As General Manager of the Mid Michigan Waste Authority, Monica Duebbert Represents 32 Communities in a Successful Blueprint for Delivering Essential Services

WHEN people think of trash usually it's within the context of how to get rid of it. Rarely do people view trash as a business commodity, but the reality is that the disposal of household garbage is not only a costly proposition to municipalities, but also a valuable enterprise to the private waste haulers that handle it.
 

Given the dilemma faced by cities & townships of how to economically provide this essential service of trash disposal to residents while holding down escalating costs associated with it, a true governmental success story can be found within the workings of the Mid-Michigan Waste Authority, which as an entity can also be looked at as a blueprint for the future when it comes to providing essential government services in a competent and affordable manner.
 

Formed in 1991 the MMWA began offering residential waste services in 1995 by servicing 12 municipalities. In the decade since their inception, they have grown to service 32 members, with two more communities slated to sign on for 2006.
As a public entity, the authority was formed with the goal of providing cost effective, environmentally sound, and integrated waste management services to each of its member communities.
 

The theory under its establishment was to get better pricing on waste disposal for all involved by spreading the costs across board and adding bargaining clout when it came time to negotiate contracts concerning the disposal of residential waste. Working primarily out of Saginaw County, they currently have two vendors under 10-year contracts to pick up and dispose waste at their own landfill site; and more importantly, by emphasizing the importance of recycling through education and ever expanding services, they have managed to not only extend storage space of their own landfill to 17 years, but have managed to rebate savings rendered through recycling programs back into the coffers of their member communities.
 

Through this unique brand of collective bargaining power, the organization has negotiated very favorable rates that are less than the rate of inflation over the duration of their 10-year existence, and in many of those years municipalities actually saw their costs decrease.
In Thomas Township, for example, the household rate declined from $121.00 per year in 1994 to $105.00 or a 13% reduction in 1995. Now I ask you, how often does that happen in the traditional models of local government?
 

As General Manager of the Mid Michigan Waste Authority, Monica Duebbert has devoted her professional life to making a difference not only within the member communities she represents, but also in terms of addressing the escalating problems associated with the creation and disposal of waste in the United States. Involved in the field since 1987, she worked in Illinois at the EPA as a legislative liaison, focusing on environmental regulations and the legislative process. Working at two different state departments, she spent much of her time dealing with grants and educational programs before spending two years with the state of Illinois recycling program and five years with the Illinois Solid Waste Agency.
 

When Monica came on-board to the MMWA almost five years ago, the authority had 27 members and will soon grow to 34. With the costs of many other essential city services escalating into the stratosphere forcing many communities to the brink of bankruptcy, The Review felt it prudent and timely to take a closer look at the dynamics that makes this unique governmental entity actually work the way it is supposed to - for the benefits of the taxpayers & residents that it serves.

Review: What was it like when you first joined the MMWA and how did you first learn about it?

Duebbert: I was working for a regional authority north of Chicago and it struck me as a unique opportunity. The MMWA is a rare creature because it actually negotiates and holds the service contracts for residential solid waste services. That was a key distinction, because other entities generally only offer technical and informational assistance. One of the things the authority that I worked at in Chicago did was encourage member communities to franchise for collections in order to offer curbside garbage & recycling service. But by no means did we negotiate or hold those service contracts, which makes us totally unique.
 

The MMWA has grown phenomenally in the four-and-a-half years that I've been here, so it's now very easy for me to talk to communities and be enthusiastic. We just negotiated some phenomenal contract prices, so in 2006 a lot of these people will be paying only $65.00 every other month just for weekly trash pick up.

Review: So was the methodology behind it when it started to simply hold costs down by sharing resources and bargaining power between communities?

Duebbert: That was the main thought. Various Departments of Public Service & Works directors put it together. Some had already provided recycling service, some were self-servicing, but in their initial meetings they figured out the disparity in costs pertaining to service, so decided to approach various vendors. They viewed this as a way to shape the policy in terms of what the members wanted instead of what the commercial haulers offer for service.
 

Integrated waste management is a comprehensive craft. It isn't just a matter of providing garbage service, because behind the whole picture is landfill capacity. Landfills are very expensive to build and hard to find space for, because few people want them nearby their homes.

There were actually three active landfills when MMWA was formed, but since 1999 there's only been one open. Saginaw Valley closed in 1988, James Township landfill is full, and there is one other landfill next to our currently active People's landfill that actually does have capacity but is not active. It's the Tayban landfill owned by Republic Industries, but it was shuddered because they didn't have a big hauling presence in the area, so it didn't make physical sense to have it open. When it might be re-opened, we don't know.

Currently we work with Waste Management for collections and landfill disposal, a different entity for recyclables, and the City of Saginaw has a composting facility.

Review: So how much money are you able to save because of your bargaining clout?

Duebbert: It varies so much because our membership is so diverse. On the one end you have the City of Saginaw with over 23,000 households that are largely inner city, urban, and denser with population than the surrounding suburban and rural areas, plus we also deal with agri-rural.
 

The big thing that drives pricing up is the cost of collection. How far does the driver need to go? What is the density of population involved? Less dense areas can be more cost efficient, but on the other end, a lot of our membership that is further out requires drivers to travel more miles for less materials, which also creates a big difference. So there really isn't an average figure to give in terms of savings, because of all these variables. But when I talk to my colleagues around the state about landfill costs and levels of service, the savings we've negotiated are incredibly cost-effective.

Review: Obviously, another savings to communities is not having to garage their trucks, pay for mechanics to keep them running, not to mention the labor involved with that. But how does the rising cost of gas affect the overall picture?

Duebbert: The same as it has every other industry and business in that they have to absorb that cost. It's had a big impact on their profit level, but everybody is in that boat. These are contracts we've negotiated for 10 years with our haulers so they have to be honored. We're one of the few entities that make sure our contracts go for 10 years up until 2014. We were very clear about not adding a fuel escalator clause to those contracts and are one of the few around the state that accomplished that. But the vendor can ride that out because we are their single biggest client in the Mid-Michigan region.

Review: What is the biggest challenge facing us in terms of waste management and collection?

Duebbert: Specific to the waste authority the biggest issue is public education and public behavior about their trash management habits. A lot of the population just isn't recycling. They think it doesn't make a difference or don't want to be bothered with it.
 

But recycling is a huge industry generating $40-45 billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone. The problem is that people remember back to when recycling first became available. There were a lot of rules for consumers to follow, such as cleaning labels off of jars and cans; but a lot has changed since then and people simply remember what they heard when first exposed to it.
 

Today it is incredibly simple to recycle. We have a two-bin process. All people have to do now is separate paper and paper goods, including cereal boxes, Kleenex boxes, even cardboard, and place all those items together in one container, and then place all their bottles and jars in the other bin. You don't have to rinse them and it doesn't matter if you mix glass and plastic bottles together. Actually, there is less glass breakage if plastic bottles are in the bin.

Review: So what is the impact of recycling from your member communities?

Duebbert: We gauge this by community and average weight of garbage per community and six of our members are at the 25-30 percent recycling range, which is phenomenal. The state average is 28 percent, which factors in yard waste, which is probably 16 percent of that statewide figure. Our figure does not include yard waste.
 

The main problem is that people think there isn't any financial incentive to make recycling more attractive than simply throwing it all in the garbage. But we're going to be launching a new public education campaign called 'Bank on Recycling for Savings'. It's a difficult message, because it isn't a direct immediate savings to the resident. But the way the current contracts are set it costs $17.50 a ton maximum to process a ton of recycled items. But the cost is $22.28 a ton to throw it in the landfill. Right there you have a big cost disparity. Plus the market for recycled items is so good. If you don't have any processing costs, you get paid back from the processor, so there is an economic impact involved.
 

Because of recycling many of my communities for 2005 were able to hold their assessment at the same level as the prior year, or drop it by six dollars, as Tittabawassee did.

Review: A big issue is out of state trash. For many years Michigan was successful in keeping it out, but then the Supreme Court interpreted it to be embraced by the interstate commerce clause, so its been a big problem. State Democrats are working right now to ban Canadian trash from Michigan. What are your thoughts on this?

Duebbert: I know back in 1992 when I was in Illinois federal standards clicked in that said any landfill built and in existence and active must have certain pollution control measures in place or they can't operate.
Illinois had 155 landfills and they now have 56, but there is more capacity in those fewer landfills.
 

The truth is that Michigan exports materials, as do other states. We don't handle every bit of trash that we create that needs to be disposed of in some manner. The problem is that trash is business, whether people view it that way or not. It's a valuable commodity and there is great money to be made in dealing with it.
 

Trash doesn't know borders, which is what makes it difficult to deal with in terms of boundaries. I can't think of many states if any that are able to deal with all the material they wish to dispose of totally within their borders. Trash circulates around the country and the world. Unfortunately, Toronto made their decision when they knew its landfill was filling up. They did try to site one, only had problems with it, and so they determined economically it would be cheaper to ship to Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan than within their own country. But it is an economic commodity and we do send hazardous waste from Michigan into Canada.

Review: So why doesn't the City of Saginaw have recycling? I know when the City entered into its contract with MMWA they were able to reduce a fund deficit of $480,000 and not have to raise fees to residents, but recycling was supposed to be involved. Moreover they sold $460,000 worth of garbage trucks to Waste Management and then added that $50.00 per year solid waste fee. Obviously they have the money to address this.

Duebbert: The decision to not bring back recycling is totally a city decision and has nothing to do with the waste authority. Simply put, its up to the City of Saginaw to decide whether they want to offer the service to residents or not.
 

Our contract says that we will pick up recycled curbside items from residents. They told us they weren't going ahead with the recycling contract because they didn't have the funding for it, which was a real frustration to the waste authority. They have a millage and are the only community in our service authority that has that extra $50 fee a year solid waste fee, which allows them to derive $3.5 million in revenue from these sources, but all I can tell you is that we were told they weren't able to provide recycling services. What I can tell you is at the point we were told the city would not be able to provide recycling service, they've been charged less than $2 million, so obviously they have other programs and services they wish to provide for from the funds saved in that area.

Their determination and reasoning was that they couldn't afford to bring it back, and that isn't part of our loop. It's very frustrating for the waste authority membership and hard for borderline residents in Carrollton and Buena Vista to not see city residents recycle. When we went through the negotiation process that was always on the table.

On the other side, the City of Saginaw did not have real good recycling numbers, so we were starting to work on a big education push to develop those numbers. The waste authority is more than happy to work with them in terms of developing a recycling program.

Review: What are some of the special areas that the MMWA handles that you would like citizens to know about?

Duebbert: We do a lot of special programming in terms of how to properly dispose of hazardous waste, paint, and computers. Computer recycling is incredibly important because there is mercury in those screens. Europe is much farther ahead in this area because in the U.S. we have vast geographic space, which forms a big impact on human behavior. In countries like Germany where they don't have all space, they figure out how to properly dispose of it. Plus in Europe the manufacturer will assume responsibility and take the product back at the end of its life.
 

From October 31-November 11 we are conducting a computer recycling series with 10 drop-off locations. People can drop off any type of unwanted computer equipment for free. We did one last spring and got 28,000 responses. The first time we did this we received 18,000 responses, so I am very encouraged. The average computer monitor has 4 and a half pounds of lead in the screen, which can easily leach and then you have lead sitting in a landfill that could seep into the ground water.

We've partnered with Saginaw County on this project and therefore do not need to charge a fee. The same with our hazardous waste collection efforts. We weren't prepared for the amount of material out there when we first started this program. It's good to know people aren't throwing it away. We had 145 households represented at the Spring event with an average of 125 pounds per car.

One of the things we'll get into next year is geared towards small businesses and disposal of their fluorescent bulbs. Most people don't know there is a federal mandate against putting them in the trash. If you break just one tube a tiny bit of mercury vapor can contaminate a whole building. It's not good stuff to have around, so I urge people not to break their fluorescent tubes. We are going to figure out some type of program to educate business about this and provide pick-up.

Review: Do you have any final thoughts or comments?

Duebbert: One problem we continually fight against is the propensity people have to put their trash out in a box. If you get dew on the grass or rain the last thing you need is to chase garbage around a yard. Drivers don't have time for that.
 

Simply use any 33-gallon or smaller bag or can and you can put 20 bags or cans out there, just don't use a box. Remember to 'think outside the box'. That's our motto.
 

Another issue is that of paint removal. We have ten different drop-off locations for used paint and some retailer paint stores will also accept it during regular weekday hours.
 

At our last paint collection we picked up 35,000 pounds of latex paint this year through 'paint renew'.
 

Frankly, this has been a very significant experience for me. When I think that we have 73,000 households that we service and next year will have almost 74,000, coupled with 700,000 service points for yard waste, there is a lot of start & stopping involved.
 

But if we say we're going to do things, we do them. We really care about our members and personally, for me, I know I'm doing something that matters and makes a difference.
 
To contact the Mid Michigan Waste Authority, you can phone
989-781-9555. Their offices are located at 7950 Gratiot, Suite #5, Saginaw, Michigan.