Local Recycling Centers
Kyler Massner (author), Jonathan Rosenbloom & Christopher Duerksen (editors)INTRODUCTION
Recycling has long been one of the most popular activities pursued by local communities.[1] The goal of recycling is to find ways to reuse items and materials that would otherwise be discarded into landfills. Some of the most common materials recycled include paper, plastic, and aluminum.[2] Establishing recycling centers within a municipal area helps to promote the practice of recycling as they allow for close and convenient collection points for recyclable materials.[3] This proposal would permit recycling centers in a variety of zones to help make recycling easier, convenient and efficient. Allowing recycling centers to be in or near commercial and/or residential areas can increase recycling rates by bringing the opportunities to recycle closer to people.
EFFECTS
Recycling can be both a public service and a for-profit business. Recycling removes trash and unwanted items, resulting in a benefit to the public.[4] In addition, it can provide the recycler with the opportunity to repurpose or resell the recycled materials.[5] These immediate benefits are also accompanied by reductions in greenhouse gases (GHG). Materials that could be recycled are often discarded and end up in landfills.[6] As items decay in landfills methane gas is released.[7] Methane is a powerful GHG that can be 28-36 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over 100 years,[8] making it a powerful and potent GHG. Reducing the amount of trash put into landfills also reduces the number and size of landfills, which in turn reduces the amount of methane that landfills produce.[9] Furthermore, recycled materials can also be more efficient than using new materials, thus reducing additional GHGs that would otherwise accrue in the manufacturing process of new materials.[10]
EXAMPLES
Fresno, CA
Fresno, CA permits the development of large recycling centers as the primary use in certain districts. Fresno requires the centers to be no smaller than three acres in size and cannot be adjacent to a residential district.[11] Allowing the primary use of a site to be a recycling center encourages development of larger recycling facilities with the ability to process larger volumes of recyclable material. In addition, Fresno allows smaller scale recycling centers to operate within the interior footprint of a business on a conditional basis.[12] This increases the availability and number of locations for recycling centers within city limits, thereby supporting wider participation due to increased proximity and greater convenience for the consumer.
Fresno also supports the use of reverse vending machines, automated machines allowing for the collection of common recyclables, such as bottles and cans, as an accessory use and allows placement nearest to a business’s entrance as possible.[13] The benefit of these machines is they can operate within the interior footprint of another business. While these machines are limited in what it may accept, they require less space and labor to maintain operation. In addition, they increase the amount of recycling opportunities for consumers in various and widespread locations.
To view the provision, see Fresno, Cal., Code of Ordinances § 15-2750 (2018).
Big Bear Lake, CA
Big Bear Lake, CA allows both small and large recycling collection facilities.[14] Small collection centers are flexible solutions that can be responsive to the community’s needs. Small facilities include reverse vending machines, kiosks, donation containers, and mobile units.[15] These small collection facilities and reverse vending machines are permitted in any General Commercial zone. Whereas enclosures and receptacles are permitted in both Commercial and Public zones.[16] Smaller units can be placed as either a permanent structure or as a mobilized unit that allows collection stations to be deployed at site specific and need specific locations, increasing user convenience, access and participation.
To view the provision, see Big Bear Lake, CA, Development Code 17.02.030 (2011); Tbl. 17.35.030.A (2011); Tbl. 17.35.040.A (2011).
Madison, WI
Madison, WI created a specific use category for recycling centers permitting them in five districts.[17] Recycling centers are permitted fully in General Industrial districts and Industrial Limited districts and conditionally permitted in Traditional Employment districts, Suburban Employment districts, Suburban Employment Center districts and Employment Campus districts.[18] The ordinance establishes a sliding scale allowing recycling centers in general industrial uses where the activities of collection do not disrupt other commercial or residential functions. At the same time, it allows some recycling centers—upon conditional use—in employment and suburban districts. The conditional use permit allows increased citizen access to recycling centers, while reserving city oversight to ensure that those operations do not disrupt other community functions.
To view the provision, see Madison, Wis., Zoning Code, Tbl. 28F-1 (2017).
Detroit, MI
Detroit mandates that its Environmental Department prepare and implement a long-term “Green Initiatives and Sustainable Technology Plan” (GIST Plan) to establish, use and support green technology, businesses and initiatives together with both public and private partners.11 Detroit Renewable Power (DRP) came out of the GIST Plan. DPR is an Energy-from-waste (EFW) recycling facility, that uses combustion technology to recycle municipal solid waste and turn it into renewable energy and other recovered materials.12 Such EFWs can act as a complement to other recycling programs, thereby reducing overall environmental impacts while providing energy from a renewable resource. DRP recycles 39,000 tons of ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals annually and converts 3,300 tons of municipal solid waste per day into renewable fuel.12 DRP and General Motors (GM) were able to work together to make the GM Renaissance Center landfill-free, meaning that the Center now recycles, reuses, or converts 100% of its daily waste.13
See the provision at Detroit, Mich., Code of Ordinances § 6-509 (2018).
Detroit Renewable Power Energy-from-Waste Fact Sheet.
ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES
Greeley, Colo., Municipal Code § 18.46.180 (2002) (provides regulations for small recycling centers allowed in multiple zoning districts, and large recycling centers allowed only in industrial districts).
Columbia, S.C., Code of Ordinances §17-273 (2000) (allows recycling centers provided that the storage and processing of materials be done within an enclosed area).
Roanoke, Va., Code of Ordinances § 36.2-414 (2012) (allows recycling centers when located over 300 hundred feet from residential districts).
CITATIONS
[1] Frank Ackerman, Why Do We Recycle: Markets Values and Public Policy 9 (1997).
[2] Jon Clift & Amanda Cuthbert, Climate Change Simple Things You Can Do to Make a Difference 49-56 (2012); Shannon Tyman, Green Cities: A-to-Z Guide, Recycling in Cities, 367, 367-68 (Nevin Cohen ed. 2011).
[3] Adam S. Weinberg et al., Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development Proposals, 21-22 (2000).
[4] Id. at 15-16.
[5] Tyman, supra note 2, at 368-69; Weinberg, supra note 3, at 15-16.
[6] Tyman, supra note 2, at 368-69.
[7] Clift & Cuthbert, supra note 2, at 49.
[8] US Environmental Protection Agency, Understanding Global Warming Potentials, http://perma.cc/R8A7-LBWJ (last visited Aug. 10, 2017).
[9] Andrew E. Dressler, Introduction to Modern Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 77 (2012).
[10] Id.
[11] Fresno, Cal., Code of Ordinances § 15-2750(C)(1)-(2) (2017).
[12] Id. at § 15-2750(B)(2) (2017).
[13] Id. at § 15-2750(A)(1) (2017); Id. at § 15-2750(A)(2) (2017).
[14] Big Bear Lake, Cal., Development Code ch. 17.02 (2011).
[15] Id.
[16] Id. at tbl. 17.35.050.A (2011).
[17] Madison, Wis., Zoning Code tbl. 28F-1 (2017).
[18] Id.
11 Detroit, Mich., Code of Ordinances § 6-509 (2018).
12 Damian Doerfer, Recycling: Energy-from-waste projects are fully compatible with recycling, Detroit Renewable Energy (2018), https://perma.cc/XAK4-74MZ (last visited May 29, 2018).
12 Doerfer, supra note 12; Steam Energy from Renewable Sources, Detroit Renewable Power (2018), https://perma.cc/3HWH-KS8X (last visited May 29, 2018); Recycling, Detroit Renewable Power (2018), https://perma.cc/3YV7-QCYW (last visited May 29, 2018).
13 Doerfer, supra note 12.