Burlington considers privatizing recycling program: Here's why it's an option
Burlington considers privatizing recycling program: Here’s why it’s an option
Due to budget constraints in this upcoming fiscal year, Burlington may scrap the citywide recycling program.
Burlington was an early city to establish a residential recycling program, when the Department of Public Works began picking up most residential recycling in the early 1990s.
Recycling is picked up by neighborhood, split into fifths so each day of the week a different Burlington community will need to have their city-provided blue bins out on the street by 7 a.m.
While this system has served residents well, the costs of operation – about $200,000 a year – along with staffing shortages and outdated equipment have become unavoidable to address.
Since 2018, the city has evaluated the possibility of different service models with an eye toward sustainability, convenience and cost.
Besides cost, the city is also looking to condense the program. A 2018 City Council resolution directed DPW to evaluate a consolidated collection model whereby all three waste streams – recycling, trash and compost – could be picked up by the same operator.
All these factors have led to conversations within DPW and the City Council on whether privatizing recycling is the best choice for the city.
In the April 14 City Council meeting, DPW Director Chapin Spencer said they are “trying to achieve a broader mission than we have the funding resources to adequately deliver.”
What a shift to privatization would look like would be hard to say, as many Burlington residents rent, and whether they pay that recycling cost would come down to landlords.
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Struggles with Burlington’s recycling program
Understaffing has been a continuous problem. Only one of the four recycling positions is filled at this time and two or three Street Maintenance Field Technicians are having to fill in every day, taking them away from other essential work they should be doing with sidewalks, roadways and other infrastructures.
The city said they have raised the seasonal wage for recycling workers to $28 an hour and then to $30 an hour, but this has yet to generate any applicants.
DPW has proposed to contract with private haulers for residential recycling pickup, but said they are willing to have a dialogue with residents before any further action is taken.
Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com.