RecyclingMonster - Curbside recycling in Minot would come closer to realization if a survey shows enough interest.

The Minot City Council voted Tuesday to pursue a voluntary, single-

stream, curbside recycling program if a statistically valid

survey shows at least 4,000 of Minot’s approximate 12,700 customer households will participate. A study on curbside recycling had indicated that a program could become cost effective at that level of participation.

If survey results are positive, the city would seek specific opt-in support from sanitation customers before determining whether to draft an ordinance to launch a program.

City staff will report to the council at a future meeting regarding a timeline for completing the survey and a funding source from which to hire a firm to conduct the survey.

A statistically valid survey might cost about $8,000 and entail random phone calls to a representative sample of residents to get the nearly 400 responses necessary to establish a 95% confidence in the results, said Jason Sorenson, assistant public works director.

The council’s decision came after considering its options.

Council member Shannon Straight advocated for a committee to work with Kalix Recycling Center on a recycling partnership. Kalix has announced it will cease taking most recyclables at the end of this month because it cannot continue subsidizing the program to the degree that it has.

“All too often, we’re creating something new that costs additional dollars. Here we have a partner in town. Yeah, it might not be the ideal transfer facility, but we have $760,000,” Straight said, referring to money set aside from the Community Facilities Fund for a transfer facility. He added residents, such as apartment dwellers, who aren’t city sanitation subscribers would be able to participate if Kalix remains open.

Borgi Beeler, executive director for Kalix, told the council her agency would be willing to talk with the city, but she noted the recycling market is challenging and there could be no quick answers on what Kalix might be able to do. She reiterated Kalix is not interested in single-stream recycling.

Council member Josh Wolsky said he cannot support single-stream recycling.

“I do not believe that particular model is viable and the right choice for this community,” he said. “I am open to potentially subsidizing the continued operation of Kalix under their current model.”

Council President Mark Jantzer said he is not interested in subsidizing Kalix with money set aside for a transfer facility. He preferred a survey be conducted as the next step.

“I think we have all had input from people on both sides of this issue. The input is polarized,” he said. “There are people who say recycling is not something I’m going to participate in. I don’t want it and I don’t want to pay anything to do it, and I don’t want to see anything on my bill that is associated with it. Then you have other people who are essentially saying recycling is essential, and we need to be doing it, and it doesn’t even matter what the cost is – I’ll pay it. And that’s a long ways apart. I don’t have any way to know how many people there are in the community that feel one way or the other because, anecdotally, you run into both on a constant basis.”

Some council members felt they had enough input, though.

“I don’t think that we necessarily have to conduct another survey. I’m comfortable and confident in voting tonight,” Straight said.

“I’m prepared to vote on a recycling program tonight as well,” council member Lisa Olson said. “We have heard a lot of input. We’ve heard a lot of debate. What I would be more interested in right now is voting on whether or not we are going to pursue a single-stream recycling program with the caveat that we would get the input from our residents on whether we can hit that 4,000 threshold.”

Both the motions to set up a committee for talks with Kalix and to conduct a survey failed 3-4. Olson’s motion to both move forward and conduct a survey, which ultimately passed 5-2, was supported by Jantzer, Straight, Shaun Sipma and Stephan Podrygula. Voting against were Pitner and Wolsky.

“I don’t know if now is the time to dip our toes in the water,” Pitner said. “It’s going to be heavily subsidized, and I just can’t back that using city tax dollars in the recycling market that we find ourselves.”

“The problem with the concept that we have evaluated at this point is that it requires one to two million dollars worth of reserves – that are all of ours – to get that particular concept off the ground,” Wolsky said. “So at the end of the day, recycling is five times as expensive to single sort and haul to Minneapolis as it is to address our waste stream here in Minot locally without putting it on the highway.”

How quickly recycling might come to fruition if residents respond positively is uncertain. Sorenson said a plan of action needs to be set within the next couple of months to have a program ready to launch by the end of 2021, assuming a transfer facility can be completed in that time. Otherwise, the city might be looking at 2022 for curbside recycling.