Plymouth residents seeing red over green: Recycling and money

Plymouth staff and council members have changed their voice-mail greetings, anticipating the angry messages.

Mayor Kelli Slavik's goes like this:

"If you're calling regarding the recycling contract, I voted against changing from Waste Management to Eureka ... When the issue comes to the council on August 26, I will vote against the contract."

Then an automated voice adds: "Sorry, that mailbox is full."

Residents have overwhelmed city staff and officials with hundreds of calls, e-mails and messages -- all about a recycling contract.

In early July, the City Council voted to negotiate a new recycling contract with Eureka Recycling that's more expensive but, the city hopes, more innovative than one it now has with Waste Management, the city's recycling provider since the early 1990s.

The council could approve the contract with St. Paul-based Eureka on Aug. 26.

With Eureka -- which serves several cities, including St. Paul and Roseville -- residents sort their recyclables into two categories. The hauler collects them in separate compartments on trucks, and the materials are processed separately.

In the past, many residents have seen that their recycling gets combined in the truck, so they've done the same when they leave it curbside.

"Residents are asked to sort right now," Sarah Hellekson, the city's transit and solid waste manager, "but they don't necessarily do so."

Taking its case to the public

Much of public outcry over the change was spurred by a July 29 letter written by Waste Management's director of operations, Steve Metz, and sent to most Plymouth residents.

"Back to Sorting Your Recyclables: More Time and Effort for the Resident for a Program that Costs More!" it stated in bold type. The letter encouraged residents to contact their City Council members.

And they have.

Muriel Geisen, who lives in Plymouth during the summer, said she's called and listened to both sides.

In the end, "to contemplate $400,000 over three years just because this company in St. Paul says it is more responsible, more green ... it's just too much," she said.

Living in other cities, she became accustomed to separating her recyclable materials, but she worries that most people recycle like her children do, "just dumping everything in one big bin."

But Eureka and the city say Waste Management's letter has caused confusion: Plymouth has always had a recycling system that involves sorting materials into two categories -- papers and containers.

The difference, they say, is whether those materials are kept separate in the truck and in the recycling facility.

Keeping materials separate, as Eureka proposes, will "result in a higher-quality material being sent to market," according to the city's website.

Plymouth views its proposed contract with Eureka as an "environmental services contract, not a hauling contract," said Tim Brownell, co-president of Eureka Recycling.

It allows for more materials -- including milk cartons, juice boxes, clothes and even shoes -- to be recycled. And it allows for the possibility of expanding recycling services into more multi-unit buildings, such as apartment complexes, and parks, the city says.

The city also notes that a new contract will cost more regardless of which hauler the City Council selects, primarily because of increased fuel costs.

As of Aug. 4, two city staffers had received almost 500 calls and messages from residents, most opposed to switching to Eureka. The response clogged voice mails, so now there's a hot line: 763-509-5310.

"We do appreciate hearing from people, really," Hellekson said. "That's how you find out what people want."