City struggles with costs of going ‘green’
By SAM EGGLESTON, Journal Ishpeming BureauArticle Photos
And he was right. Just ask the City of Ishpeming.
Ishpeming has been assisting its residents in the fight to be environmentally friendly by providing a recycling service that picks up items such as plastic, cardboard and metal. Unfortunately, that fight has been costly for the city.
According to City Manager Al Bakalarski, the annual cost to run the facility has averaged approximately $100,000 over the past few years. The income from selling the recyclables and in landfill savings amounts to about $25,000, making the center a $75,000 per year loss for the city.
“The recycling we do does have intangible savings, such as lengthening the life of the landfill,” Bakalarski said. “It’s tough to put a number on what that might be worth.”
The city is looking for ways to reduce that cost. Bakalarski said he and Department of Public Works Superintendent Jim Bertucci have been looking at options to increase revenue and cut spending.
One recent idea was to create a dedicated recycling center attendant position. The job is currently being posted to receive applications from interested city workers. The attendant would run the day-to-day operations of the center and be trained to implement cost-saving and income-producing ideas. Currently, the recycling center is run by a variety of different public works employees, and Bakalarski said moving an individual into a dedicated attendant position would save the city an undetermined amount.
Other ideas the city is considering are expanding the types of products they pick up to increase potential income from the sales, as well as potentially stockpiling recyclables to sell during certain time of the year when demand is higher and the income is greater.
Despite the costs to the city, Bakalarski said the service promotes a good cause.
“I think it’s not only important, but it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “This program has the support of the city council and from the citizens who do the recycling. We just have to find the opportunities to do it better and reduce costs.”
According to Bakalarski, the city currently operates a garbage collection budget of approximately $470,000, which is expected to increase to about $550,000 when a new contract with Waste Management for garbage pickup goes into effect July 1. The budget includes garbage pickup, landfill disposal, recycling and the composting program. Ishpeming’s general fund budget is over $3 million.
