Metro Waste Authority Des Moines Iowa – Being proactive and a leader in environmental management practices is a guideline for Metro Waste Management and its service areas.
Formerly the Des Moines Solid Waste Agency, established in 1969, the Metro Waste Management Authority (MWA) (Des Moines, IA) was created as a result of federal legislation prohibiting open burning in landfills and landfills. It is the largest public solid waste agency in Iowa. An independent government agency comprised of the city of Des Moines and 22 surrounding counties and cities in central Iowa, MWA has 60 employees and serves a population of 475,000 – all of Polk County and parts of Jasper, Warren, Dallas and 20 other counties. MWA’s domestic hazardous waste facility with satellite facilities and facilities for smaller communities. MWA also recently acquired a small private landfill in Perry, IA, northwest of Des Moines, and now serves most of Dallas County. “Metro Waste Management is a great zoning success story, so not every community needs to build a facility because our regional collection center makes regular ‘milk rounds’ to collect household hazardous waste,” said Tom Hadden. chief executive officer. Director. from MWA.
Metro Waste Authority Des Moines Iowa
Since the MWA has no taxing power, all revenue is taken from what they charge at the landfill door, the “tax rate” or whatever else they charge at the facility. “It’s really a business model, so we’re going to approach the business model because we’re not going to be tax-based,” Hadden said. MWA services include:
Metro Waste Authority Metro Recycling Facility Case Study
In landfills, only solid and non-liquid wastes are accepted, while in MRK, recycled wastes are accepted. The new MRF, Greenstar North America blocks it all! Residential recycling is a single stream.
In addition, a water treatment plant was built to make the operation more efficient. The facility is a wet system constructed with an HDPE liner to reduce the potential for contamination or leaks that could affect groundwater or surface water. This includes:
“This was a huge financial and environmental improvement that was completely in line with our environmental management philosophy of sustainability and conservation of natural resources,” Hadden said.
For MWA, the global economic downturn has led to reduced consumption (landfilling and therefore less revenue) and an 85% drop in the recycling market as MWA launches a new residential recycling program. It can be devastating; however, since MWA was already ahead of the decline curve, the search for new revenue streams, such as a new stone processing program, helped to offset the reduction in construction and demolition materials, using the longest equipment, the right partners (carrier and MRF). to choose and by seeking operational efficiencies and reducing overall costs, the loss of revenue was far less damaging. “Servicing more than $4 million in loans to purchase 76,000 new housing units, funded by a seven-year loan, as well as an expensive but effective outreach program for all residents of the Des Moines metro area, the markets have found recycling for us.” surviving the economic crisis is important,” says Hadden.
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Greenstar North America is the nation’s largest recycler and retailer and Waste Management, the largest collection company in the United States. The choice of these two professional partners also played an important role in MWA’s successful transition from five streams to one stream and its ability to emerge from the devastated economy. With recycling markets slowly growing, MWA’s new unified program has increased total recycling by 20 percent. With the successful marketing of this material by Greenstar, the revenue is back on track. However, MWA already has its next game plan in hand. Hadden says, “When times are as good as they are expected to be next year, we will make larger payments on our trailer loan and pay it off faster and save on interest. Our board agreed that all of our processing revenue will go towards the payment. that loan first to clear our debt. When the loan is paid off, all recycling revenue goes back to our member communities.”
When Hadden first came on board, the payment rates increased significantly every year as MWA implemented all kinds of new programs and services and met environmental standards. Because the waste goes to other landfills, the MWA has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to these small landfills around the area. As a result, MWA matched these increases and contracted with haulers to reimburse the landfill $5 per ton. Hadden says: “The best way I found to control the flow of material was to provide an economic incentive for waste producers. It worked and allowed the material to come to us. We can use that revenue for our programs and services.” .
While other solid waste facilities around the country spend millions of dollars to establish or expand a landfill, MWA does not. Not only do they meet environmental standards, but they are also driven to be good neighbors. This includes wetlands and prairie buffers that keep the site clean and a highway that leads to the landfill. “It’s a good neighbor; make friends with this community. I go out of my way to be proactive, especially in our landfills, and make them as ecological and pleasant as possible. When we’re allowed to expand in 2047 , after I’ve been gone for a long time, we’ve only released two people on parole who spoke out against the opposition. It’s usually a very controversial issue, which means the room is full,” Hadden said. “We work very hard to be good neighbors and we keep any disputes with expansion and so on out of the picture because we always try to anticipate these situations by doing what we do right every day.”
Iowa landfills are rated only by diversion, which means how much waste is estimated to be diverted from the landfill. While that’s not a bad goal, it’s just one of those things that a landfill needs to do, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve improved the environment if that’s all you’re doing. “About three years ago, MWA worked to change a state law that was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. Instead of judging by the number of tons diverted from the landfill solid waste facilities now have a comprehensive approach to environmental protection, including: recycling, household hazardous waste, greenhouse gases, environmental education, composting and water quality improvement,” Hadden said.
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Being active and a leader in environmental stewardship practices is a guiding principle for all MWA employees and extends beyond the Central Iowa service area.
One of MWA’s biggest problems is the expectation of some who just want to put their leaves on the curb or the TV or the appliance and then assume it will go away without thinking or spending money to get it. There is always a mindset that there is no cost to waste; unfortunately, this is not the case. Hadden says, “We need to start looking at waste as a resource, not just a waste product. Even if it’s a resource, someone has to pay to remove it.”
While MWA’s transition to single-stream last year was successful with increased participation and customer satisfaction and the lowest contamination rate of any single-stream implementation (3 to 4 percent), the organization wants to do better. MWA believes that the only way to do this is to continue a deep and widespread communication effort about the need to reduce, reuse and recycle. A unique way MWA has begun to do this is by using the young generation and the next generation, developing programs and collaborating with schools and even preschool children through their grant programs that reach schools, civic groups and cities in their service area of up to 50,000 dollar reward. . promote best environmental practices and good land management.
“Our latest innovative education program funded by an MWA grant is called Green Growth. It was developed by a full-time MWA faculty member in collaboration with the Evelyn Davis Early Learning Academy, an urban preschool where students learn soil stewardship and pint. reproducers. during the school year,” says Hadden. “Academy students visit our environmental station, located on 500 acres of our restored grasslands and wetlands, where they see small tree frogs and photograph a sea of wildflowers and tall grasses. They and their parents attend evening programs with Raccoon River teachers. , where they are taught what recyclable items are acceptable and where they practice recycling. By planting their urban lawns this fall, with tall grasses and wildflowers that bloom in the spring, Academy students are restoring the environment. animals and the green area in the central neighborhood is filled with concrete.
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