Recycling On The Rise 60,000+

a bou T 60,000 of d allas’ 240,000 households are currently putting out their recycling blue bins once a week instead of once every two weeks. Right now, this recycling schedule applies to single-family homes north of the Trinity River and west of Central Expressway.

Another 40,000 will begin once-a-week recycling in February 2010; the change includes households east of Central Expressway and north of Grand Avenue/Garland Road.

Our neighborhood isn’t devoid of once-a-week recycling, however. Lake Cliff instituted this practice in 2004, when it became one of four pilot areas where the city first tested the program. Then in March 2009, 350 homes in Kiestwood began recycling once a week after Councilman Dave Neumann petitioned for the change.

Once-a-week recycling is the more environmentally friendly option, but it also saves the city money (both because the garbage trucks drive the streets less often and because residents tend to recycle more with oncea-week recycling, which means more revenue for the city). In light of the city’s recent budget shortfall, Nix says it’s possible the city council could switch to once-a-week service for all Dallas residents in 2010.

t he landfill opened in 1981 and is projected to be used until 2031, when it originally was estimated to fill up. b ut bioreactor technology could mean it will last much longer than that — another 22 years, Smith says.

b ecause the technology breaks down garbage more quickly, it means the amount of garbage in each cell will decrease more quickly, translating into more space in the landfill — and Smith says, space equals money.

t he cost to run the landfill was $18.5 million in 2008, so with dumping fees plus residential garbage fees (roughly $4 million annually) the city expects to earn roughly $9 million in 2009.

And if, as Smith predicts, new technology evolves that changes landfills from finite to infinite space, Mc c ommas b luff could continue operating as a city cash cow for decades and even centuries to come.

Reduce, R euse...

you know T he R es T r ecycling has come a long way in Dallas, Nix says. “We were pretty behind for a long time. We did not follow the green track in late ’80s and early ’90s,” she says.

In 2005, only about one in four Dallas households recycled. t oday, Nix says almost half of Dallas homeowners recycle: “Our count of recyclers, as provided by route drivers and further estimated based on big blue cart deliveries, is 46 percent.” t he city’s goal for the “ t oo Good t o t hrow Away” program, which educates homeowners on recycling and provides the blue bins for single-family residences, was 50 percent of eligible households by 2011.

“We ought to get there a bit earlier than estimated,” Nix says. “We’re certainly seeing big strides in the amount of recycling materials we’re collecting.” e ffective recycling programs mean more landfill space; our current recycling rate means we save more than a month of landfill space every year.

“When we bury something, we hope it will degrade,” Smith says. “ e verything we want to go into the landfill is not this type of stuff [gesturing toward a plastic water bottle from which he’s drinking]. We want it to decompose.”