Cape Girardeau's recycling numbers still climbing

The recycling numbers following Cape Girardeau's first full year of its automated trash-collection system are in and city officials say the totals continue to impress.

Participation is up -- better than they had hoped -- translating into more tonnage being picked up for recycling and less trash landing in the landfill.

"I'm tickled to death," said solid-waste supervisor Mike Tripp. "We were hoping that people would respond this way."

An average of 4,209 recycling stops were made each week in 2011, up 52 percent from 2009, the last full year before the automated system was implemented May 3, 2010.

The increase over 2010 was much narrower, when an average of 4,069 stops per week were made, constituting a 3.4 percent jump. Still, Tripp said, 42 percent of the city's 10,000 customers are participating and that's a good start for a program that is 20 months old.

"My personal goal is to get to 50 percent participation," Tripp said. "I think that's going to be harder to get that next 8 percent. But we're going to try to come up with some other ideas to get there."

Recycling's tonnage totals are up, as well, Tripp said. In 2010, 1.76 tons of recycling materials were shipped out of the city's recycling center. But last year, that number grew to 2.1 million for a 24-percent increase. Numbers for 2009 were not readily available, Tripp said.

Recycling is taken to the processing center at the city's Public Works facility on Southern Expressway before a contracted company takes it to a recycling center in St. Louis. Solid waste is taken to the transfer station off South Sprigg Street before it is hauled to a landfill in Washington County, Mo.

While recycling is obviously a boon to the environment, Tripp said the real reason for the increase in participation is probably that the new system is much easier to use.

The city began collecting recyclables in 1991, offering curbside pickup but with the caveat that residents had to separate the refuse themselves.

The participation levels stagnated in recent years, ranging from 2,589 a week to 2,763 a week in the year before the new $2.4 million single-stream recycling system was implemented that allowed participants to put their unsorted recyclables into one bin.

General revenue bonds were issued to generate the money to be repaid by collection charges that did not increase from $16.75 per month.

That's when the city began using new trucks with a grappling arm to pick up new plastic bins that were delivered before the switch. City officials say the trucks, which are used for both recycling pickups and garbage collection, have allowed them to cut down on the number of workers through attrition, which saves money.

Now, residents can toss paper, plastic, cardboard, tin cans and aluminum into the 96-gallon bins -- smaller 65-gallon bins were provided for trash -- with exceptions such as pizza boxes that may be contaminated with food. No glass is allowed in the bins.

Adam Gohn, chairman of the city's Girardeau Goes Green Advisory Board, said he, too, has been wowed by the participation levels so far.

"Ideally, everybody would use it," he said. "But it's nice to see the single-stream [system] pushing up the numbers that much."

He agreed that the greatest gains are in the past, but he thinks that as young people grow up with the system, they'll be more likely to use it as adults.

"Hopefully, it will become second nature to them," he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

2007 Southern Expressway, Cape Girardeau, MO