Commentary

PEORIA'S LANDFILL AND NATIONAL SOLID WASTE POLICY

THE PEORIA, Illinois public landfill has been the focus of local and national attention. On January 11, 2002 the Peoria County Board rejected a proposal for a five-year demonstration project, the goals of which were to reduce costs for separate yard trimmings collection and recover more methane from the landfill in order to generate electricity. The key to the plan was to end the 11year-old system for separate collection and composting of yard trimmings so that this material could be landfilled to generate more methane. The proposal was encouraged by Waste Management Inc., the operator of Peoria's publicly-owned landfill. Analysts predicted the company would use the project as a stepping stone for a repeal of Illinois' 1990 ban on depositing yard trimmings in landfills.

The County Board killed the project by an 11 to seven vote. The Vice Chairman of the Peoria County Board, Brian Elsasser, called the project "a step backwards for the county's recycling efforts." Mr. Elsasser could not be more correct.

All solid waste politics is local -- but they can also be of national interest and concern. Such is the case in Peoria. A national coalition of technical assistance organizations, known as the Coalition to Oppose Attacks on Recycling in America, rallied to the aid of the Peoria Environmental Action Coalition for the Earth (PEACE), Peoria Area Greens, and the Peoria Earth Day Committee. The coalition included the Institute for Local SelfReliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, the Grass Roots Recycling Network, and seven other groups.

Independent experts from these organization-pointed out to the public and the county board that the plan did not have technical merit. According to Jim McNelly, a founder of the U.S. Composting Council and chair of its Environmental Policy Committee, most of the methane released during the decomposition of yard trimmings would be released before the collection systems were installed. Furthermore, McNelly asserted that even ofter decomposition, the yard trimmings would still occupy threequarters or more of its original volume in the landfill.

Since existing landfill space is always cheaper than replacement landfill space, the plan would actually accelerate increases in the public's cost of landfilling. According to Bill Sheehan of the Grassroots Recycling Network, "If bans on landfill disposal of yard trimmings are repealed, disposal markets will tighten in those states, and prices will jump. For every one percent increase in charges for waste services, prices will increase by approximately $303,100 in Peoria County and $19 million in Illinois."

"LOW HANGING FRUIT"

The reason why yard trimmings were banned from landfills in Illinois in the first place, was because they take up so much landfill space by volume, and they are so easy and cost-effective to process separately. In other words, yard trimmings are the low hanging fruit in solid waste management. As a result, 21 states have banned them from disposal sites. Yard trimmings diversion now accounts for more than 20 percent of all recycling in the United States and in some communities, especially those with large lawns and mature trees, can account for 50 percent or more of materials recovered.

The national implications of developments in Peoria are obvious. Research and practical experience have shown that well run recycling systems can lower the overall costs of solid waste management. According to Peter Anderson, a waste management economist, "When a community diverts from 20 to 25 percent of its waste stream, savings begin to accrue." Instead of cutting back the yard trimmings program, the city and county of Peoria should be expanding their recycling programs in order to meet the state mandated recycling goal of 25 percent and to lower disposal costs to government and businesses. Case studies of how other cities the same size as Peoria have accomplished this feat are readily available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as state solid waste agencies.

The effort to roll back composting is part of a continuing trend by waste hauling companies to roll back recycling throughout the Midwest. The main drive for the companies to reduce recycling is money. Supporting the idea that the decline of recycling is an exercise in corporate cost-cutting, one Wall Street analyst estimated that Waste Management, Inc.'s profit margin on landfilling is ten times that for recycling. Thus, the big trash hauling companies act accordingly and undermine recycling whenever and wherever they can get away with it.

JOINING FORCES TO EXPAND RECYCLING

For this reason, organized groups in Peoria and national organizations joined forces - to great effect. Further, the citizen groups will have ongoing access to engineers, financial analysts, and technology analysts working in the public interest. The groups in Peoria still have much to accomplish, starting with the fact that the city has not met the state's 25 percent recycling goal. In addition, the city allows Waste Management to run its curbside recycling program, which is a voluntary, fee-based program. This should be reversed. Recycling should be free; garbage disposal should be fee-based.

It is common knowledge that cities that listen to their organized citizens on solid waste issues wind up with the most cost-effective systems. This has happened in Los Angeles, Portland, Austin, Seattle, San Jose and other major cities. Citizens there stopped unneeded landfills and incinerators and worked with their cities to get to 30 percent, 40 percent and even 50 percent recycling levels. Many smaller cities are reaching 60 percent. For example, residents in Bellevue, Washington (population 103,700), reached 60 percent recycling in 1996. In Austin, Texas, the city will save $120 million over a 20year period because it opted against a planned incinerator and instead invested in recycling and composting in 1986.

Despite the defeat of the proposal by the County Board, the city of Peoria could pursue legislative approval of the plan to landfill yard trimmings. Instead the city should develop a comprehensive solid waste management plan to reach at least 50 percent recycling. The city and county should see the defeat of an unproven landfill technology as an opportunity to explore alternative options, and bring its organized citizens, and their technicians, to the planning table.

[Sidebar]

The key to the proposal was to end 11-year-old system for separate collection and composting of yard trimmings so that this material could be landfilled to generate more methane.

... Analysts predicted the real objective was to repeal the Illinois 1990 ban against landfilling yard trimmings.

[Author Affiliation]

Neil Seidman and Kelly Lease

[Author Affiliation]

Neil Seidman and Kelly Lease are with Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a 27-year-old nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. that specializes in education, technical assistance, and business development focussing on environmentally sound economic development. ILSR prepared Cutting the Waste Stream in Half, published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which documents how cities and counties have reduced both their waste stream and solid waste management costs. The full report and a fact sheet summary (EPA530-R-99-013 and EPA530-F-99-017) are available on-line on ILSR's Waste Reduction Record-Setters web site at http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/wrrs.html.