M Focus on: Waste & Recycling The fountain at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is shown in this photo. Council Bluffs has engaged the community in its plans to bid out a new waste and recycling contract. (Photo provided by Council Bluffs, Iowa)
Engaging the community key to success for waste and recycling issues By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal
Getting public input on municipal projects is generally a good idea, but sometimes city officials might shy away from it for a variety of reasons. With waste and recycling, the officials we spoke to said community engagement is the key to success. In the city of Joplin, Mo., officials were looking to develop a master plan for solid waste, recycling and yard waste. They hired a consulting engineering firm — Burns & McDonnell — to assist with the master plan. Lynden Lawson, assistant public works director over operations, explained there were several services involved — trash collection and a recycling center — that they didn’t think was working well.
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“There are a couple of issues; we have a recycling center, but it’s not a good place as it doesn’t meet all the needs. We’ve got a good flow, but they’re not able to do certain things in there,” he said. Part of the master plan includes what that recycling center will look like in the future. Officials would like to see a place where residents could drop brush off for mulch and also be able to pick up mulch if they need it. Lawson said the city creates windrows of the leaves that it picks up every year and rolls them out every three years as compost,