Residents of the Sehome neighborhood in Bellingham Wa, are experiencing high amounts of litter in their streets. With a proposed conversion to single stream recycling, some residents are hopeful for change.
“Recycling kind of falls out of those tiny bins. I feel like if it was all in one, less stuff would be littered,” said Edward Ellison, a Western Washington University student, and resident of the Sehome neighborhood, while taking his garbage out Jan. 26, 2022.
Bellingham's Sanitary Service Company (SSC) is in the process of initiating a pilot, single stream recycling program, set to start this spring. The pilot will start servicing a south side neighborhood with hopes of data collection. Single stream recycling, opposed to the current dual stream, allows for all recyclables to be put into the same bin.
As Eric Johnston said, Public Works Director for the City of Bellingham, single stream recycling is a
n option to try and manage costs. Recycling isn’t as cheap as it was 15 years ago, “Recycling is more expensive than landfilling,” said Johnston over a Zoom meeting Jan. 27, 2022, “single stream recycling could potentially help to manage those costs.”
As presented at a Bellingham City Council meeting in June 2021, it cost $102 and 3 cents per ton to landfill waste. This price is derived from the City’s contract with Republic Services, a solid waste collection company. Recycling costs $123 and 60 cents per ton through a contract arranged by SSC.
The implementation of single stream recycling would entail some changes to the way the City manages waste. Residents would trade in their current three bin system for a 90-gall
on can similar to the current garbage and FoodPlus! bins.
90-gallon bins allow for automated pickup of recyclables, compared to the manual effort the three bins require. Each stop time will be considerably reduced, as well as the travel to unload trucks.
A single bin system allows for recycling trucks to compact waste as soon as it’s been dropped into the truck. Since all items can be together the trucks can be styled towards a garbage truck, allowing them to carry far more physical matter.
“It allows the trucks to work by weight instead of volume,” said Johnston. This is one of the main advantages of single stream recycling, fewer trips, less time, and more efficiency.
As of now the Sehome neighborhood is littered with recyclable and garbage waste. The alleyways, which many students use to walk to Western Washington University, are the worst.
“I walk my dog through the alley’s to avoid the traffic o
n the main road,” said Mia Sivret, a resident of the bordering York neighborhood, as she walked her dog Enzo Jan. 28, 2022.
“I’m honestly just hoping Enzo doesn’t cut his foot,” said Sivret.
“Single stream recycling definitely has an ease benefit to users,” said Johnston, not only to the college students that make up the majority of Sehome neighborhood but to all residents of Bellingham.
According to SSC in 2021 Bellingham recycled or composted 41.1% and landfilled the remaining 58.9% of waste. Compared to the national average in 2018, Bellingham recycles more than the average American city. The average city which landfills 77% of their waste only recycles 33%, reported in the same city council meeting in June 2021.
However when compared to Seattle, Wa or Portland, Or, Bellingham's recycling numbers fall short. As of 2
019 Seattle landfilled 45% of their waste, and recycled 55%. Comparatively Portland only landfilled 36% of their waste in 2017. Both of these cities have implemented single stream recycling.
The implementation of single stream recycling suggests the possibility of higher participation rates from residents. People would no longer need to sort their recycling, take three trips to
the street on garbage night, or just say, I’ll do it next week.
The single lidded bin, which rolls like a garbage can, may be a step to keeping the neighborhood clean. Recyclables would be safe from the elements, not blowing around in the wind, or getting washed down the streets.
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