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 Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney CINCINNATI — On Monday, Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney released his 2013 draft city budget.
Unlike previous years, plans to make up a revenue deficit do not include cuts to the Office of Environmental Quality. In fact, the budget lays out plans to semi-automate the city’s solid waste program which are designed to reduce worker’s compensation costs by nearly $1 million a year, further standardize the solid waste function, facilitate cleaner neighborhoods, expand efficiency, and promote higher levels of recycling.
Dohoney proposes to –
- Reverse the decision to co-mingle yard waste with trash and offer biweekly curbside pickup from April to December.
- Issue standard 95- or 64-gallon garbage carts and restrict set out beyond that limit, unless a special bulky item pick-up is scheduled.
- Develop a plan to add side-loading vehicles to the Public Services fleet in the future, which would pave the way toward one day instituting volume-based trash fees.
- Expand marketing efforts to achieve higher recycling rates.
- Save money by reducing routes.
- Franchise commercial waste collection.Comments from the public will be heard during two Budget and Finance Committee hearings:
Dec. 6, 2012 – 6 p.m.
City Hall Council Chambers
801 Plum St., Room 308
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Dec. 10, 2012 – 6 p.m.
Corryville Recreation Center
2823 Eden Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45219
The Cincinnati Green Group, an ad hoc environmental network sent out a call to, “Wear green, speak out and let our council know the environmental community supports these and other efforts to make our city cleaner, greener and smarter.”
– Melissa K. English, Development Director, Ohio Citizen Action
 City Council member Wendell Young, Melissa English and City Council member P.G. Sittenfeld CINCINNATI — The State of the City Environment Forum on Wed. October 10 drew a crowd of approximately 100 people to celebrate the city’s accomplishments and provide feedback for future endeavors. Here are some of the people who made the event a success.
— Melissa English, Development Director, Ohio Citizen Action
more photos
 Keynote speaker Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas. CLEVELAND — Two of the country’s leading experts on developing outstanding programs for recycling, composting, and resource recovery of materials brought valuable information to Cleveland for the “You and the Environmental Symposium” on June 2, 2012. Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas, and Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, D.C., provided concrete examples and blueprints for how non-profit groups, private businesses, and city governments can make major strides in reaching a goal of “zero waste.”
“Fifty percent of household waste can be recycled, and another forty percent composted, using technology that is available today,” Gedert explained. His department in Austin has issued a comprehensive plan to reach the goal of 90% reduction of waste by 2030.
“The best zero waste plans are community-invested,” Gedert said. Prior to adopting their plan, Austin city officials held 100 community meetings to find out what kinds of programs the citizens wanted. Gedert has worked in Ohio, Indiana, California and Texas to implement recycling programs and says he always includes a community organizing component, with recycling block captains who encourage their neighbors to learn to recycle. A survey in Austin showed that the lowest-income communities have the highest recycling rates. “Well-managed recycling always costs less than trash management,’ Gedert said.
Seldman described the business opportunities that can be created to reuse materials we now think of as “waste.” “There are companies who would be glad to locate their businesses in Cleveland to handle and reprocess materials like high quality paper, mattresses, and other items,” Seldman commented. “This is the way to create good-paying jobs that won’t be outsourced.” Continue reading Clevelanders learn from “zero waste” experts at June 2nd Symposium
WHEN: June 2, 2012 – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: Downtown YMCA, 2200 Prospect Ave, Cleveland
Co-sponsors: Earth Day Coalition, Environmental Health Watch, Ohio Citizen Action, Northeast Ohio Sierra Club, Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition, GreenCityBlueLake Institute
With support from the George Gund Foundation
The symposium will feature keynote speakers Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas, and Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance from Washington, DC. Bob and Neil have a wealth of experience in designing and implementing recycling and resource recovery programs in cities across the country.
We’ll also feature local experts on composting and recycling, and will learn about the status and plans for recycling programs in Cleveland and across the county.
Please bring your neighbors, your notebooks, and your ideas for how we can move our city forward in creative and practical ways, both at the neighborhood and city-wide level.
Registration fee will be $5 for the program (including coffee, drinks, and snacks)
Lunch can be pre-ordered for $5 (or feel free to brown-bag)
Click here to register, or contact Sarah Batke, or call 216-861-5200
Maybe it’s those big bins, but we’re recycling more than ever, and it’s paying off
 CINCINNATI — “Cincinnatians are recycling more than ever.
The city’s residents recycled more than 18,000 tons last year – 31 percent more than in 2010. That’s the biggest increase since the city started recycling in 1989, and it meant almost $1 million more for the city’s struggling operating fund.
Last year was the first full year for people to use the 64-gallon carts to wheel their recyclables to the curb every other week. The carts were controversial when the city bought them – council Republicans objected to spending the $3.8 million – but now 70 percent of city households are filling them with recyclables every other week.
…The 64-gallon carts seem to be the biggest incentive, as less than a quarter of recyclers signed up for Recyclebank. That’s despite the fact that Recyclebank offers, among other perks, a coupon for a free Graeter’s sundae. Recyclers sign up online for Recyclebank and earn points to spend on coupons for things like magazines, $5 off at City Barbecue and $25 off $125 at Kmart online.
It doesn’t matter which incentive worked best, said Larry Falkin, director of the city’s Office of Environmental Quality, just that something did.
Roughly every ton of trash not thrown in the landfill means about $100 for the city.”
— Jane Prendergast, Cincinnati Enquirer
Read the whole story: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120328/NEWS01/303280160
 Cleveland's waste stream by material from the "Basis of Design" report. C & D stands for "construction and demolition materials." CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland is basing its plans to build a garbage incinerator, and its proposed air pollution permit, on a design prepared by developer Princeton Environmental Group (PEG), under the direction of Peter Tien. City officials are also presenting information to the public in a series of meetings being held around the city in January and February.
But the numbers in the city’s presentations and reports from Princeton Environmental Group don’t add up. For example:
Incinerator fuel numbers
The “Basis of Design” report submitted to Cleveland Public Power by Princeton Environmental Group on August 31, 2011 to Cleveland, says that the incinerator will be designed to burn 500 tons per day of pellets made of trash, called “Refused Derived Fuel” or “RDF,” to produce 15 megawatts of electricity (p. 57). In a November 16, 2011 presentation to Cleveland City Council, Cleveland Public Power stated that 15-20 tons of fuel pellets can be made from 100 tons of garbage (p. 36). If we assume the high end of that range, where 100 tons of trash makes 20 tons of pellets, then it would take 2500 tons of trash a day to make enough pellets to run the incinerator.
According to its own reports the City of Cleveland only generates between 756 and 991 tons of trash each day. To make up the difference to get to 2500 tons per day, Cleveland would have to take in at least 1500 tons of additional garbage each day from other communities. But in presentations to the public and City Council last week, city officials repeatedly stated that the City would not take other communities’ garbage to feed the incinerator.
Recycling numbers
Even if the city implements curbside recycling,its stated goal is to recycle “up to 25%” of its garbage.
The “Basis of Design” report lists the recyclable percentage of different kinds of materials in Cleveland’s waste stream. (p. 15). For example, it says that of the paper waste collected, 60% is recyclable. Notwithstanding the fact that other Cuyahoga County communities are already achieving higher recycling rates, PEG says that 32.92% of collected waste is readily recyclable. And the city’s own presentation says that “approximately 62% of the current waste stream is recyclable,” (p. 28). Why would the City’s stated goal be 25% when their lead designer says that 32.92% can be recycled, and the City says 62% can be recycled?
— Nathan Rutz, Cleveland campaign organizer, Ohio Citizen Action
 Cuyahoga County recycling rates, from Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District's 2010 annual report. CLEVELAND – The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District tracks how much garbage gets thrown away every year, including what goes to landfills and what gets composted or recycled. The most recent year reported is 2010. The county as a whole recycled 27.93% of its waste. The City of Cleveland recycled just 11.23% of its waste.
The City of Cleveland has set a goal of recycling “up to 25%” of its garbage, as part of its plan to build a new incinerator. In 2010, 38 of the 59, or 64% of communities in Cuyahoga County recycled more than that. Cities surrounding Cleveland have much better recycling rates: Lakewood – 48.02%, Independence – 56.64%, Lyndhurst – 47.25, and Solon – 42.11%, show that greater Cleveland can recycle much of their waste. Cleveland should follow their lead.
— Nathan Rutz, Cleveland campaign organizer, Ohio Citizen Action
 CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Jane Prendergast is soliciting feedback from city residents about whether they recycle more, after having received larger recycling carts as part of the city’s improved curbside recycling program. It has been a year since most residents traded in their 18 gallon bins for 64 or 96 gallon wheeled carts with radio frequency identifier chips to track tons recycled by household. City of Cincinnati Office of Environmental Quality Director Larry Falkin reported that 71% of the city’s households were recycling by the end of 2011, up from 40% before the carts were distributed. This led to recovery of 17% of the city’s waste stream, and a savings of $930,731over the old program.
– Melissa K. English, Development Director, Ohio Citizen Action
CINCINNATI — “Tom+Chee co-owner Corey Ward was baffled last year when a Rumpke representative told him they couldn’t supply recycling services to his grilled cheese and tomato soup shop on East Court Street.
‘Every beverage we serve comes in plastic or glass,’ Ward said. ‘We had customers asking if we recycled. We’d have to say ‘Sorry, we don’t.’
His team considered driving the reusable garbage to a public recycling drop-off near the Main Library. Then they learned about the Bar & Restaurant Recycling Program through the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District.
‘Rumpke does offer recycling,’ said Michelle Balz, community outreach coordinator who runs the waste district project. ‘But sometimes there’s a communication breakdown.’
So she walked Tom+Chee through the process of setting up recycling, and today the shop that started in a tent on Fountain Square (and found fame in the form of bacon grilled cheese sandwiches topped with BBQ chips and grilled cheese donuts) recycles enough plastic, glass and cardboard to fill a standard-sized six-person hot tub once a month.”
— Carrie Whitaker, Cincinnati Enquirer
Read the whole story
 CINCINNATI — “Bethel residents could get recycling bins with monthly curbside pick up at no extra cost next year if the village renews its waste removal contract with Rumpke.
Clermont County officials are working with Rumpke to offer the service for a one-year trial period to alleviate the heavy usage of recycling bins placed around the county, said Fiscal Officer Angel Burton.
Village Administrator Travis Dotson said residents have expressed interest in recycling, but the interest wasn’t large enough for village council members to justify charging all residents for the service.”
— Mary Dannemiller, Cincinnati Enquirer
Read the whole story
 How can San Francisco, which has the highest recycling rate in the country, further reduce landfill? Let us count the ways
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — “Recology provides 18 separate and distinct reuse and recycling programs in San Francisco, more than any other city in the U.S. Why such a variety of programs? Because garbage is a little different everywhere you go. And because new data shows reuse, recycling, and composting are more helpful at protecting the environment than previously known.
The City recently announced that San Francisco has achieved a 77 percent diversion rate. That means of all waste generated in the city, 77 percent is accounted for in source reduction, reuse, and recycling programs. That is the highest diversion rate of any large city in the United States.”
— press release, Recology
Read the whole story
 CINCINNATI — Begun in 1997, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the United States. Use this widget from America Recycles Day partner Earth 911 to find out how to recycle in your community.
— Melissa English, Southern Ohio Campaign Director, Ohio Citizen Action
Rumpke says it will supply glass to container producer, create 20 local jobs
 DAYTON — “Ohio’s biggest waste hauler, Rumpke Inc., said Friday it will spend $2.5 million to upgrade its Dayton recycling hub next year and supply recycled glass to container producer Owens-Illinois Inc.
The agreement will create at least 20 jobs in its first year and boost glass recycling across the state, said Steve Sargent, director of recycling for Cincinnati-based Rumpke.
Sargent said the growing demand for recycling services pushed Rumpke to look for new markets for the nearly 1,200 tons of recycled glass it produces each year.”
— Randy Tucker, Dayton Daily News
Read the whole story
Second phase of enhanced recycling program begins November 1
 CINCINNATI — “On Oct. 4, the City of Cincinnati implemented its enhanced recycling program, becoming the first major Midwestern city to reward residents for recycling. To help communicate the changes and benefits of the program to residents, the City has launched a short video on the program’s website at www.cincinnatirecycles.org.
The video,which features Council Member Laure Quinlivan, Chair of the Mayor’s Green Steering Committee, explains the ins and out of the enhanced recycling program from cart delivery to redeeming RecycleBank rewards points. Quinlivan, a former television reporter, donated her producing and reporting skills to this project.
‘Enhanced recycling will help the environment and eventually save city taxpayers a million dollars a year,’ Quinlivan said. ‘I can’t wait to get the new 96‐gallon recycling cart delivered to my home so I can stop overflowing the little green bin every week.’”
— press release, City of Cincinnati and Rumpke Recycling
Read the press release
Watch the video
 CINCINNATI — “Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest maker of consumer products, plans to take long-term steps to cut waste and energy use at its plants and offices around the world, including eventually powering all its factories with renewable energy.
P&G on Monday announced a long-term environmental plan, which it said could take decades to achieve, but will be measured by nearer-term goals.
The plan includes running all its plants solely on renewable energy, using only recycled materials in its packaging and reducing its landfill waste to near zero.”
— David Holthaus, Cincinnati Enquirer
Read the whole story
If one of the world’s largest manufacturers sees the benefit of sending “near zero” waste to local landfills, why can’t everyone?
– Melissa English, Southern Ohio Campaign Director, Ohio Citizen Action
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Letters supporting the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act 9,241 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and made personal phone calls urging state legislators to support the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act as of June 10, 2013.
Ohio coal-fired power plants
Resources on proposed Cleveland incinerator
AEP’s Muskingum River Power Plant
Letters to American Electric Power 989 neighbors have sent handwritten letters urging AEP to retire its Muskingum River coal plant as of July 15, 2011.
Letters to Duke Energy 2,307 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and telewires urging Duke Energy to retire Miami Fort Unit 6 and Beckjord coal plants as of July 15, 2011.
Letters to Kokosing Asphalt 8,709 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging Kokosing Asphalt to be a good neighbor as of February 25, 2011.
Letters to Rumpke 9,205 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging Rumpke to be a good neighbor as of April 15, 2011.
Letters to FirstEnergy 3,914 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging FirstEnergy to retire their four Lake Erie coal plants as of July 15, 2011.
Mountaintop removal coal mining
Letters to Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Rob Portman 6,615 members have sent handwritten letters and petitions to Senator Brown urging him to support US EPA rules that will protect our health from polluting coal plants as of January 24, 2012.
3,751 members have petitioned Senator Portman urging him to support US EPA rules that will protect our health from polluting coal plants as of January 24, 2012.
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