HistoricOmaha

Omaha World Herald
Published Sunday December 18, 2005

BY NANCY GAARDER

The recycling changes that Omaha is making are far greater than simply abandoning curbside glass pickup.

The city is believed to be the first in the state to shift to what is called “single-stream” recycling, a growing trend across the country, driven generally by efforts to reduce costs and boost recycling.

Omaha stopped picking up glass this month as a dry run for changes that will take place in January. Residents have been instructed to throw glass bottles in the trash or take them to one of several drop-off sites.

Bob Sink, Omaha’s environmental services manager, said the city expects to save about $800,000 a year and hopes that the simpler rules will result in greater recycling of cardboard and paper.

The savings, he said, take into account paying about $30,000 in landfill costs for up to 1,500 tons of glass that were being recycled.

Half of the savings will come from reduced costs that trash hauler Deffenbaugh Industries is passing along to the city. Sink estimated that Deffenbaugh will need roughly one-third fewer recycling trucks and workers.

Deffenbaugh spokesman Mike Clagett said the company also expects to see noticeably fewer workers compensation claims because fewer people will be cut by broken glass.

Scott Fuglei has a tough time believing that Omaha is taking a step forward by dropping glass from curbside recycling.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Fuglei, who is studying public health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “It sounds to me like they’ve reduced the demand on the contractor and called it an increase in productivity. That’s ridiculous.”

The change is being made as part of a new, 10-year contract with Deffenbaugh and grew out of complaints about litter from sloppy curbside recycling. Omaha is the last Deffenbaugh customer to switch to single-stream, Clagett said.

The remaining savings will come from increased revenue because Omaha will be paid a better price for recyclables.

Firstar Fiber, an Omaha company, outbid international giant Weyerhaeuser Co. to purchase, sort and send to market Omaha’s recyclables beginning in 2006. The sorting will be done at the company’s headquarters at 103rd and I Streets.

Dale Gubbels, head of Firstar, said the economics of glass just didn’t add up.

Broken bits of glass intermingle with other recyclables, reducing their value, he said. Paper mills sometimes pay less for recycled paper that contains bits of glass.

As with Deffenbaugh, broken glass generates workers compensation claims at Gubbels’ operation. And glass shards wear down recycling machinery.

As a recyclable itself, glass is worth less, comparatively, than plastic, paper or aluminum, Gubbels said. The raw materials for glass - sand and limestone - are relatively cheap, so manufacturers don’t have an incentive to pay top dollar to buy old glass.

Plastic, on the other hand, generally comes from petroleum, which is an expensive raw material. Aluminum comes from bauxite, which has to be mined. Making paper from wood uses more energy and water and generates more pollution than using recycled paper.

Still, the glass industry would like to see communities continue to recycle, said Joe Cattaneo, president of the Glass Packaging Institute. Losing recycled glass from a city the size of Omaha is a concern, he said.

Cities can successfully integrate glass into single-stream recycling if they take care in how they structure the program, he said.

In Portland, Ore., for example, residents bag their glass bottles and place the bag in the recycling bin. Curbside, workers then place the bag in a separate compartment in the trash truck. At the recycling center, the bags are sorted in an area separate from other recyclables.

Eileen Berenyi, president of Governmental Advisory Associates in Westport, Conn., estimates that communities in 21 states have adopted single-stream recycling. Glass, she said, is a problem for some paper mills, while for others it doesn’t appear to be.

If Omaha hopes to see a boost in overall recycling as a result of simplifying the process, she said, the city will have to launch an effective marketing campaign.

“Education is absolutely critical,” she said.

Sink said Omaha plans to spend 70 percent more on public education, for a total outlay of $170,000. It’s not clear, though, how that money will be spent beyond funding the publication Wasteline, a mailing to Omaha households.

Sink said targeted marketing should begin after the first of the year. The city has contracted with the Nebraska State Recycling Association to study recycling habits.

Fuglei said he and his wife have begun saving bottles for a trip to a drop-off site. But he knows his household is likely to be in the minority. The city, he said, has its priorities in the wrong spot.

“They’re looking at saving money,” he said. “It seems to me that you also have to value not filling up the landfill.”

Omaha.com: Omaha simplifies recycling program