2008 Woodie Awards
FB leaves residents with little option for recycling
Nadia Galindo
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: News
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Shane Davis, landfill administrator for Farmers Branch, said in 2006, 10,585 tons of residential trash was collected in the City of Farmers Branch. In the fiscal year between 2006-2007, 171 tons of material was recycled as of Aug. 13. The amount of material recycled in FB was reduced since the curbside pickup of recyclables was eliminated due to cost issues in December 2002.
"We still wanted to offer the service [recycling] but participation really dropped off from, I think, 25 percent down to 13 percent within the city," Davis said. "We really couldn't justify keeping that program going so we went to this drop-off system."
Farmers Branch has three recycling drop-off centers. Davis said the reason it is difficult to have a more effective program for recycling is that residents of FB do not pay a garbage fee so there is little funding.
In Alberta, Canada, the city of Edmonton is leading the world in the percentage of recycled materials. Farmers Branch percentage of recycled materials falls short in comparison to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence. This facility has innovative research in finding sustainable solutions to critical waste issues.
Larry George, environmental educator for the center, said the city of Edmonton was in a crisis. Their landfill was filling quickly and they could not find another location to create a new one. He said this crisis led to a strategic plan that now diverts 60 percent of residential waste from the landfill. The facility can make this happen by recovering materials of value such as recyclables and organics.
Besides recycling materials such as plastics and papers, he said the city of Edmonton also has a massive composter that is the size of seven football fields. George said, 50 percent of household garbage is organic and can be used as compost. George said this initiative produces 50,000 tons of compost each year.
Davis said FB encourages composting but does not have a composting facility for turning materials such as organic and yard waste into compost.
In an effort to collect hazardous household materials, FB had a Home Chemical Collection event on Sept. 22 at a location in Farmers Branch. To participate, residents had to pick up a voucher at FB city hall.
In Edmonton, citizens can drop off automotive, paint and other hazardous waste at an ECO Station.
George said Alberta is the first providence in Canada to collect and recycle electronics. There are designated ECO Stations where residents can drop off old or replaced electronics free of charge.
George said his goal is to reduce the amount of garbage to 10 percent thus diverting 90 percent of waste from the landfill.
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