Thursday, December 15, 2005

Keep Knoxville Beautiful had its annual Holiday Party at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.  Here are some pictures:

- posted by KKB staff at 10:15 PM

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Knox County Solid Waste Advisory Board had a meeting today during which they discussed the concept of unit-based pricing for waste disposal, better known as pay-as-you-throw.  This concept has been discussed before in our region.  The Nine Counties, One Vision Solid Waste Group looked at all the waste disposal challenges facing our region and recommended in their final report that communities should look at pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) to solve the inevitable problem of increased government cost for waste management and to dramatically increase recycling of all types of material.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, versions of PAYT are in use in more than 4,000 communities across the country.

In the City of Knoxville, the cost of curbside (and in a few neighborhoods backdoor) garbage pickup is included in your city property taxes.  In Knox County, the operation of the County Convenience Centers is included in your county property taxes.  Also, many Knox County homeowners (those outside the City limits) subscribe to a garbage pickup service provided by several companies.  In all three systems, there is virtually no incentive to recycle - with a few exceptions - the City picks up yard waste separately from garbage and the County Convenience Centers require citizens dropping off garbage to separate corrugated cardboard.  Another noteworthy feature of all the systems is that everybody pays the same amount (a percentage of your property tax) no matter how much trash they produce.  This is also true for the private subscription services. 

Under the current system if you throw away one bag of trash per week and voluntarily take two more bags of recycling to a drop off center, you pay the same as your neighbor who generates 5 bags of trash per week and recycles nothing.  While this system has the appearance of fairness because everyone pays the same, it is inherently unfair based on utilization.  City residents who reduce the amount of waste they produce and voluntarily recycle are "doing the right thing" but are essentially being "over-taxed" for their garbage disposal.  County residents who subscribe to a private service but produce small amounts of garbage and voluntarily recycle are also being "over-taxed" for their garbage disposal.  City and County residents who throw away huge amounts of garbage and never recycle are being subsidized by their fellow taxpayers who take affirmative steps to reduce the amount of waste they produce.  PAYT changes the system.

There are many ways to implement PAYT but the main feature is this:  instead of everyone paying the same amount in their taxes or by subscription, you are charged for your garbage pickup by the amount you throw away and recycle material is taken away for free.  In some communities citizens are given the choice of 3 different sized containers for garbage - 30, 60 or 90 gallons.  The 90 gallon costs 3 times as much as the 30.  You cannot "overflow" the containers.  Recycling is set out in bins or clear bags so the hauler can make sure at-a-glance it is all recycling material - there is no charge to empty the bags or bins.  The cost of hauling the recycling is built in to the cost of the different sized containers.  People with extra trash can purchase special bags or stickers to set out.  There are lots of different ways to implement this system but they all result in dramatic reductions in what goes to the landfill and corresponding dramatic increases in recycling of ALL (get it?) types of material.  Check out the link to the EPA website referenced above to look at all the ways to implement PAYT.

If there is a public discussion of PAYT in 2006, please take some time to let our community leaders know how you feel about adopting a more equitable garbage disposal system that provides a very strong incentive to recycle all types of material.

- posted by KKB staff at 3:30 PM

Monday, December 12, 2005

Dateline: Knoxville.  Obviously nuance does not sell newspapers.  The News Sentinel article (registration required) on the proposed Tennessee Bottle Bill has Keep Knoxville Beautiful director Tom Salter quoted as a "critic" of the methodology used in the latest litter survey by bottle bill sponsors.  That is accurate.  Based on dozens of state and national surveys of the percentage of bottles and cans in litter, Tom believes that the proposed bottle bill will have a "minimal" impact on reducing roadside litter.  That fact is the extent of our "opposition" to the bill.  Actually, KKB is not for or against the bill.  We just think it won't fix the state's litter problem - and in order to sell papers that position gets translated into "opposed to".  This is precisely a case of "if you're not with us, you're against us".  Some people are stunned that we don't actively support the bill - even if it will only have a minimal impact on litter.  We have been criticized in public for accepting state Litter Grant money that is contributed voluntarily to a state fund by the bottling industry.  At the same time we have been promised "double the levels of our current funding" by bill sponsors if we would support the bill - or maybe just stop talking about it in public.  If we are hopelessly "tainted" by accepting Litter Grant funds to do litter programs or hope to get increased funding under a bottle bill, we are put in a position of not saying anything publicly.  However we must share that our survey data, as well as independent national data sources, indicate that a state mandated bottle and can recycling program will not fix our litter problem and we stand behind that fact.  If our citizens and legislators want to create a state program to recycle bottles and cans that won't have a big impact on roadside litter, fine - pass the bill.  If you want to learn more about the proposed Tennessee Bottle Bill visit www.tnbottlebill.com.  For the record we have received a total of two emails complaining about our "opposition to" or failure to support the proposed bottle bill.  One of the emails, from a UT professor whose professional work involves planning and implementing complex community change suggested that Tom's public comments are "complicating the issue" and implied that the concept of an "imperfect" bottle bill remain simplified as much as possible and public discussion limited to help its passage.  Stay tuned - this is an emotional topic that will generate a lot more public discussion.

- posted by KKB staff at 4:15 PM

Friday, December 9, 2005

Today we had the big award ceremony and Tennessee programs did very well.  Keep Blount Beautiful and Keep Kingsport Beautiful both won 1st place affiliate awards in their city size.  Memphis City Beautiful won several awards including a Rogers for advertising and an Innovation Award.  TDOT won a major award as did Keep Tennessee Beautiful.  Koyo of Tennessee also took home a corporate partner award.  Everyone did really well.  Pictured below are Meredith Liemohn and Kristi Falco of Keep Blount Beautiful (Kristi, do you think your plaque is big enough?), Edith Heller of Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Eldra White of Memphis City Beautiful and Adrian Ridley of Koyo Tennessee.:

- posted by KKB staff at 5:30 PM

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Reporting from the Sea World Renaissance Hotel in Orlando, Florida.  Tom is attending the Keep America Beautiful annual conference in Orlando, Florida.  Speakers included Virginia Busch, President of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, Philippe Cousteau, President of Earth Echo International, Dr. Duane Freese of Florida Research - Hubbs SeaWorld, Chad Pregracke of Living Lands & Waters, Wesley Schultz of Cal State San Marcos, Steven R. Stein of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton and several other presenters from inside the KAB system.  

Philippe Cousteau and Duane Freese gave great overviews of the environmental problems facing our oceans and connected the work of Keep America Beautiful affiliates with larger water-related environmental issues.  Chad Pregracke gave an energetic presentation of his work cleaning up the Mississippi River.  Wesley Schultz talked about Community-Based Social Marketing, a presentation that several of us saw in Nashville earlier this year about what is required to change human behavior (especially behavior that will impact the environment) when there is no perceived crisis.  Steven Stein is the author of the article "Sweating the Litter Things" in the waste industry journal Resource Recycling.  Steven summarized the results of 61 litter studies conducted over the past 30 years.

At lunch Tom was presented with a Professional Leadership Award from Keep America Beautiful for "exemplary contributions to the Keep America Beautiful affiliate network". 



Pictured below (l-r) in the first picture are Kristi Falco and Meredith Liemohn of Keep Blount Beautiful, Pam Cox of Keep Kingsport Beautiful, Jennifer Reynolds of Keep Greene Beautiful and Edith Heller of Keep Tennessee Beautiful.  In the second picture (l-r) is Deborah Stevenson of Morristown Hamblen KAB, Eldra White of Memphis City Beautiful, Teresa Culbreath of TDOT, Jennifer Reynolds of Keep Greene Beautiful, Claude Lee and Roxanna Pierce, both of TDOT.




- posted by KKB staff at 5:30 PM

Friday, December 2, 2005

Jack Dennis and Tom met Max Alvarez of the Fountain City Lions Club at Fountain City Park to plant a memorial tree in memory of Robert Nelson.  Mr. Nelson was a long time member of the club.



- posted by KKB staff at 1:45 PM

Thursday, December 1, 2005

We all went over to the Louise Mandrel Theatre in Pigeon Forge to hear Roger Brooks, national speaker on tourism issues - also known as the Dr. Phil of tourism.  We met Roger at the Keep America Beautiful mid-year affiliate forum in Albuquerque.  It appeared as if more than 200 people attended.  It was sponsored by Keep Sevier Beautiful and many Sevier County businesses.  Brooks covered a number of topics but really hit on the issues of making a good first impression.  This is a topic that the KAB affiliates are very concerned about.  KAB directors from Lincoln County, Hamblen County, Bradley County, Blount County, Roane County and Knox County were represented.  Laura Marzhal of Keep Tennessee Beautiful came all the way from Memphis to help with the event.  KKB was represented by Edythe Nelle McNabb, Terry Faulkner, Sam Maynard, Gary Drinnen, Page Pratt and Cassandra McGee.   Congratulations to Allison Teeters and her board for a super event.