of work by recycling fans will make it easy being green

TERRE HAUTE — First, an apology: I am very sorry Wednesday’s column about curbside recycling in Terre Haute was confusing. The contract establishing the program is so new, there is no way — yet — to sign up.

Do not worry. You will not be left behind. By the time this long-overdue service gets rolling, every man, woman and child in the city will know the details of our curbside recycling. All will have ample opportunity to subscribe if they so choose for $5.50 per month.

If you don’t want to pay for someone to come by your home every two weeks to take away your recyclable items — no separating required — that’s your prerogative.

Haul your recyclables to Indiana State University, Goodwill or some other center for free. Just, please, don’t keep dumping reusable materials into landfill-bound garbage bags because you’re opposed to the idea of paying for curbside recycling.

My Wednesday alert was issued because I want everyone to understand that a decades-old vision of many environmentally oriented folks in this area finally has passed the talking stage. The Burke administration’s 20-year contract with Terre Haute’s waste haulers, Republic Services Inc., made residential recycling pickup an impending reality.

Even with several details to be worked out — say, a way citizens can make certain that recycled materials don’t end up in a landfill — there is no going back. The first neighborhoods for the phase-in process could be getting service within about three months.

A word about that contract.

Wednesday, I dissed it because of its length. The day after, I sat for more than an hour with Jeff Perry, a member of Keep Terre Haute Beautiful and of the Board of Public Works and Safety under Burke. Perry was one of the city’s point-people on negotiating the contract with Republic. Bottom line: We got a good deal.

Lest you jump to conclusions — oh, that guy’s just blowing a horn for his ousted boss — know that new mayor Duke Bennett is keeping Perry on Public Works. (It doesn’t hurt that Perry is a Republican.)

The years of work that got us to this place will not come to a halt. Perry and Republic’s Ken DePasse labored together to hammer out a contract acceptable to both sides, and — with organized community input — they will provide continuity to see that it’s properly executed. (See information box.)

By the way, those “years of work” I mentioned? Most of the recycling end of it was done by some amazingly committed citizen volunteers with nothing to gain but good, green feelings.

From Keep Terre Haute Beautiful are Janice Board, Andrew Conner, Norma Foxx and Bobby Grizzle. Other folks who’ve refused to quit raising recycling consciousness are Bionca Gambill, Joy Sacopulos, most of the members of Trees Inc., Bill Tennis of Goodwill Industries and everyone involved over the past 18 years with ISU’s recycling center.

This is not a complete list. That’s another column for another day — or for a party.

So, why is a 20-year contract with a Florida-based trash company a good deal for Terre Haute? Because it allows the city to control, plan and budget for the inevitable increases in services that will occur.

Does anyone think gasoline prices will go down between now and 2018? The cost of labor? Of gargantuan, increasingly sophisticated hauling trucks and sorters? Of operating and maintaining landfills that, please, God, will have tighter state and federal regulations?

With a 20-year pact and reasonable, specified increases built in, there will be no big surprises or budget-busting assessments.

Would it be better if Terre Haute had a contract with a local waste removal company? Probably. The rub is, there isn’t one. Like a lot of industries in the USA, the trash biz is dominated by a dwindling group of mega-corporations.

You know where Terre Haute fits into the big scheme of things at Republic? Last year, the company saw $3.15 billion in revenues. Terre Haute’s share of that was .07 percent. Not 7 percent, seven-hundredths of 1 percent.

As Perry puts it, “We have to have Republic; they don’t have to have us.”

How about starting our own recycling company? Perry said Keep Terre Haute Beautiful looked into that idea about six years ago.

“It was $78.50 an hour just for someone to drive one truck,” said Perry. “We quickly realized this was not an option.”

Yes, the city gave up some things for recycling. So did the trash company. Originally, Perry said, Republic negotiators wanted a minimum of 1,500 households to subscribe to curbside recycling before they would offer the service. And they wanted to charge $10 a month for the 65-gallon bins into which we will place our unsorted materials.

Instead, we ended up needing only 500 households at $5.50 per bin.

What we may toss into the bins still is being determined. But it likely will be paper, newsprint, plastics No. 1 through 7, cardboard, aluminum and tin cans and — fingers crossed — glass bottles.

In a just-inked agreement, Goodwill of Terre Haute, which does not currently accept glass at its recycling center on South Third Street, will employ workers to do the sorting for Republic. Maybe because we’ve come this far, I have hope for the glass.

The point is, much of the “how” of curbside recycling here is fluid. I have every reason to believe that the Bennett administration recognizes what Burke’s did: Cleaning up Terre Haute by making it easier for citizens to recycle is the right and smart thing to do.

Veteran recyclers believe that if we can make this first attempt succeed, expansion and improvement are more than possible.

Someday soon, for example, I’d like to see a low-income recycling aid program similar to phone companies’ “lifeline” service. People who want to recycle but can’t afford the monthly fee could be helped by a set-aside fund. Better yet, maybe we can follow Bloomington, which reverses the set-up: Recycling is free, trash costs money, thus encouraging people to further cut down on their garbage output.

Wednesday, I said I’d share some of what I learned talking to Paul Reed, who oversees ISU’s seven-days-a-week recycling center. Much of that has to do with trends in the recycling recovery business: What’s hot? (Corrugated cardboard.) What’s not? (Glass.) Just how much of a living can one person make from recyclables?

Contrary to some concerns expressed of late, the days of paying rent and utility bills with a bag or two of smashed aluminum cans are over. According to Reed, a pound of aluminum — the best-seller at companies that buy recyclables — brings about 55 to 60 cents. Co-mingled plastics, perhaps 8 or 9 cents a pound.

A ton of glass will net about $10, while a ton of newsprint will bring about $75. And a person has to transport all of it to a buyer.

Space prohibits much more detail about the other interesting things Reed told me, such as a great new partnership between ISU and Better World Books to recycle books for actual reading purposes.

But, as I mentioned a few days ago, no one at ISU is worried that citywide curbside recycling will render the center unnecessary.

“It might affect us, but we’re still going to be here for the university and for county residents,” Reed said. “And, if nothing else, this might inspire us (ISU) to get to the other areas of the university for recycling.”

Currently, only academic buildings recycle. Such big trash producers as residence halls and the student union food court do not.

Imagine if ISU led the way and made campuswide recycling mandatory. Imagine if businesses all over the city clamored for commercial pick up of their recyclables. Imagine if county residents said, “Hey, we want in on this, too.” Imagine if the Chamber of Commerce could advertise Terre Haute, Indiana, as one of the top recycling cities in the Midwest.

Stay tuned …



Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.

        

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