By Laurie Batchelder Adams

Despite the fact that waste diversion in the United States appears to be keeping pace with growing wastage and that export demands are keeping market prices high, the "vim and vigor" of recycling has become "ho hum" during the first years of the twenty-first century. Recycling rates by residential and commercial generators have either leveled off or been tempered by a decreasing quality of recovered materials. Haulers and processors have struggled to develop technology technologies to accommodate an increasing number of single-stream and hard-to-recycle collection programs. And we have all been affected one way or another by the ongoing battle of the global marketplace.

A number of groups and individuals have attempted solutions at the national level through product stewardship collaborations and legislated demand for recovery of specific materials. Hopefully some of these endeavors will be successful. In the meantime, SWANA has formed a new broad-based Recycling Incentives Alliance (RIA) to fill in the gaps with a national recycling incentive. SWANA realized the need to reinvigorate the rate of diversion and undertook this multiyear, multistakeholder project in the fall of 2003. In its infancy, the RIA concept has drawn more than 50 representatives from commodity trade groups, manufacturers, recycling organizations, and government associations into discussions that initially focused the project’s objectives towards targeting (1) post-consumer recyclables and organics from MSW and C&D streams, (2) generation (versus consumption) of recyclables, and (3) domestic end use.

There are myriad yet-unanswered questions, not limited to these: What type of incentive would work best? Where in the cycle would a supply-side incentive be applied? Should any recyclable or organic material qualify, or should the incentive be limited to "problem" materials? While RIA’s direction will undoubtedly be modified as the project evolves and these questions are tackled, it is clear that SWANA and the RIA stakeholders have their work cut out for them.

Industry Support

The ability of any stakeholder group to support a project like RIA boils down to the likely benefit the project will provide to that group’s members or clients. The trick is that RIA needs resources from stakeholders in order to do the homework necessary to convince the same stakeholders to support a recycling incentive!

As the current political climate is most influenced by business and industry, it will be critical for the RIA stakeholders to get industry associations and companies on board early by quantifying positive impacts. Getting these answers will be energy intensive. Every recyclable and organic material has unique characteristics leading to differences in quantity and quality in the recycling bin, in collection and processing, and in consumption by end users. Additionally, it is very likely that a different incentive (in terms of both content and/or dollars per ton) will be necessary to significantly increase diversion of different materials.

SWANA has tackled this dilemma by looking at the big picture and hypothesizing that a $20-per-ton incentive applied to MSW and C&D streams (to achieve a 40% diversion rate by 2010) could cost as much as $1 billion (see SWANA CEO John Skinner’s "Preliminary Design Considerations for a Financial Incentive to Encourage Increased Recycling" at (www.SWANA.org/sections/forms). SWANA has also assimilated material-specific information on quantities, market pricing, and relative supply and demand. But this information must be verified by trade groups and businesses that work directly with each material and that will assess whether it will take $5 or $50 a ton to impact diversion.

It is time for industry to get involved with more than talking points. RIA needs the industry’s expertise and dollars. RIA’s success will depend on a formal membership that commits resources and energy to doing the homework, designing the incentive, and promoting the legislation.

Crafting a Supply-Side Incentive That Reaches the Generators

Homeowners and small businesses don’t care what the regional MRF is earning for baled HDPE - i.e., an increase in demand will not trickle down to the residential generator and cause them to put more milk jugs in their recycling bin. In other words, the supply curve for most recyclables is relatively inelastic. It would be ideal to reach waste generators directly, but sending out individual checks as a way to get folks to recycle isn’t realistic. Targeting local governments and/or haulers, however, who influence residential and commercial waste collection and recycling is an obvious choice.

The growing popularity of single-stream collection is one strategy that has been embraced by local governments as a panacea for increasing diversion because it does reach generators and by haulers because of the cost-savings. Single stream often presents the downside, however, of compromised material quality that affects processors and end users. Many groups have begun working on best management practices to both meet government needs and protect product integrity. This is an effort that could potentially dovetail with the RIA project. Other incentives have been applied at the local level, such as setting mandatory goals and providing funding for local diversion and outreach programs. One of the most intriguing generator incentives is that implemented by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which pays qualifying municipalities as much as $10 for every ton of material diverted. This money is in turn used to develop new residential and commercial diversion programs and infrastructure, manage HHW, and conduct public education.

The design of a supply-side incentive will require careful consideration of who benefits and how, the burden and accuracy of reporting, double-counting, and structure. Tax credits, for example, aren’t useful to most governments or nonprofit entities.

Legislative Success

Another easier-than-it-sounds activity, there are a number of legislative examples that provide good lessons for RIA. Last year in Colorado - a state with $20-per-ton tip fees and no dedicated resources for waste diversion - citizens asked for one-time funding for county-level solid-waste plans. State officials and legislators were sympathetic but firm, stating that there were insufficient data to support this data-gathering project and that the need simply didn’t represent a "baby in the snow" issue. US Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) has gamely pursued national bottle bill legislation for several years. In his commitment to increase national container recycling to 80%, Jeffords has modified the structure of his National Beverage Container Producer Responsibility Act of 2003 to accommodate those most affected with a performance-based format. Regardless, the bill is not expected to win approval in the Senate.

In order to be successful, a committed and patient RIA membership will need to articulate a very compelling need for new legislation, generate broad support, and implement a persuasive legislative strategy. The benefits, while probably not getting babies out of the cold, might just be the foundation necessary for a recharged and more-sustainable recycling era.

The next full RIA project meeting will be held September 20, 2004, in Phoenix, AZ.

Laurie Batchelder Adams serves as director of SWANA’s Waste Reduction, Recycling & Composting Technical Division.

MSW - May/June 2004