_____________________________________________________________________
Item
Title: Award of Contract for School
Recycling Program
Specific Action Requested:
That the Board of
Commissioners award a five-year school recycling contract in the amount of
$356,222.00 to Paper Stock Dealers of Raleigh, NC, for collection of recyclable
paper from Wake County Public Schools.
Item
Summary:
For
the past six months, the Solid Waste Management Division has partnered with the
Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), the City of Raleigh and the Town of
Cary to test different operational and educational recycling ideas at 15 Wake
County schools. The purpose was to determine the most efficient way to recycle
paper in the schools, and to help the schools solve problems caused by the
current “igloo” recycling system for the collection of glass, aluminum cans,
plastic bottles and paper. The results of the pilot have shown that we can
increase services, reduce costs and utilize partnerships with other
organizations by phasing out the igloo recycling program and implementing an
internal paper collection system in the schools. Staff believes that this
change will improve overall program efficiency, save money and provide the
foundation for a sustainable recycling program supported by education for
students.
New
“roll cart” recycling containers will be phased in to every Wake County Public
School by fiscal year 2007. In the interim, an igloo for recycling paper will
remain at the 38 existing sites, as will the News & Observer carts for
their product stewardship newspaper recycling program. The igloos for glass,
aluminum cans and plastic bottles will be removed as of September 1, 2004.
WCPSS Child Nutrition Services operates a recycling program in school
cafeterias that will be used to recycle aluminum cans and plastic bottles
generated at school facilities. Signs are being placed at igloo sites this
month to notify citizens about the change and direct them to alternate
recycling locations. Additional public information materials will be produced
in coming months to include media notification and advertising.
This method of reevaluating programs in terms of efficiency,
effectiveness and sustainability underpins the core business focus of the Solid
Waste Management Division, as does our leadership objective for an integrated
and comprehensive waste management system for all of Wake County. The
development of a consistent recycling program for each and every public school
in Wake County also follows the County’s Environmental Stewardship Agenda,
which states that “students will become environmentally literate and motivated
to be active environmental stewards”. Each school participating in the
recycling program will receive a recycling presentation, lesson plans and a
teacher resource kit, and this strong educational
component will sustain the new recycling program and teach students and staff
about the benefits of recycling and help them incorporate it into their
lifestyles at home as well as at school.
The
tables below demonstrate the dramatic reduction in cost under the new contract.
TABLE 1 Estimated Program Cost for the New School Recycling Program
|
Estimated
Annual Costs Weekly Collection with Roll Carts |
Estimated
Number of schools |
Estimated
Total FY Cost |
Estimated
Cost/ School/Year |
|
FY 04-05 |
47 |
$34,596 |
$736 |
|
FY 05-06 |
87 |
$59,382 |
$683 |
|
FY 06-07 |
126 |
$79,384 |
$630 |
|
FY 07-08 |
145 |
$91,430 |
$630 |
|
FY 08-09 |
145 |
$91,430 |
$630 |
|
Contract Total |
|
$356,222 |
|
TABLE 2 Actual Program Cost for the Old School Recycling Program
|
Actual
Annual Costs Collection with Igloos |
Number
of schools |
Total
FY Cost |
Cost/
School/Year |
|
FY 01-02 |
51 |
$445,335 |
$8,732 |
|
FY 02-03 |
48 |
$427,411 |
$8,904 |
|
FY 03-04 |
46 |
$365,546 |
$7,946 |
Attachment:
1)
Contract with Paper Stock Dealers