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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor Nickels Announces Plan to Boost Recycling Rate
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
1/30/2003 10:33:00 AM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Office of the Mayor (206) 684-4000
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Mayor Nickels Announces Plan to Boost Recycling
Rate
Enhanced programs designed to support 60 percent goal
SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels today unveiled his
plan to improve the citywide recycling rate by expanding existing programs,
adding a food waste collection program, and phasing in a ban on paper in the
garbage.
The new plan is designed to support the city’s goal of
recycling 60 percent of all the waste generated and to reverse a two-year
decline in the recycling rate. The 2001 recycling rate in the City of Seattle
was 38 percent, a drop of two percentage points from the previous year.
"We are a community that cares intensely about the
environment. I expect citizens will respond positively, as they have in the
past, to the new and enhanced recycling programs that are part of this
plan," said Nickels. "It’s good for the environment and for
citizens."
The decline in the overall recycling rate last year was due to
an almost five percent drop in commercial recycling. The commercial rate
declined due to a drop in the tons of corrugated paper, mixed paper and
newspaper that were recycled.
Residential recycling rates increased slightly in 2001.
Single-family homes recycled 57 percent of the waste they generated and
multi-family homes (apartments and condominiums) increased their recycling rate
by four percentage points to 22 percent.
The new recycling programs in the Mayor’s plan include a ban
on recyclable paper in commercial garbage that would be phased in over the next
three years.
Other elements of the plan include food waste collection for
composting for businesses, expansion of the curbside recycling program to all
businesses, and a ban on recyclable materials in residential garbage.
"The typical resident pays the same amount now as they
did in 1994 for garbage collection due, in part, to the commitment of residents
to reduce waste by recycling," said Nickels. "Recycling in Seattle has
saved tens of millions of dollars in waste disposal costs since our program
started in 1988. When you add the economic benefit to the environmental benefit,
it’s a powerful equation."
Estimates are that 47,000 tons of recyclable materials, or
more than one-third of Seattle’s waste, were left in the garbage in 2001. If
those items had been recycled instead it would have saved $1.5 million in
disposal costs.
Paper represents nearly two-thirds of the recyclables still
left in the waste stream.
The Mayor’s plan will be presented to the City Council
tomorrow.
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Mayor's
Office
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