This is the unedited version of a letter to the editor of The
Lumberjack , the school paper of Humboldt State University.
The version that appeared in the paper was reduced due to length.
Mr. Jeanes has worked in recycling and waste mangement in the
United States and Europe.
Dr. Yee is a professor of forestry at Humboldt State University.
Dr. Yee's letter to the editor appeared in The Lumberjack on
February 5, 1997.
by Henry Jeanes
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to Dr. Carlton Yee's editorial on the superior economics of landfilling wastes in Humboldt County. In the course of his letter, Dr. Yee strongly criticized the Arcata Recycling Center for its recent subsidy of $20,500 for the City and marked efforts to divert waste and its use as a raw material for manufacturing as a 'joke'. While community dialogue on this issue is particularly good, It is unfortunate that Dr. Yee has entered the debate without having conducted the slightest bit of research on the issue of how solid waste is handled in Arcata or most communities in America for that matter.
Since space is short, I will go over the current economics of handling wastes in Arcata on both disposal and recycling ends of the issue. Unfortunately this issue is somewhat lengthy for an editorial response and always a matter of eternal debate.
Currently, Arcata produces an approximate household waste stream of 10,400 tons per year. Of this, roughly 8,250 tons are picked up by the local private hauler Arcata Garbage and taken to the Cummings Road Landfill while the other 2,150 tons go through the Arcata Community Recycling Center and processed for sale. As the solid waste stream for any municipality in this country is viewed as a single entity that they must manage, planning and handling of the solid waste stream (like all municipal responsibilities) are to be done along the most economical roads that exist. Costs of disposal versus costs of diversion must therefore be correctly compared.
Under the current system, the removal of the approximate 8,250 tons of waste by Arcata Garbage costs the City $880,000 or $106.75 per ton.
When collected, the City must then flip the disposal bill up the road at $78.85 per ton for an additional $650,000 for a total per ton cost of $185.00 per ton when everything is done. On the other hand, the ACRC is responsible for diverting a total of 2,150 tons, 450 of which are brought into the Center by the City from the drop-off network and 1,700 which citizens voluntarily recycle themselves.
The economics of recycling kick in when a ton of waste is processed through the ACRC and not brought up the hill @ 78.85/ton. Excluding the 450 tons the ACRC is under contract to handle, the 1,700 tons per year save the City's financial planners about $134,000 in avoided tipping fees for which the Center is not financially acknowledged. As the tonnage brought into the Center by the City are often dirty and not the amounts promised by the City, the cost the ACRC has to pay to process this stream are mostly above the subsidy it receives (won under bid) from the City. This program has been going on since the early 1990's.
When Dr. Yee talks about the superior economics of landfilling in Humboldt County, the above figures are relevant for his discussion. When he mentions building a new landfill in Humboldt County to dispose of our wastes, he is woefully ignorant of modern landfill construction costs in this county for a climate like ours (Wet). When he discusses transporting wastes to a 'giant,' old open-pit copper mine in Utah, he has to simply provide figures before proceeding any further.
Lastly, the labeling of waste diversion efforts as a 'joke' is unfortunately beyond the scope of a simple editorial but his comment demonstrates a sharp lack of understanding the role industrial recycling plays in this nation's economy. As a professor of Forestry, I will say that the handling and reprocessing of waste paper in this country is quite far from being a joke and is in fact quite a serious industry and economy that I doubt any paper industry representatives want to go away anytime soon.
Dr. Yee, thanks for your interest in this matter. The community looks forward to more debate on this currently active issue.
Sincerely,
Henry Jeanes International Development Technology Program