Waste and recycling collection is changing across the country as the cost of processing recycling increases and cities make commitments to reduce waste and climate emissions. With these changes, cities are re-evaluating waste and recycling collection systems to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness while reducing environmental and health impacts.
The City of Bellingham has a contract with Sanitary Service Company (SSC) to manage residential recycling and waste collection in Bellingham. In February 2023, City staff and SSC proposed the following changes for Bellingham City Council’s consideration:
- Switch from a three-bin, curb-sorted recycling system for single-family residences to a single-stream (or “commingled”) recycling system that uses one 96-gallon bin for all recyclables.
- Add organics collection as a minimum service level for all single-family residential customers.
Since these changes support the City’s waste reduction and climate action goals and help Bellingham meet future statewide requirements, City Council approved a resolution that allowed the City to modify its contract with SSC to include the above changes. In 2024, SSC implemented single-stream recycling. Starting in early 2025, SSC will begin rolling out green bins with yellow lids for FoodPlus! organic waste management, one neighborhood at a time. All Bellingham residents living in buildings with four units or less who do not already participate in FoodPlus! will begin receiving the service.
Visit SSC’s website for more information about waste and recycling collection services, rates and schedules.
Organic Waste Collection
Single-Stream Recycling
Single-stream recycling is a collection system in which all recyclables are placed in a single bin for recycling. Under this system, residents place plastic, aluminum, paper, cardboard, newspaper, etc. in one bin. The bins are picked up by local waste collection service providers and sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). MRFs are equipped with advanced technology to properly sort and separate recycling so that the recyclables can be sold and manufactured into new products.
Single-stream (or “commingled”) recycling is the most common recycling method in Washington State and most of the nation. According to Zero Waste Washington’s 2019 State of Residential Recycling and Organics Collection in Washington report, more than 85% of Washington cities already use single stream, or commingled, recycling systems. The MRF that Bellingham sends its recycling to already receives mixed recycling from other cities.
The benefits of single-stream recycling include reduced operational costs and increased participation in recycling due to customer convenience. Many of the benefits of single-stream recycling below were demonstrated during a 2022 pilot project in Bellingham’s Edgemoor neighborhood or in other cities that use single-stream recycling:
- Reduced operational costs
- Single-stream recycling allows for recycling bin pick-up to be automated, leading to more efficient collection, fewer recycling trucks needed, and reduced labor costs. Reducing operational costs can provide more cost predictability and fewer customer rate increases.
- Improved worker and community safety
- Automation of recycling collection services reduces employee injuries and exposure to hazards. Fewer sanitation trucks on the road result in less traffic congestion and reduced risk of accidents.
- Reduced climate emissions
- Fewer sanitation trucks on the roads also reduces transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. The use of more efficient and spacious trucks reduce the number of round-trip drop-offs the trucks need to make.
- Less litter and contamination
- Using a fully enclosed bin instead of open crates for recycling limits how much recyclables are exposed to weather conditions.
- Wind blows recyclables into yards, roadways, ditches, and waterways which can affect drainage, traffic, and critical water areas. This creates litter that local governments must expend taxpayer resources to clean.
- Rainwater can contaminate recyclables, especially paper products and cardboard. It is more difficult to properly sort and recycle wet cardboard.
- Using a fully enclosed bin instead of open crates for recycling limits how much recyclables are exposed to weather conditions.
- Customer convenience
- Mixed recycling – customers do not need to separate their recyclables.
- More space – the bin holds more material, allowing for fewer pick-ups.
- Wheels – the bins can be wheeled to the curb instead of needing to be carried.
- Enclosed – a lid on the bin means fewer recyclables are blown away or rained on.
Bottles, cans, jugs, tubs, paper and cardboard. We’ve worked with SSC and Sustainable Connections to develop downloadable residential waste sorting guides.
In an open 3-bin system, recyclables are exposed to weather conditions. Several months of the year, the recyclables that were once sorted appropriately and awaiting collection are caught in the wind and scattered into yards, roadways, ditches, and waterways. These wind-blown items can affect drainage, traffic, and critical water areas designed for improving water quality. Local government staff maintaining this infrastructure are then responsible to pick up wind-blown objects, expending time and taxpayer resources to do so. Using a fully enclosed single bin reduces the potential of wind-blown materials ending up as litter.
Additionally, rainwater can be a contaminant to the recyclables, especially paper products and cardboard. It is more difficult to properly sort and recycle cardboard that has been contaminated by rain. A fully enclosed bin reduces the amount of rainwater that could contaminate the recyclables.
Reducing operational costs by using more efficient recycling collection provides more cost predictability, which means fewer shifts in customer rates. For example, SSC had a 25-30% rate increase in 2020 largely driven by the labor market and the volatility of recycling commodity markets. By increasing efficiency and reducing operational costs, waste and recycling collection rates are not as dependent on and influenced by external markets, which allows for smaller rate increases over time.
There are some concerns about contamination with single-stream recycling, with the primary contaminant of concern being broken glass. Higher contamination rates are observed with single-stream recycling than dual, or separated, recycling systems. However, it has been shown in areas with single-stream recycling that the convenience of a single bin results in increased customer participation in recycling. These increased recycling rates, coupled with adjustments as needed – such as separating glass – have the potential to offset increased contamination.
Additionally, contamination already happens with pre-sorting recyclables since consumers may not always know what is and is not recyclable. Fortunately, the recycling processing facilities that Bellingham’s recyclables are shipped to – called MRFs – have advanced technology that can clear these contaminants more effectively than hand-sorting these materials. The MRFs are already equipped to handle single-stream recycling. They have optic reading systems that can identify the useful materials and effectively recycle them.
Many years ago, recycling was added as a minimum service for all residential customers. This evolved into the three-bin, curb-sorted recycling system Bellingham residents used before single-stream recycling. Through this system, customers were responsible for sorting cans/glass/plastic, mixed paper, and newspaper separately.
SSC trucks are not designed to pick up these smaller recycling bins with an automated system. With the 3-bin system, SSC employees had to get out of the truck at every residence to pick up and deposit each of these smaller recycling bins into the truck by hand. This was a much less efficient process and less safe for SSC employees.
The cost to process recycling has increased significantly in recent years across the U.S. Waste collection service providers used to be able to sell recyclables for a small profit to help offset the costs of collection. However, changes in the international recycling commodities market – including a ban on imported recyclables by China in January 2018 – has made processing recycling significantly more expensive.
For example, rather than making a small profit by selling recyclables, SSC now pays $205/ton to have recyclables processed. This is nearly twice as much as the cost of sending garbage to the landfill ($120/ton). These increased costs have affected the entire waste and recycling industry.
Other
Resources
- February 27, 2023 Bellingham City Council meeting – Proposed Resolution Regarding Single Stream Recyling and Organic Materials Collection (Item 23645)
- February 22, 2023 News Release – City Council to consider request to change recycling and waste collection services
- October 24, 2022 Bellingham City Council meeting – Single Stream Recycling Pilot Update (Item 23220)
- 2019 State of Residential Recycling and Organics Collection in Washington State Report by Zero Waste Washington
- 2020 State of Curbside Recycling in U.S. Report by the Recycling Partnership
- City of Bellingham Solid Waste Management
- 2024 Organics Management Laws – Department of Ecology
- Whatcom County WasteWise Tool
Contact
Please contact SSC at info@ssc-inc.com or (360) 734-3490 with questions about your waste and recycling collection services.
