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BY JOYCE LOBECK - SUN STAFF WRITER
Yuma neighborhoods could become more colorful as well as "greener" if a proposal before the city to adopt curbside recycling is approved.

Joel Olea, manager of the city's solid waste division, told the Yuma City Council during its roundtable that the proposal could become a reality in six to eight months if approved by various regulatory bodies.

Under the plan, each household in the city would be provided an additional container - a blue one for recyclables to stand by the standard green one residents now have for regular trash, Olea said.

Each container would be picked up once a week.

Doing so would require a variance from the local health department and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Olea said, as state law now requires trash pickup twice a week.

"We feel that once people separate their recyclables, that will clear up space in the trash containers," Olea said. "In other communities, they've been able to manage with one pickup for trash and one for the blue container per week. This is widely accepted."

There would be some up-front expenses, Olea said. At an average price of $55 per container, it would cost about $1.2 million to purchase blue containers for approximately 22,000 residents.

A successful recycling program would also require adoption of recycling ordinances, an education and outreach campaign and a code compliance officer, Olea said, estimating those costs would be about $140,000 a year.

Also, a material recovery facility would be needed to process the collected recyclable materials, which would be sorted using manual labor, then bundled and stored until sold, he said.

On the other hand, a recycling program would save on the stream of trash going to the landfill at a cost of $26.20 a ton, Olea said. Currently, the city annually sends about 33,000 tons of trash to the landfill for a total cost of $864,600 per year.

With a goal of diverting 20 percent of trash from the waste stream, that would translate to several tons of material that wouldn't go to the landfill.

Olea said that if the city does adopt curbside recycling, Arizona Western College would be a major component of the education part of the program.

A second curbside recycling plan was presented by Ken Rosevear, executive director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, who said a public-private partnership could do even better. Also on board with that plan are Mission Disposal of Yuma and BetterYuma.org.

Rosevear noted that Yuma is the largest metropolitan area in Arizona that doesn't have a recycling program. Furthermore, he said, he frequently hears from newcomers to the community who ask why the city doesn't have one.

The blue recycling containers could be funded through a federal green grant, he said, adding that he's aware of at least 16 federal agencies that provide grants for recycling. "I feel confident we could get a grant for the containers."

He also felt that a goal of recycling 30 percent of the current trash stream is realistic, which would save the city even more in landfill costs. The private partnership offers further cost savings because the organizations could help with marketing and education.

And the recyclables are a potential source of revenue for the city, he said.

The partners want to implement the curbside recycling program by Jan. 1, 2011, Rosevear said.

Todd Mattern of Mission Disposal of Yuma, said that prices for recyclables varies, but he's confident markets can be found. He noted that China is the primary recyclable market for many materials, while office paper and shredded documents are sent to a plant in Snowflake for processing.

He said he's been working on a proposal for several months and is pleased the new city leadership is receptive to the idea.

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