Agenda - Council - 11/25/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 15 - actions), but receive significantly higher participation and recovery rates. Although the demographic and market conditions for these two programs differ from those of the Twin cities Metropolitan Area, they serve as examples of the potentials from well-run curb-side programs. Source-separated organics can be collected from citizens who sepa- rate solid wastes and nonrecyclable paper from other components of solid waste. Source separated organics provide an excellent feed stock for composting since the material is relatively free of glass, metal and plastics that reduce the value of the final com- post product. Approximately 8,000 people in Portland, Oregon, currently participate in such a program. Residents place food waste and other organics in plastic pails with sealable tops. The pails are then taken to a site where the organics are composted. When the compost is ready, area citizens use the compost for gardening. There are several examples of successful composting operations currently in progress within the Region. Hennepin County and St. Paul operate leaf composting sites as a free service to the public. Leaves are deposited in the fall and compost mulch is available for pickup in the spring. The City of Roseville pro- vides free curb-side leaf pickup service for residents, using specialized vacuum trucks. Roseville's municipal composting site is also available for drop-off and pickup similar to the St. Paul and Hennepin operations. Statewide leaf recycling programs handle about nine percent of all yard waste generated (MPCA, 1979). The Metropolitan Waste Control Commission has also been windrowing filter cake sewage sludge from its Metro plant and reports excel- lent success and more-tha~-adequate market demand for the compost product. In general, composting has excellent potential as an alternative to landfilling organic wastes, depending on final product quality and market demand. Yard waste, on the average, represents 17.4 percent of the total waste stream by volume, depending on the season. Some haulers contend that, in Minnesota, yard waste can increase the volume of waste during spring and fall by as much as 50 percent. Since curb- side leaf programs don't require citizens to bag or box yard waste, a high participation rate may be anticipated from a well- run program. Based on recovery rate results of other programs, it is reasonable to assume that a 30 percent recovery rate could be achieved for yard waste through a combined curb-site pickup and backyard composting campaign. Therefore, yard waste recycling has the potential to reduce the solid waste stream by four to five percent. PICKING Picking, or salvaging, is the process of removing valuable materials from the mixed waste stream for later sale or reuse. Picking is typically an unstructured materials recovery system that can occur at any point along the collection and disposal route. Frequency of picking activities and recovery rates directly correspond to the materials' market prices.