Green business in Boston

A proposed City Council ordinance would require waste haulers to provide recycling services to all Boston businesses, cutting back on waste around the city, but some opponents of the proposal say small businesses could be hurt by the regulation.
Most waste management companies have already increased recycling services for businesses, Allied Waste Services manager Gino Dugin said, noting that 15 percent of commercial trash tonnage in Boston was recycled this year, whereas last year the recycling rate was only at 9 percent.
The key to waste management, he said, is to match consumer wants.
‘If you want to survive in this industry, you have to change with the times,’ he said. ‘The only way to do that is offer more services at the best prices.’
Mass Hauling representative David Murphy said, however, that he was concerned about fuel, maintenance and extra labor costs during what has become a national economic crisis.
‘We would like to approach cautiously in these economic times,’ he said. ‘If we proceed with caution and look the finer points as a team, we can succeed.’
City Councilor Mike Ross (Back Bay, Fenway, Kenmore) proposed the ordinance at a City Council meeting Tuesday afternoon and said it is a good starting point for increasing recycling, but stressed that the ordinance would not overstep its boundaries or ‘tell businesses how to run their businesses.’
Boston Chief of Environment and Energy Jim Hunt, said there is a ‘problem with the one-size-fits-all approach to business’ and that the ordinance, which would be enforced in the same way regardless of the size of the business, have the potential to affect businesses negatively.
Jesse Jeter, CEO of the recycling company Jet-a-Way, said small companies have a harder time recycling because of the cost of additional dumpsters, risk of cross-contamination and cost of staff to oversee the dumpster.
‘It is the small client, the small Mom-and-Pop stores that we need to push,’ he said.
Adam Mitchell a partner of Save That Stuff, a waste management company that helps New England businesses and institutions administer recycling programs, said the ordinance needs to include both businesses and waste and recycling companies. He cited other cities with similar ordinances that specifically include the waste generators in making a change.
‘ ‘All ordinances require waste generators, business owners, to separate recycling from the trash,’ he said. ‘Mandatory business recycling ordinances, if crafted well, work.’