Fayetteville residents speak out on proposed recycling plan

FAYETTEVILLE -- Many outspoken residents support the city in its effort to increase its recycling rate but expressed differing opinions on how to get there.

The City Council on Tuesday took up for the first time a proposed solid waste reduction, diversion and recycling plan. Mitch Kessler and Robin Mitchell from Florida-based Kessler Consulting gave aldermen a presentation on the 111-page plan.

Next meeting

5:30 p.m. Dec. 20

Room 219, City Hall

113 W. Mountain St.

Read the plan:

bit.ly/faytrashmasterplan

The City Council in December 2013 set a goal to divert 80 percent of Fayetteville's waste from landfill to recycling, reuse or composting by 2025. Its rate has hovered between 16 to 20 percent over the past 10 years and sits at around 18 percent, according to the consultants.

The plan has three main sections calling for single-stream recycling, commercial and residential food waste and construction bulk waste programs. The city tested pilot programs earlier in the year for recycling and food waste.

Kessler recommended the city implement the plan in phases. Phase I, which could get the city from 18 percent to about a 26 percent diversion rate within three years, entails starting up organic composting and single-stream recycling.

The diversion rate is the percentage of waste ending up somewhere other than a landfill. Single-stream recycling refers to collecting material altogether, rather than having crews separate them at the curb and processing them at a facility that would later separate them.

Several residents questioned whether single-stream would serve as the best method. Collecting everything at once and separating them at a facility increases the contamination rate of the material, many argued, and reduces the return on material recycled.

Sarah Luebe with Ripple Glass of Kansas City, Mo., who was among about 20 speakers Tuesday night, said it's nearly impossible to prevent glass from contaminating other material in a single-stream method.

Ripple Glass processes Fayetteville's glass waste. The city could guarantee higher than a 90 percent recovery rate if it separates glass from the rest of its material, Luebe said.

No facility to process single-stream material exists in Northwest Arkansas. Consultants estimated such a facility would cost around $4 million.

Sydney Conover with the Benton County Solid Waste District expressed support for the plan, saying her district would be interested in helping to create a facility that would serve the entire region.

Louise Mann, founder of Waste Reduction Resources, spoke for about 20 minutes and questioned many aspects of the plan, strongly advocating against the single-stream method.

"Putting something in a bin is putting something in a bin," she said. "Recycling is when something is made into something new."

Mann, along with residents, heavily emphasized education. The consultants acknowledged the city's difficulty in making recycling available at apartment complexes and residents spoke of targeting young people specifically.

The plan is intended to be a dynamic document, or road map, to increase the diversion rate, city officials have said. The City Council would have to approve each measure as it comes up through the years.

Discussions went into the night. The council held off making a decision on the plan because aldermen Mark Kinion and John La Tour couldn't attend Tuesday's meeting.

In other business, the council split 3-3 on rezoning about 70 acres of a mostly residential area near Mount Comfort and Rupple Roads. The new zoning designation would have allowed a mix of commercial and residential uses, including multi-family homes, eating places, fuel stations, drive-through restaurants and houses.

The proposal needed five affirmative votes to pass. It failed without enough votes. Aldermen Justin Tennant, Martin Schoppmeyer and Alan Long voted against it.

The owners of the property, Jim and Judy Hazen, spoke during Tuesday's meeting, saying they sympathized with many of their neighbors' concerns but the city's growth has prompted them to move on.

Residents in previous council meetings expressed concern over the types of businesses that could come to the neighborhood and the effect on an already dangerous traffic situation.

The city's 2017 budget was the last item on Tuesday's agenda, but aldermen didn't discuss the issue by press time. The proposed budget for 2017 increased about 5 percent, from $147 million in 2016 to $155 million.

NW News on 12/07/2016

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