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 i...
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