Mount Pulaski governance responds to community concerns over recycling

 

[January 16, 2021] 

There has been much community feedback regarding the City of Mount Pulaski's recent decision to end the recycling program. This decision was a result of ongoing cost increases and abuses of the service. At the present time, the City is looking into other recycling programs that may be more cost effective and easily administered. The following is a brief description of how the City came about the decision to end the current recycling program.

The recycling program originated with a county wide program in which the City of Mt. Pulaski participated in. Costs were prorated across the county communities taking part in the program. To pay for the City’s portion of the County costs, a surcharge of .76 cents per water/sewer customer was put in place. The City withdrew from the program a couple years ago when the City of Lincoln left the program, and it became clear that it did not make economic sense to continue. The Mayor and City Council decided this program was important and elected to continue the program on its own.

Since the City of Mt. Pulaski withdrew from the county program, costs to service the recycling bins have consistently increased. Currently Area Recycling (Part of Area Disposal) is charging $1,842 per month to service the recycling bins. The income to offset this cost is .76 per month charged to 770 Mt. Pulaski water/sewer customers residing within the city limits. This comes to a monthly income of $585 against a cost of $1,842. Obviously, a significant monthly loss of $1,257 is incurred. The City has been absorbing this cost for several months since some money was built up in the recycling fund from the days when the City participated in the County program. Those funds have since been exhausted. To break even, the City would have to raise the charge from .76 per water/sewer customer to $2.39 ($1,842 cost/ 770 water/sewer customers) just to break even. This is a 314% percent increase. And assuming recent trends continue, the costs are only going to increase and therefore the surcharge would have to be increased accordingly to pay for it.

The reality that everyone must face is that there is no market for recyclable materials. This is shown in the ever-increasing costs for vendors to service the recycling bins. If there were a market, they would not be charging the City to pick up the materials. The analogy commonly used is the Goodwill or Salvation Army bins that you see around. To my knowledge there is no charge for emptying and maintaining these bins. Why is this? It’s because Goodwill and others can sell items from the bins to others, whether it be through Goodwill stores or other parties. The exact opposite business model is true for recycling currently.

The City is paying significant money to maintain the recycling bins. Nobody can say for certain where the materials placed in the bins ultimately end up. In recent years, China stopped buying bulk recyclables from the United States and they were by far the biggest buyer of recyclable materials.

The other major factor in the City’s decision to end the recycling program was consistent abuse of the service. Residents and City employees have noted that in the past year, there has been an increase of dumping of regular garbage and other trash. Public Works Director, Matt Presswood, mentioned that it is not unusual to find old television sets, tires, and even discarded treadmills left at the recycling bins along with regular trash. Consequently, it is costing the City more than just money but also staff time to dispose of and clean up from this illegal dumping.

It is known that out-of-town residents use the recycling bins. Under normal circumstances, (when costs were minimal) this would not be a problem. But with the added volume of the material being dropped off by non-Mt. Pulaski residents, the bins need to be emptied more frequently and therefore additional cost is incurred by the City. We would think that most people would agree that the City of Mt. Pulaski residents should not bear the entire cost burden of maintaining recycling bins used by non-residents.

Considering all the factors mentioned, the City Council made the tough decision to discontinue the recycling program. Faced with significant increasing costs and continuing illegal dumping, the decision was made to discontinue the program. Since this decision was made, residents have expressed their continued interest in having some sort of recycling program. Consequently, the Council and the Mayor indicated at the last City Council meeting that the issue would be researched further to see if a more practical recycling program can be found. Please feel free to contact any of the City of Mt. Pulaski officials if you would like to discuss this issue further, or have any suggestions, or have concerns regarding any other City issues. Contact information can be found at https://cityofmtpulaski.com/ or contact City Hall at [phone].

[Mount Pulaski Mayor and City Council]