Fall - 2014

Seasons The Greening of Maplewood

Solid Waste by the Numbers

converted to resources saved, it is estimated that 32,986 trees were saved with Maplewood residents’ recycling efforts!

By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner

Maplewood manages solid waste to protect human health and the environment. This is accomplished through our organized recycling and trash programs. The City’s contracted haulers collect recycling and trash in five districts, each with a different collection day.

This system reduces truck traffic, road wear, and emissions while creating efficiencies and reducing costs.

Reporting and measuring results of solid waste programs can identify gaps, acknowledge successes, and guide future policy decisions. Tennis Sanitation (recycling) and Republic Services (trash) submit monthly and annual reports to the City that include solid waste data.

The 2013 recycling report reflects that 2,414 tons of recyclables were collected from single family households (an average of 44 pounds per single family household per year). The combined recycling from single and multiple family households equaled 2,734 tons. When

Recycling participation by single family households in Maplewood averaged 84% in 2013. Since the roll out of recycling carts

by Tennis Sanitation in March of this year, we have had an 11% increase in recycling participation and a 28% increase in recycling tonnages (see page 2).

The 2013 trash report reflects 8,797 single family households and 144 townhomes participating in the City’s trash program. Cart size distribution is 46% - 95 gallon, 37% - 65 gallon, 11% - 32 gallon, and 6% - 20 gallon.

The City expects the percentage of households with smaller trash carts to increase since the roll out of recycling carts. Recycling carts will increase storage capacity for recyclables that might otherwise be thrown away.

There were 8,007 tons of trash collected from single family households in 2013. The trash is transported to the Resource Recovery facility in Newport. There it is converted to fuel and used to create electricity. Maplewood’s trash created enough electricity to power around 400 homes for one year!

Fall 2014 During Maplewood’s Fall Clean Up Campaign in October, Republic Services will collect bulky items at 50% off the contracted rate (see page 2). During last year’s Fall Clean Up Campaign, Republic Services collected 25 tons of trash, 71 appliances, 20 tires, 76 electronics, and 80 mattresses from 312 households.

Fall Clean Up Campaign 2nd and 3rd week in October. 50% off curbside bulky item collection. Call Republic Services at 651.455.8634.

See page 2.

The solid waste numbers reflect progress toward meeting the City’s goal of reducing waste, but there is still a lot of work to do.

In coming years we hope to offer organics collection (food waste). Ramsey County currently offers organics drop off at their yard waste sites free of charge (see page 3).

Another tool for evaluating and improving our solid waste programs is community feedback.

Take the Maplewood Solid Waste Survey to share your thoughts on our trash and recycling programs (see below).

Maplewood Solid Waste Survey

Share your thoughts on Maplewood’s trash and recycling programs.

Take the survey at www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/solidwastesurvey. Each completed survey will be entered into a drawing for $50.

Fall Clean Up Campaign (Second and Third Week in October) What is the Fall Clean Up Campaign?

A campaign that focuses on curbside bulky item pick up and household item reuse and recycling. The main component of the campaign includes curbside collection of bulky items at 50% off the City’s trash hauling contracted rate. The Campaign is also an opportunity to notify residents of reuse and recycling opportunities for all household items.

When does it take place?

Reduced cost curbside bulky item collection will take place the second and third weeks in October 2014 (Oct. 6-10 and Oct. 13-17).

Who can participate?

All residents that have curbside recycling are eligible to schedule bulky item pick up during the event (including townhomes and manufactured homes that have not opted into the City’s trash program).

How do I pay for the service?

Residents with City-wide trash service with Republic Services will be billed for the service on their bi-monthly trash bill. Residents who wish to use the service but are not included in the City-wide trash service (some townhomes and manufactured homes) must pre-pay via credit card.

How do I schedule curbside bulky item pick up?

Contact Republic Services at 651.455.8634.

Does Republic Services offer curbside bulky item pick up year-round?

Yes, the City’s contract with Republic Services ensures that curbside bulky item pick up is available to residents year round.

The 50% discount, however, will only be valid during the Fall Clean Up Campaign.

Will the City still have a Spring Clean Up event to drop off bulky items?

Yes, the City’s annual Spring Clean Up is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2015, at Aldrich Arena.

Product Stewardship

By Chris Swanson, Environmental Specialist Manufactured products have a life-cycle – materials and energy to make the product, energy to operate the product, and reuse or disposal of the product. All of these cycles have an environmental impact and cost. Product stewardship calls on those in the product life cycle – manufacturers, retailers, users, and disposers – to share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts.

In most cases, manufacturers have the greatest ability to practice product stewardship by designing for reuse, recyclability, and materials reduction.

The Minnesota Electronics Recycling Act was signed into law in 2007. The law requires manufacturers of electronic products to collect and recycle at least 80% of the electronics sold in Minnesota by weight. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s evaluation of impacts of the law found that there has been an increase in Seasons 2

Where else can I dispose or recycle my bulky items?

Ramsey County’s Going Green Guide has disposal and recycling information for a variety of materials. For more information click on RamseyAtoZ.com or call 651.633.EASY (3279). Answered 24/7.

What does it cost? The prices listed below reflect a 50% reduction from the contracted price.

Bulky Items

Price

Bathtub (cast iron) .......................................................$12.00 Bathtub (steel or fiberglass) ..........................................10.00 Bed (headboard/floorboard) ............................................6.00 Bed Frame ......................................................................5.00 Book Case ...................................................................... 7.00 Couch ............................................................................. 9.00 Couch w/ hide a bed ..................................................... 12.00 Desk ................................................................................7.00 Dining Room Table ........................................................10.00 Dresser ........................................................................... 7.50 End Table ........................................................................5.00 Grill (charcoal) .................................................................5.00 Grill (gas - no propane tanks) ......................................... 7.50 Hutch ............................................................................ 10.00 Kitchen Chair .................................................................. 3.75 Kitchen Table ................................................................ 10.00 Lawnmower or snow thrower ........................................12.00 (liquids must be drained) Love Seat ......................................................................10.00 Mattress or Box Spring (king size) ................................ 12.00 Mattress or Box Spring (queen Size) ............................ 12.00 Mattress or Box Spring (twin Size) ................................. 7.50 Office Chair .....................................................................5.00 Recliner/ EZ Chair .......................................................... 7.50 Roll of Carpet (cut down) ................................................ 2.50 Tire ................................................................................10.00 Tire with rim .................................................................. 12.00 Toilet ............................................................................... 7.00 Appliances .................................................................... 15.00 Electronics .................................................................... 15.00

the amount of electronics collected, expansion of collection opportunities (retail collection such as Best Buy and Staples), and a decrease in disposal cost for local government.

The Minnesota Paint Product Paint Product Stewardship Stewardship Law was passed in 2013.

The law requires paint producers to pay a small per container fee to fund a program to reduce the paint’s waste generation, promote reuse and recycling of paint, and provide end-of-life processing.

But, ultimately, it is the consumer who makes the choice between competing products. You can practice product stewardship by making responsible purchasing choices that consider environmental impacts and ensuring that products that are no longer needed are reused or recycled.

Put Your Food Scraps to Work

New for 2014! Residents can drop off food waste and non-recyclable paper (organics) to six of Ramsey County’s yard waste sites for free (does not include the Arden Hills site).

The County will haul it to an organics composting site, where it will become a soil amendment.

The process is simple – pick up free compostable bags at one of the six yard waste sites that collect organics. Fill the bags with household food waste (including meat, dairy, and bones) and non-recyclable paper (including paper plates, napkins).

Bring your bagged organics to a Ramsey County yard waste site (remember to keep food waste separate from yard waste).

Place your bagged organics in the designated container.

For a limited time residents can also pick up free compostable bags and an 18-gallon recycling bin with lid at Maplewood City Hall or Public Works building (1830 and 1920 County Road B East).

The recycling bins with lid work great for storing and transporting your organics.

Recycle your food scraps at Ramsey County Yard Waste Sites

What To Do with Yard Waste

If your yard has grass, trees, or shrubs, at some point you’ll have yard waste. What are your options?

1. Use it on-site.

Recycle the nutrients from yard waste back into the landscape.

Let grass clippings fall into the lawn to add nutrients and reduce the amount of fertilizer needed. Plants and weeds (dead or alive) can be composted and used as a soil amendment in planting beds. Tree branches and brush can be chipped and used as mulch.

2. Yard waste collection. For an additional fee, you can subscribe to season-long or one-time collection of yard waste through the Maplewood trash plan. Contact Republic Services at 651.455.8634 for details.

3. Drop it off at a Ramsey County Yard Waste Site.

For more information on organics and yard waste drop off, click on RamseyAtoZ.com or call 651.633.EASY (3279) Answered 24/7.

Recycling Carts

The recycling rates in Minnesota have stayed relatively stable over the last decade. Counties and cities are looking for ways to change that trend. In Maplewood the answer came in the form of recycling carts. In March the City converted its recycling program to the collection of recyclables in carts. Since that time the City has seen a 28% increase in recycling tonnages and an 11% increase in participation compared to last year at this time.

With the roll out of recycling carts residents now have two or three carts to store (recycling, trash, yard waste). The carts help manage solid waste but when stored incorrectly can detract from the aesthetics of a neighborhood. To keep your neighborhood beautiful, store your carts in your garage or screen them from view of the road (on the side of a garage, behind a screening fence or landscaping).

Proper Cart Storage - inside garage

Proper Cart Storage - side of garage

Improper Cart Storage - in front of garage

Get Caught Recycling!

Each week in October one randomly selected resident from each of Maplewood’s five recycling districts will Get Caught Recycling.

Winners receive $50, a fun skunk finger puppet for kids in the house (see page 4), and recycling bragging rights. All you have to do is place your recyclables in your recycling cart, place the recycling cart at the curb by 6:00 am on your recycling pick up day, and Get Caught Recycling!

Winners will be announced in a future Seasons newsletter.

Seasons 3

By Ann Hutchinson, Lead Naturalist We are good at manufacturing items - such as plastic - that can last 100 years or more but are thrown away after one use. In the U.S. about 9% of plastic waste is recycled. The rest goes to landfills or incinerators or, unfortunately, ends up in our oceans and Great Lakes as lost waste. There has been a lot of press on the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. Researchers have discovered each of our five oceans has its own Garbage Patch - areas where garbage is caught in gyres - massive, slow moving ocean currents that circulate under the effect of the earth’s rotation and wind.

In America we use 102.1 billion plastic bags annually. Research shows that plastic bags and other plastics do not biodegrade.

Instead the plastic is broken down into tiny bits by sunlight, wind, and other natural forces. Larger pieces of plastics have been found in all kinds of sea animals from birds to Sea Turtle Eating Plastic Bag turtles. A Loggerhead sea turtle for instance might munch on a plastic bag thinking it is a jellyfish. It is estimated that 44% of seabirds and 22% of Cetaceans (whales, dolphins) have plastic in their system or on their bodies. Plastic waste can block the ingestion of other foods.

Another concern is the use of plastic micro beads in cosmetics. When these products go down the drain, they often flow from water treatment plants into our waterways. They were first found in our oceans and are now increasingly found in our Great Lakes. The micro beads act as a delivery method for harmful chemicals when digested by wildlife and fish.

5 gyres institute

Lost Waste

Plastic Microbeads

Countries, states, and cities are taking action. Ireland implemented a 15 cent charge for plastic bags and use dropped by 90%. The big island of Hawaii, the City of San Francisco, and others have banned the use of plastic bags. Illinois was the first state to ban the manufacturing and sale of micro beads, with legislation under review in New York, California, and Ohio.

What can you do to eliminate lost waste? Use reusable cloth bags for shopping. Recycle! Check cosmetic products for micro beads and refuse to purchase them.

Resources: PBS Newshour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/tiny-plastic-microbeads-pile-problems-great-lakes/ National Geographic: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/tag/great-lakes-garbage-patch/ Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.org

Smunky the Recycling Skunky wants to remind you to “Get Caught Recycling!”

By Oakley Biesanz, Naturalist

Recyclor the Magnificent wants YOU to be a recycling hero! Circle the items you can recycle in Maplewood.

Mirror Cardboard

Soup Can

Paper

Light Bulb

Wood: Boards/Logs Plastic Bottle Milk Cartons

Printed on 50% post-consumer recycled paper

Juice Box

Banana Peel

Answers: Light bulbs should be disposed of at a household hazardous waste site, banana peels can be composted, mirrors and broken glass can be put in the trash, all others can be recycled!

The kids inwith the winning “Get Families kids that Caught Recycling” families will receive this award will also also receive cute skunk receive thisthis cute skunk finger puppet!

Details on page 3... 3... finger puppet! Details on page

Seasons 4