Environmental Commission sends recycling mandate recommendations to the Oxford City Council
Three separate recommendations were sent to Oxford City Council for further discussion and review.
Oxford’s Environmental Commission met on Sept. 3 to discuss and finalize recommendations for a commercial recycling mandate for the city.
The commission unanimously supported the recommendation to implement building-level dumpster sharing, which would include multiple businesses or families sharing a designated dumpster.
“Broadly speaking, dumpster sharing leads to savings for businesses,” Murphy said.
For commercial and mixed-use recycling, the commission supported the approach of having a pilot program that would be city-led without new staff hirings. This recommendation was supported by a 4-2 vote.
The proposed pilot program would be a voluntary program at three different locations, which would depend on private property owner interest and willingness to enter into a private-public partnership. Locations are currently being considered.
“The goal is to encourage recycling by piloting a city-led shared recycling program,” said Reena Murphy, the city’s environmental coordinator. This program will help determine if shared recycling and anti-contamination efforts are both scalable and successful in waste diversion.
Additionally, it would allow for the city to control the locks for these dumpsters, minimizing contamination, while utilizing code enforcement in the same hands-on approach as actively used by the city, according to Murphy.
The keys for these dumpsters would be given to business owners and city staff. The city would be in charge of managing the recycling dumpsters in these three locations as well as nearby litter cleanup.
This approach would create some fees for business owners, according to Murphy, which will be addressed if the approach is adopted by the Oxford City Council.
For multi-family housing and large apartment complexes, the commission supported the approach of having a tiered rollout for the mandate by a vote of 5-1.
With this strategy, property managers would be required to handle key distribution and education and outreach. Murphy believes this approach is feasible for city staff. Rollout options are still in discussion. Murphy stated that multiple cities nearby are facing similar issues regarding recycling, but she has not found a nearby university community that has successfully implemented a city-wide recycling mandate.
Murphy explained the current city recycling conditions to the commission. Currently, Oxford has curbside recycling for residential buildings, as well as a free drop-off option provided by Butler County.
While residential areas have various options for recycling, there are limited options uptown largely due to contamination and limited recycling at apartment buildings.
“We have well intentioned goals,” Murphy said. “Since 2015, new developments have been required to have space for recycling and trash.”
This designated space tends to get used by other facilities, such as electric meters, according to Murphy.
The Oxford City Council will have its next work session Sept. 16.
