I posted about our trash issue to a large online forum and got the following comment:

"I think one issue from the city-wide perspective, is that recycling and waste are usually lumped together by the same contract, and if the contractor is getting paid by the ton for trash, then they don't have a lot of incentive to work with the city on the recycling program, which can be more expensive to operate(unless they have other financial reasons to do so - cost to them of transport and landfill, or very good market to sell the recyclables to, etc...)"

When you consider that Allied is on the Boise task force, is helping to draft the plan, and is also slated to handle both services, the motivation for drafing a weak plan becomes apparent. Glass is still not slated for curbside pickup now or at any time in the future (deemed too dangerous for the handlers) - they joke about not even wanting to talk about it. AND commingled recycling is being completely poo-poo'd as actually yielding less recyclable material, which makes absolutely no sense to me. They cite "contamination rates are higher" and wouldn't acknowledge that vastly higher participation rates would offset this. I just don't buy these explanations -- at all. In places where landfill space is at a premium you can bet they learn how to handle glass and make the entire recycling process as easy as they can for the user.

Plenty of other communities commingle, pick up glass at the curbside, have a separate compost stream....why not Boise? This isn't Backward Boise, right? This is Money Magazine's Greatest Place to Live Boise! Surely the fabulous city of Boise can offer what so many other (lesser) communites already do!

More than glass and commingling, one of my biggest concerns is the amount of compostable, organic material that's being buried in the landfill. I don't see Boise's current landfill/waste breakdown on the website, but generally compostable materials (yard waste) account for upwards of 70% of all landfill use. That's absurd. People BUY compost! Buried organic material generates methane, which is of course a very very potent greenhouse gas. In one community I used to live in, yard waste in the trash was actually unlawful and fines were imposed. Yard waste HAD to be diverted to compost. Other (lessor) cities are already doing this. This great city of Boise should have been doing this a long time ago.

What will large dumpster rates be, by volume? How will that compare to residential rates? That is, will large dumpsters see trash rates at least equivalent to residential hauling? If we're genuinely concerned about diverting waste, it makes no sense to give large users like businesses and schools a "bargain." Our budding future must learn the value of reducing waste, and what better place than in the schools?

Here's one example of what a trash plan can look like: City of Hamilton Note that this is dated 2001 - six years ago. Hamilton has green bins, they have strict volume limits, the have curbside pickup of glass, with only one sorting stream for the user (papers in one bin, glass, plastic, aluminum in another).

What is currently being put forth in these open houses is very feel-good but also very vague. Yet at the "informational" meeting I attended I heard a whole lot of no's. No glass, no commingling, no green bins, and an ecopark is just something we might consider for the future. "We can't make it too expensive....You can't tell someone from Idaho what to do. They'll just dump it in the desert." Be prepared for lots and lots of excuses. Again, as our current waste hauler, Allied has no great motivation to reduce their own trash tonnage or offer us a stellar recycling deal. I'm sure they're looking forward to double-dipping, at best, and saving their skins, at least.

This barebones plan actually seems to consist of two things: a transfer station in SE Boise and automated dumping of graduated containers. Win win for Allied, right? Not much improvement for those being served, either. They don't even "foresee" offering us the smallest possible bin! (There are three and they want to limit us to choosing between the largest two.) Oh, and green bins aren't in the works, either, citing an additional stream of polluting trucks on the road. Well, what about mandating cleaner burning trucks?! Sheesh! The city of Boise is the consumer, right? What's more, if we include a composting stream, there will be financial incentive to compost more at home.

People will learn to live greener if we expect it of them. This is Boise, right? Let's raise the bar.

Thanks in advance, Jay, for participating in the meeting tomorrow. Anyone else available for that or any other sesson? For most people trash is a nonissue, but it actually has a far-reaching impact - particularly on raising awareness of consumption and environmental impact. The meetings aren't being well-attended. Your presence will make a big impression.

Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without.

That was an interesting meeting.
History is: Mayor established a commission in 2006. Plan is for commission to present a final recommendation this September.

Initial plan was met with some skepticism on the part of city council members, so there is some work to be done on this front. Council could kill it or water it down. Members that seem to need the most encouragement are: Bisterfeldt, Shealey, Eberle and Tibbs.

All comments gathered from the open houses will be presented to the council, so if you have strong feelings on this please attend a meeting, post comments online (there's a place to do this on the city website - look for Trash Talk), AND contact the city council members about it.

Regarding the plan itself:
-FINALLY - volume-based charges! Pay as you throw with varying sized automated dumping bins.
-New transfer station - SE Boise, intended to reduce hauling traffic/pollution, and potentially including an ecopark facilitiy where recyclables can be processed and reused more immediately.

My impressions:
Overall, the folks involved have great incentive to improve the system (allied waste is on the commission, btw) but they are scared of going "too far" and thus seem to be taking fairly small steps.

I heard a lot about not being able to tell Idaho folks what to do. "If we charge too much or change too quickly people will end up dumping their trash in the desert." "City council has final word and they are typically more concerned about getting re-elected than really doing anything substantial while IN office."

So while ideas like green bin (compost) recycling, yard waste bins/handling, commingling recyclables, and an ecopark are being bandied about I'm skeptical that in the end the commission has the will to push hard for any of the really GOOD stuff, and furthermore that the city council has the political will to do the right thing. Yes, volume-based would be a great step forward, but we can and should do much better than that. The commission has great ideas, but they need to be encouraged to aim high, and that takes numerous vocal proponents.

Interestingly, after hearing a lot of excuses - I mean explanations - I told them they should take it to the kids. Are the schools recycling? Are the kids involved? Kids who recyle at school will shame/encourage/motivate their parents into doing the right thing at home, I'm sure. Well it turns out the school districts are in fact one of the largest trash-producers around and there is no district-wide recycling program and really no hope for one, as that would require the district to divert education funds to recycling, which isn't seen as a priority. I asked if the city could help subsidize that kind of program, and that again comes down to political will. Bah.

Anyway, I do urge anyone who can to please attend a meeting and show your support for change. It's like most things, most people don't show up, which makes our voices that much stronger when we do participate. Contacting city council members is also an important step.

My opinion: commingling recyclables (will get more people recyling -- commission denies this) AND handling yard waste seperately is imperative. We need to keep the organic matter out of our landfills.

Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without.