Neighborhoods improve recycling efforts
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If the city held a competition for recycling, East Liberty would be named the most-improved neighborhood for 2008.
It is still lagging as a brown-circle neighborhood, with 49 percent participation. Greenfield was in that category last year but jumped to become a blue star neighborhood. Second most improved, that neighborhood is recycling at more than 70 percent.
The Central North Side picked up its game, jumping two levels from red circle -- below 35 percent -- to green star, or participation between 50 and 65 percent. It was No. 3 most improved.
The city rates neighborhoods using five colors. None has attained gold-star status, which is 95 percent participation or better.
The blue star goes to neighborhoods performing above the city's goal of 65 percent. Beneath the green stars are neighborhoods recycling below 50 percent. Red circle neighborhoods are the Pirates of the recycling leagues -- participating below 35 percent.
Rounding out the 12 most-improved category are North Point Breeze, Shadyside, Swisshelm Park, Elliott, Central Oakland, Knoxville, South Side Flats, Carrick and Bloomfield. (Readers can find the status of their neighborhoods on the color-coded map in the flier the city mails to residents.)
This rising tide of neighborhood participation lifted the city's boat in 2008, when tonnage was up to 10,000 tons, almost a 30 percent improvement, said Shawn Wigle, the city's recycling supervisor.
"The city will make well over $500,000, with landfill savings of more than $250,000," he said.
He attributed the improvement in part to the single-stream recycling the city piloted in East End neighborhoods at the beginning of last year. The city gave East End residents the opportunity to add paper to the mix of recyclable items in blue bags. In fact, if it fits in a blue bag, paper, newspaper and cardboard can be integrated with other recyclables. Otherwise, cardboard should be bundled and can be left beside blue bags.
In November, the rest of the city got the chance to add paper.
Soon, pedestrians will get more options.
Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for the Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said the city plans to install 100 recycling bins on sidewalks of neighborhood business districts by summer. The locations have not been decided, although Downtown, Oakland and Shadyside are almost certain to get a portion of them, Mr. Wigle said.
"We've been looking at different demos," he said, adding that the bin at the City-County Building is probably going to be the choice.
It is a one-unit container "made to go next to an existing trash can, mounted on a pole, raised up so it sticks out a little and designed to go with the streetscape. You have a two-second decision, and, hopefully, the round opening" will be a strong clue that it is meant only for plastic and glass bottles and metal cans. If a clean piece of paper, or any other item that is prescribed to go in a blue bag at curbside, fits, it can go in the hole, too, he said.
"The whole idea behind single-stream recycling was to make it easier for people," he said.
First Published January 24, 2009 12:00 am
