San Antonio launches new pilot recycling program for apartments
San Antonio Business Journal - by Yvonne Freckmann
The City of San Antonio is expanding its residential recycling program to include apartment complexes. The city is launching a pilot recycling program for multi-family housing properties, which is slated to begin this summer and operate over the next six months.
Apartment complex owners may be required to provide start-up costs, such as a concrete pad for a compactor and associated electrical. The city will fund all operation costs.
Apartment dwellers will have the opportunity to recycle all items that are currently being accepted in the residential recycling program. The number of properties chosen will be limited and based upon their logistical feasibility and other factors. At the end of the pilot program, property owners may discontinue the program or continue at their own expense.
The pilot participants are expected to share information about their current disposal volumes and costs with the city, and the city will provide information regarding the recycling costs/benefits with the pilot participant.
The city can sell collected paper, plastic and cans for an average of $52 a ton, while garbage costs $21 a ton to dispose in a landfill.
The latest program augments the city's existing recycling efforts. The city recently began automated neighborhood waste collections using vehicles with a mechanical arm, which picks up city-issued 96-gallon containers. The same type of truck retreives recycling as well, quadrupling residents' recycling capacity with the new carts.
City officials say the mechanized collection system needs only a one-person crew, since the driver remains in the cab. It is also resulting in fewer containers at the curb and it is expected to stabilize future collection rates, according to the city's Web site. The city repairs or replaces damaged containers at no additional cost.
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