Budget Cuts for Environmental Services

TUCSON, Ariz. - During the month of March, people hauled 519,260 lbs. of empty water bottles, soda cans, cardboard boxes and other recyclables to Neighborhood Recycling Centers.

But starting July 1, the City of Tucson’s Environmental Services will discontinue its 14 Neighborhood Recycling Centers.

No one knows if people who use the recycling centers will continue to recycle after they're gone.

The elimination of the Environmental Services Neighborhood Recycling Centers program stems from a reduced operating budget for the 2010 fiscal year. According to a memorandum sent Feb. 25, from Director of Environmental Services Andrew Quigley to Deputy City Manager Mike Letcher, the budget was reduced by nearly $4.75 million.

“Environmental Services relies heavily upon revenues that come from the services we provide to our customers as well as other revenues from selling the recyclable materials,” Quigley said. “The revenues from selling the recyclable materials have drastically dropped, causing us to make some changes.”

Scrapping the Neighborhood Recycling Centers

While spending and funds are being cut back, the Neighborhood Recycling Centers program is the only Environmental Services program that is being completely eliminated.

According to Quigley the reasons for the cut are simple: recycling revenues have fallen, and city residents don’t use the Neighborhood Recycling Centers.

Environmental Services Budget: Inside The Numbers Annual budget FY 2010: *reduced from $53,141,780 to $48,408,360 Revenue from selling recyclables: *FY 2008 - about $2 million *FY 2009 - about $1.2 million *FY 2010 - about $300,000 Eliminating Recycling Centers: *saves about $400,000 Source: Andrew Quigley, Director of Environmental Services

“We did a survey and found that 75 percent of the people using (the Neighborhood Recycling Centers) are county customers, who aren’t paying the fees to operate them,” Quigley said. “Why pay to keep something in operation that our customers don’t use?”

For the 2008 fiscal year Environmental Services expected about $2 million in revenues from selling recyclable materials, and expects that number to decrease quite a bit by fiscal year 2010, Quigley said.

Environmental Services expects to save $400,000 in the budget for 2010 as a result of cutting the Neighborhood Recycling Program.

“Getting rid of the Neighborhood Recycling Centers is necessary in order to better fund other needs like picking up the curbside trash,” Quigley said.

Monique Martin, senior council aide for Tucson City Council member Nina Trasoff, attributed the need to shut down operation of the Neighborhood Recycling Centers to the current state of the economy and the dumping fees being lower at the transfer stations than they are at the landfill.

"Environmental Services has seen a significant drop in revenues due to the lower transfer station fees, the previously high gas prices and the lack of demand for consumer goods," Martin said.

Continuing to Recycle

Beth Gorman, Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, senior program director, said residents have several choices of where to recycle after the program is terminated.

For Environmental Services customers, Gorman recommends looking into the Tucson Recycles Tucson Recycles Blue Barrel Program.

“People who have trash picked up at their curb can also have recycling picked up as well,” Gorman said. “It’s part of the fee people pay. You just have to request a recycling bin if you don’t already have one.

Woodie Chappel, a Tucson resident, has taken advantage of having a blue barrel. Chappel likes how convenient rolling the recycling out to the curb is compared to driving it somewhere.

Chappel and his wife used to live in an apartment complex that didn’t provide recycling opportunities. They have since moved into a house near East Fort Lowell Road and North Tucson Boulevard.

“Before my wife and I moved to this house we didn’t have a personal recycling bin, and my wife is big on being kind to the environment so we would take our recycling to the (Neighborhood Recycling) Centers,” Chappel said.

The “Blue Barrel Program” is not an option for Pima County customers. Instead the county has a smaller version of curbside pick-up. The county contracts out to private haulers that will pick up the recycling based on their policies.

Gorman encourages county residents who recycle large quantities to take advantage of the recycling stations at the local landfills.

“We recently had the amount of recycling that was allowed to be dropped off at the recycling sites at the landfills increased, and I would assume with the Neighborhood Recycling Centers going away in July another limit increase will be proposed,” Gorman said.

Chris DeBonis, a Tucson resident who uses the Neighborhood Recycling Centers occasionally, was unaware that they would no longer be available in July.

DeBonis, who was recycling cardboard boxes at Himmel Park Neighborhood Recycling Center April 18, said he will look into other recycling options.

“My kids will still want to recycle,” DeBonis said. “I go out to the landfill sometimes, so I will probably take it out there. I guess I could also look into getting a recycling bin for my house.”

While DeBonis would consider taking his recycling to the landfills, Chappel thinks other people might not feel the same way.

“My first instinct would be to say that they wouldn’t put in the effort, because if it weren’t for my wife I wouldn’t,” Chappel said. “But I know Arizona is kind of known for being ‘green’ or whatever, so they might take their recycling down to the landfill. If they are smart they will look into getting a recycling bin if they can.”

Martin said that future recycling opportunities is a topic that has been discussed with the elimination of the Neighborhood Recycling Centers.

"I know Environmental Services is in the process of working something out with businesses and apartment complexes that would provide their employees and tenants with (recycling) opportunities," Martin said. "Until then, we are hoping that people who used the centers will still make the effort to recycle when they are gone."

Neighborhood Recycling Center Locations