She dives into the rusty bin, pulling apart sticky papers, tossing aside useless rubbish, searching for valuables.

She hits the jackpot. It’s corrugated cardboard for recycling. Success story No. 1.

In 1994, the Des Moines Metro Waste Authority (MWA) helped Tone Bros. Inc. find a use for tons of garlic salt that was taking up space in its warehouse. Tone’s recovered its investment on the surplus when the MWA arranged for the City of Des Moines’ Public Works Department to buy the salt, mix it with rock salt and spread it on icy roads. Success story No. 2.

The MWA in Des Moines makes garbage its business. The MWA searches for ways to help residents and businesses recycle. With programs like the waste options program, recycling education and curbside recycling, Des Moines is learning how to save money and save the environment at the same time.

Recycling education in danger

However, because of MWA’s employees’ innovation and enthusiasm, many of them are looking for new jobs. Even scarier — recycling education may be a thing of the past.

“By doing our job, we are reducing the revenue stream,” said Catherine Huggins, communications administrator for the MWA.

While more residents are utilizing recycling services, the market for recyclable products is so low the MWA pays more to run the program than it gleans from recyclables — much more.

It costs the MWA $2.03 per household, per month to run the “Curb It!” curb-side recycling program. With a profit of only 13 cents per household per month, the MWA lost over $2 million on the program in 1996.

Huggins used to be in charge of a three-member department that organized dumpster dives, published a community newsletter and advertised recycling programs and procedures. Since the MWA downsized, Huggins was forced, along with others in the company, to lay-off her employees.

After reducing their staff by 35 percent and cutting nine positions at the landfill, the MWA has been forced to reduce programs and services like dumpster dives and education programs.

“It’s frustrating because we need to be educating people, but we can’t afford to do it,” Huggins said.

The cause of the cutbacks

In addition to lost profits on recyclables, the MWA is paying a big chunk of its revenue to governmental agencies, through landfill fees. The MWA owns and operates the Des Moines landfill.

Landfills are required to withhold $4.25 from the funds raised from landfill fees to give to the Department of Natural Resources. For environmental protection and compliance with waste reduction and recycling efforts, the landfills can retain up to $1.45 of the payment to the DNR. However, landfills in central Iowa still pay the DNR $2.80 per ton of solid waste.

So landfills, and in turn, the MWA, pay approximately $1 million to the DNR at the same time they are losing $1 million through the curb-side recycling program. This $2 million a year loss is causing the cutbacks in recycling education and innovation.

But there is hope for recycling in central Iowa, and it comes in the form of the Solid Waste Tonnage Fee.

Solid Waste Tonnage Fee

Additional revenue must be raised for the curb-side program by the 1998-99 fiscal year, when the MWA’s recycling contract with Des Moines expires.

According to a November 1996 survey, Des Moines-area residents are willing to pay between $1 and $3 per month to have their recyclables snagged from the green bin on their curbs.

The Solid Waste Tonnage Fee would require residents in the Des Moines service area to pay $1 per bin per month. This additional revenue would fund the curb-side recycling program and allow the MWA to conduct other recycling programs, Huggins said.

The Solid Waste Tonnage Fee will be voted on in communities in the Des Moines area in the next several months, Huggins said.

Ames residents pay for curb-side recycling

“People need to realize that if recycling is important to them, they’re going to have to pay for it,” said Jim Gregory, co-owner of Fresh Aire Delivery Service in Ames.

Fresh Aire, a small company started in 1993, picks up recyclables from Ames homes and businesses and Iowa State residence halls by bicycle. Gregory said the Solid Waste Tonnage Fee doesn’t affect them too much because their customers pay $3 for each curb-side pick-up.

Fresh Aire takes the recyclables it picks up to the Ames Area Recycling Center on East Lincoln Way. The AARC also accepts deliveries of glass, aluminum, tin, cardboard, plastic and paper from Ames residents.

Because the AARC does not run a curb-side program and because landfill fees are not as high in Ames as in Des Moines, it is not strapped for funds like the MWA. The AARC also disposes of much of its waste at the Resource Recovery Plant. However, the AARC has also dealt with the pressures of declining markets for recyclables.

“[The markets] are very fluctuating and hard to predict,” said Carolyn Stouwie, co-owner of AARC. She said because plastic is especially hard to get rid of, the center only accepts plastic milk jugs for recycling.