CURBSIDE RECYCLING

CURBSIDE RECYCLING. When the ideas of recycling were being discussed in the 1990s, four local groups began taking action. The Audubon Society, Boy Scout Troop 11, Dubuque Area Congregations United, and the Sierra Club at STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL established a weekly drop-off recycling program. (1) Using a trailer at 3355 John F. Kennedy Road from 8:00 a.m until 1:00 p.m. Saturday, the volunteers and organizations they represented were committed to operating the center until the city of Dubuque began curbside recycling. (2) The city, beginning in July 1990, began charging $1.00 per month on refuse collection as a startup for a recycling program and was anticipating to collect $220,000 in fiscal 1991 ending June 30. (3)

On February 4, 1991 budget recommendations made to the city council included voluntary curbside recycling beginning on September 1, 1991. This pilot program costing $100,000 would run through November and would include the collection of cans, glass, plastic and newspaper by city employees using leased trucks. Based upon the success of the pilot program, city-wide curbside recycling could be expected by the second half of 1992. (4) The council announced on February 10, 1991 that the pilot program would begin on July 1, 1991 with a $95,000 projected cost and would try to help volunteers running a dropoff program until the pilot program began. Representatives of six volunteer groups running the recycling program, said they would quit in the fall and refused to support the pilot program. (5)

Five routes were chosen for the pilot curbside collection program. These included Central Avenue between 24th and 29th streets, Loras Blv. between Delhi and Bluff, Grandview-Fremont Avenue area west of Grandview and south of U.S. 20, Arbor Oaks area, and the Hillcrest Road area bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Kennedy and Asbury roads. There were no costs to these residents to be involved in the project. Participants would receive containers for the recyclables. In two of the areas, participants were allowed to mix the different types of materials being collected. In the other area, the recyclables would have to be separated. The collected materials were sold to Environmental Recycling Corp. and to Alter Scrap Company. (6)

By April 1991 it was apparent that only about half of the 3,000 eligible households had volunteered to be in the pilot program. Dubuque was working to meet a state-imposed 1994 deadline to cut landfill deposits by twenty-five percent. (7)

Between May and December 1991 a total of 81 tons of trash and 352 tons of newspapers was collected by volunteer groups. Prices received for recycled material, however, were not the motivation for all the effort. The recycling effort collected about $75 each week with another $75 from each farmer who took newspaper bundles. (8)

In 2013 in response of the economic challenges facing the Dubuque landfill, a new Dubuque Area Recycling Network was announced. Based on estimates that over one million dollars of marketable materials and items were buried in the landfill annually, the Network announced its goals. (9)

    1) Increase commercial food scraps diversion by 1,000 tons annually.

    2) Bring together eight stakeholders to plan for a facility established to
       take in used building materials and market them for reuse.

    3) Increase the number of identified businesses engaged in significantly
       improved diversion of their discards to recycling by fifty businesses
       annually.

    4) Develop a collaborative campaign to increase the volume of marketable
       reusables being diverted to beneficial use venues by 5% annually.

    5) Reduce toxins in the home by helping to divert household hazardous
       materials from landfill by 5% annually.

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Source:

1. Giannakouros, Raki. "Don't Throw That Away, DARN It!", Julien's Journal, April 2013, p. 44.

2. Hanson, Lyn. "Recyclable Trash Pouring In," Telegraph Herald, January 27, 1991, p. 6A

3. Gilson, Donna. "Volunteers Want Recycling Soon," Telegraph Herald, February 1, 1991, p. 3A

4. Gilson, Donna. "Recycling Program Proposed to Council," Telegraph Herald, February 5, 1991, p. 3A

5. Gilson, Donna. "Recycling Ok'd," Telegraph Herald, February 10, 1991, p. 1

6. Gilson, Donna. "City Chooses Streets for Curbside Recycling," Telegraph Herald, March 3, 1991, p. 1

7. Gilson, Donna. "Half of Eligible Households in Recycling Pilot," Telegraph Herald, April 30, 1991, p. 1.

8. Hanson

9. Giannakouros