Article:
Doing the trash tax right
Philadelphia Daily News
by Maurice M. Sampson II
Mar 16, 2010
THE PROPOSED "Keep Philly Clean Service Fee" has garnered a lot heated discussion questioning whether such a tax is appropriate. But missing in the conversation is the impact of the recycling rewards program that offers the chance for residents to be "paid" to recycle - up to $400 a year in discount shopping coupons, more than offsetting the $300 trash fee.
The recycling rewards program was launched in February and will be available to all residents by July. RecycleBank, a private company, manages the program under contract to the city and is issuing bar-coded stickers for the recycling bins of registered residents. Using E-Z Pass technology, participation is recorded as material is collected.
Residents accrue points based on the volume of the whole neighborhood, and how much residents reduce total trash set out. Points can be redeemed for discounts on a range of products, including groceries, household goods, clothing and movie tickets.
The program was tested for the first time anywhere in Philadelphia in 2004. Pilot programs were set up in Chestnut Hill and West Oak Lane. Recycling rates quickly soared to 60 percent, and both neighborhoods recorded participation of more than 90 percent. Soon, everyone wanted to know when the program would come to their neighborhood.
Incentive-based recycling offers several benefits:
* Recycling saves the city on disposal costs. And as the economy improves, the city will receive more revenue for collected material. In the past, the city has earned as much as $35 a ton, or about $2 million a year, from recycling.
* If all 530,000 households in Philadelphia participate in the recycling program, coupons valued at $79 million-$212 million a year will be spent locally.
More than $7 million has been privately invested in the Blue Mountain Recycling facility over the last 18 months, and 144 jobs have been created in the last 10 years. Investment and job-creation will continue to grow as recycling continues.
If the "Philly Clean" fee is adopted, it shouldn't be without conditions. With the city's trash/recycling costs of $150 million a year, Council shouldn't OK the fee without provisions to assure accountability. An independent study should be performed to identify the best ways to reduce costs without cutting services, followed by a five-year plan updated annually with progress reports showing how the money will be spent.
According to studies performed by the Solid Waste Association of North America, average disposal costs account for only 12 percent of municipal waste-management expenditures, while collection costs amount to 50 percent or more. Collection efficiency measures have reduced costs in other municipalities by 20 to 40 percent. And it's essential to determine which would be best for Philadelphia. Some might include:
Automated collection: Letting the truck lift and empty trash containers reduces lifting injuries and allows trash and recycling containers as large as 96 gallons. Automation would work for at least two-thirds of city residents.
Reduce crew size: Automation allows for the collection of two to three times as much material per crew with one or two workers versus the standard three used for manual collections.
Establish fixed routes for each truck: Trucks are now assigned to an area and meander around until the job is done, a waste of time and money.
Curbside collection of food and yard waste: Forty percent of our waste is organic and can be handled by facilities built in the city. With landfill costs around $73 a ton, every ton of organic waste diverted to a composting facility saves money.
Adopt pay-as-you-throw: It allows unlimited recycling, and charges a fee for each container beyond what is found to be average household volume. Unlike the proposed flat fee, it rewards frugal residents and charges the wasteful.
Paying additional taxes is distasteful, and these recommendations assure that the opportunity to reduce cost will be explored annually. I would encourage City Council to adopt these recommendations as condition for their approval.
Over time not only will costs be contained, services will be improved to the benefit of the taxpayer, the environment and the economy.
Maurice M. Sampson II is president of Niche Recycling and Waste Reduction Systems, and chairman of RecycleNOW. He was the city's first recycling coordinator under Mayor Wilson Goode. E-mail: msampson@nicherecycling.com.