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Recycling News & Updates

By now, we hope you've heard the news! The City of Ames is launching an every-other-week residential curbside recycling service beginning July 1. Recycling is an important part of managing costs and making the new Resource Recovery and Recycling Campus (R3C) successful. R3C will replace the Resource Recovery Plant and the City’s current waste-to-energy system, which uses garbage as a fuel source for the Ames Power Plant.

In the next week, single family homes and multi-family homes up to four units will receive a wheeled, 96-gallon cart to collect glass, metal cans, paper, certain plastics, and cardboard. A $7.75 recycling fee will appear on a resident's City utility bill each month.

Reducing the amount of waste thrown away is key to keeping costs down as the waste-to-energy system is phased out. 

For more information, go to www.CityOfAmes.org/recycling.

Why Such a Big Cart?

The new curbside recycling program uses a 96-gallon cart, which is the same size as many residential garbage carts. The carts were bulk-purchased for the lowest cost and cannot be custom-sized per address. The larger cart encourages recycling and provides residents with plenty of space to collect recyclable materials between pickups.

Communities that offer larger recycling carts typically see higher recycling participation and increased diversion of materials from the landfill.

The size of the cart is also part of a long-term strategy to help residents shift more recyclable materials out of their garbage. As households become more familiar with the program, the goal is for recycling carts to fill up while garbage volumes shrink.

Cart Assistance is Available

A 96-gallon cart may be difficult for some residents to maneuver. To ensure all residents can fully participate, Walk-Up Service is available. For those who are unable to bring their recycling cart to the curb because of a disability, physical limitation, or other need for assistance, please fill out the application below. With Walk-Up Service, collection staff will retrieve the recycling cart from a designated location on the property that is visible from the street (not inside a garage or behind a home). The contents will be emptied into the collection truck and returned to the same location. This service helps make curbside recycling accessible to residents who need additional assistance while allowing them to enjoy the same recycling opportunities as their neighbors.

Moving Away from Waste-to-Energy

For more than 50 years, Ames has been a national leader in waste management.

In the 1970s, the City launched the Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant, the first municipally operated waste-to-energy system in the United States. The system was designed to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills by recovering metals and converting a portion of garbage into fuel used to generate electricity.

Over the decades, the system processed thousands of tons of waste annually, helped preserve valuable Iowa farmland from landfill use, and generated enough electricity to power thousands of homes.

Today, however, the conditions that made the system successful have changed.

When the waste-to-energy system was developed, garbage contained far more paper and organic material than it does today. Over time, the waste stream shifted significantly toward plastics and other synthetic materials.

At the same time, the Ames Power Plant evolved. Originally designed to burn coal, the plant was converted to cleaner-burning natural gas in 2016.

The combination of modern waste and natural gas has created challenges that did not exist when the system was first built. Burning refuse-derived fuel (RDF) alongside natural gas causes increased corrosion of boiler tubes, leading to more frequent maintenance, higher repair costs, and longer periods when the system cannot operate as intended.

When that happens, garbage cannot be processed for energy recovery and must instead be transported directly to the Boone County Landfill.

A New Direction for Electric Production

Moving away from waste-to-energy gives Ames Electric Services some much-needed flexibility. The current system requires the Ames Power Plant to remain available to burn refuse-derived fuel. That limits the City's flexibility in today's energy market. Utilities now routinely buy and sell electricity based on market conditions. There are times when purchasing power from other providers is more economical than generating it locally.

Additionally, without the need to burn garbage, Ames Electric Services can invest in more energy-efficient energy generation.

Thank you for reading.

INSIDE THE CART is a new newsletter designed to answer your recycling questions. The residential curbside recycling program will begin in July. For additional information contact the City of Ames at recycling@cityofames.org. Also, more information is available on our website at www.CityOfAmes.org/recycling.