CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Week ending December 12, 2008
Market for recyclable materials negatively impacted by economy
The general economic downtown has significantly affected markets for recyclable materials (see attached articles from the Associated Press and NY Times). The Waste Reduction and Recycling (WRR) Division has provided the following information regarding local impacts on the collection and processing of corrugated cardboard, mixed waste paper, newspaper and sorted office paper.
- Paper markets have taken a sharp downturn in the past several months, corresponding to other commodities and the current global economic downturn. Old Corrugated Cardboard, for example, which was selling for $115/ton in September 2008, is now worth $20/ton. There is currently no market (price quote $0 to -$5/ton) for Mixed Waste Paper which sold for $85/ton in September 2008.
- The immediate operational impact to WRR is depleted warehouse storage capacity at the SWAN building. Currently, if either of this week’s two scheduled cardboard shipments were to be canceled, we would need to arrange immediately to begin outside storage for processed materials (bales). Another possible impact would be the suspension of collection of materials which cannot currently be marketed.
- The WRR Division is currently evaluating all options for marketing, collection, and storage of these materials.
The graph below shows the price that the WRR Division received per ton of Mixed Paper (MIX), Corrugated Cardboard (OCC), Newspaper (ONP), Sorted Office Paper (SOP), and Magazines (OMG) from January 2007 through December 2008.
Judges’ feedback from website award leads to more improvement
Attached are the judges’ comments made during the selection of www.lawrenceks.org for a National Association of Government Webmaster Pinnacle Web Award in September. The City’s website received high marks for content, organization, design, functionality and interactivity. The judges’ suggested areas for improvement included fixing broken links from the City’s website to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce website; errors about code adhering to web standards and some accessibility errors. The broken links, caused from the chamber’s recent website redesign, have been fixed, as have the coding errors listed in the feedback. Accessibility issues (compatibility between our coding and software/hardware that translates it into more useful forms for individuals with disabilities) are being addressed and will improve greatly in 2009.
Intersection improvements win concrete award
The Kansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association (KRMCA) Municipal Concrete Awards Program recently honored the City’s 19th and Louisiana intersection improvements (see award letter). Award criteria include quality, workmanship, aesthetics and environmental friendliness.