Fiscal Note
Streets staff believe that it will be possible to reach the goal for 2010 by utilizing existing programs combined with an aggressive public education campaign aimed at waste reduction and increasing recycling. This educational effort may cost $50,000 to $60,000 per year, but would result in decreased landfill tipping fee costs. The overall expansion of existing recycling programs, where possible, is therefore not expected to result in any significant cost increases and may actually reduce costs to the City.
Expanding programs to reach Zero Waste goals, however, would require additional funding. The addition of new programs, especially one for collecting and composting household food waste, would have significant costs associated. For this program, a third fleet of trucks the size of the present recycling fleet would be required, along with a third set of carts. Organic materials would have to be composted, and this may require the City to build and operate a composting facility.
Any new program would require Council approval at a later date. This resolution does not commit the Council to funding new programs, nor to appropriating funds for the expansion of existing programs.
Title
Setting a goal of 65% waste diversion by recycling and composting for 2010 with progress towards the ultimate goal of zero waste.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Madison has one of the most successful recycling and composting programs in the country diverting over 57% of its waste from the landfill; and
WHEREAS, in spite of that success, the Streets Division still sent 46,815 tons of waste of the landfill in 2007; and
WHEREAS, the materials that are sent to the landfill represents a waste of resources that could be used to make our community more sustainable, increases the emission of green house gases, and transfers the liabilities associated with the disposal of the materials to future generations; and
WHEREAS, landfills in our region are placed on farmland and it permanently converts the land resource into a depository for waste and results in a loss of land for agricultural production; and
WHEREAS, Zero Waste is a philosophy and a design principle that includes recycling but goes beyond recycling by taking a 'whole system' approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society. Zero Waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.
WHEREAS, The Zero Waste philosophy would move Madison towards a more sustainable future, minimize the need for landfills, reduce the production of green house gasses, and reduce other discharges to land, water, or air associated with waste; and
WHEREAS, government is ultimately responsible for establishing criteria needed to eliminate waste, for creating the economic and regulatory environment in which to achieve it, and for leading by example; and
WHEREAS, diversion of solid waste involves planning for appropriate facilities, inclusion of recycling bins in all multi-family dwellings and commercial facilities, and attraction of industries that reuse components of the solid waste stream; and
WHEREAS, while the diversion of materials from landfill disposal itself carries a cost, the cost of landfill disposal will continue to increase with no economic return and result in the continued generation of methane which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a green house gas; and
WHEREAS, the conservation of these materials can create new jobs in reuse, dismantling, recycling and composting industries in the City of Madison: and
WHEREAS, recycling waste not only saves resources but it significantly reduces the use of energy in the manufacturing of new products, making it one of the fastest and most effective ways to slow global warming: and
WHEREAS, the Zero Waste philosophy is in line with the Natural Step process that has been adopted by the City of Madison as its guide for sustainability and that there are many city agencies and staff committed to working towards a zero waste goal as part of the Natural Step program,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Madison hereby adopts Zero Waste as a long-term goal in order to eliminate waste and pollution in the production, use, storage, and recycling of materials. This goal can be achieved through action plans and measures that significantly reduce waste and pollution.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these measures will include encouraging residents, businesses and agencies to use, reuse, and recycle materials judiciously, in addition to encouraging manufacturers to produce and market less toxic and more durable, repairable, reusable, recycled, and recyclable products; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Madison hereby establishes an initial goal of 65 percent landfill diversion by the year 2010 with continued progress towards the goal of Zero Waste.