We interviewed the firm behind the success story of recycling in Cranberry Township, outside of Pittsburgh. As we focus on best practices and case studies in our work, this project and her insight caught our attention.
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In 2005, Michele Nestor, of Nestor Resources, Inc. helped Cranberry Township to reinvent its recycling program and earned a Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in the process.
In the first quarter of the program, the Township saw an increase in the residential participation set-out rate grow from 57% to 98%. Its residential recovery rate jumped from a low of 9% to 32%. Recovery climbed even higher during the growing season exceeding 40%.
We thought her answers to these questions are relevant for any municipal entity, whatever the size.
Q: What are the top 3-4 things municipal government can do to make their programs successful?
A: The number one thing is to right size your program to fit your current budget. People often ask me “What is the best recycling program?” The answer I always give is “the one that you can afford. To me it is more important to compromise for the short term in order to maintain the most needed services than to do nothing and eventually have to eliminate the entire program.
Instituting user fees in my opinion is vital. I often encounter a negative reaction when we first introduce that notion. However, across Pennsylvania, communities are demonstrating that residents are willing to pay for recycling services. In Milton, Northumberland County, the participation rate for curbside recycling actually increased when the town finally started to charge a monthly fee for curbside collection. In Elk County, faced with losing the ability to offer its drop-off program to recycle plastics, the County asked participants for donations on the day of collection. Last year those donations generated enough revenue to pay for the program.
All successful programs have at least three characteristics (I call them the three C’s)
- Communication – People need to be sent repetitive educational messages in a variety of formats for them to understand how to recycle
- Convenience- Recycling needs to be easy for the average household. Greater frequency of collection, fewer material sorts/ more allowance to combine recyclables in one container, less preparation of recyclables are all contributing factors
- Capacity – Collection/storage containers for recyclables need to be large enough to accommodate
Q: What do you think Municipal leaders do not understand about recycling?
A: First and foremost, I think that municipal officials do not always appreciate the costs associated with recycling. In spite of the fact that recyclables are commodities with varying degrees of value, depending on the material, collection and processing costs often exceed those revenues. Revenue sharing contracts are fine, however, when municipalities get greedy and are unwilling to share the risks associated with the marketplace, they could inadvertently force many recycling processors out of business. A contract with a commodity index that fluctuates with the markets is a good practice for most municipalities.
I also think that program managers tend to miss some leading cost indicators when evaluating their programs. It is inherent in the reporting and tracking mechanisms for most programs to focus on tons collected. However, a shift toward evaluating the impact of the volumes of materials would point to the source of many cost overruns.
