Every two weeks, Austin city employee Johnny Williams picks up 90 gallon blue bins full of recycling materials from Austin neighborhoods. Wednesday, he was in the Canyon Creek subdivision in Northwest Austin.
“Since they went to the conversion of the single stream, I have seen a lot more people recycling," said Williams.
The city started single-stream recycling in October 2008. Since it doesn't have a recycling facility in town to handle the large amounts of unsorted plastics, cardboard and aluminum, it contracted with an out-of-town company called Greenstar. The city expected to make money, but instead, it has lost more than $2 million.
“The contract is hemorrhaging the city money,” said Robin Schneider, executive director for Texas Campaign for the Environment. “What we don’t need is a band-aid. What we do need is a tourniquet. We need to stop the flow of our dollars down the drain.”
Under the contract, Austin pays Greenstar $18 per ton to truck its recycling to San Antonio plus $70 to $90 per ton to process the items. Council will have an option to renegotiate Thursday. Greenstar is offering three options. Each would cut fees and extend the length of the contract which is set to expire next September.
The first option would cut processing fees by $20 a ton if the city extends the contract through September 2013.
The second would cut fees by $5 a ton if the city extends the contract through September 2011.
The third option would cut fees by $3.50 cents a ton if the city allows Greenstar to collect all of Austin's recyclables until March 2011 and at least 50 percent of Austin's recyclables through September 2011.
Rick Cofer, vice chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Commission is advising council to support the third option.
“The city would be in no different position,” he said. “It would see a cost savings of approximately $450,000 and have flexibility to bring in its own recycling facility on its own time frame.”
The City of Austin is looking at ways to build a recycling facility in town that can handle the large amounts of recycling materials.
Council members will vote on the three options at Thursday’s city council meeting.
