Goal

D

Reduce solid waste and increase landfill diversion by 5%.

Illegal dumping is an issue in St. Louis that extends beyond the obvious blight. Litter can end up clogging stormwater drains, leading to flooding, and making its way into the river and other natural areas. This pollution attracts pests, vector-borne diseases, and other potentially toxic or dangerous materials. Addressing these waste management services will enable the City to modernize service and support reuse programs, composting, and circular economy systems. The City currently uses landfills outside of the city, creating more emissions from trucking materials.

Strategy

Improve the City’s refuse program to reduce illegal dumping and litter, prioritizing areas of historical disinvestment, and divert waste from landfills while increasing recycling.

Expected Outcomes

Significant decrease in illegal dumping and dumpster overflow, especially in neighborhoods with high vacancy and high population density, mitigating negative health and environmental outcomes from waste.
Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while saving landfill costs and encouraging a circular economy.

How will we achieve this?

Our Actions

D.1

Establish a plan to phase in roll carts and end the use of City alley dumpsters, focusing on priority areas in the first phase.

D.2

Expand and pilot new community and commercial-scale waste initiatives for recycling, composting, and reuse, focusing on communications and education.

D.3

Adopt a policy that ensures that new development maintenance contracts and permits require adequate trash and recycling receptacles and service.

D.4

Encourage waste minimization at City events, both for City-run and community events on City property.

D.5

Require and enforce recycling for businesses and multifamily units to reduce recycling contamination and increase diversion from landfill.

Case Studies

Learn more about the sustainability practices or principles mentioned in the actions above.

Circular Economy

A circular economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. Compared to our current system in which resources are mined, made into products, and then become waste, a circular economy reduces material use, redesigns products to be less resource intensive, and reuses waste as a resource to create new products. By focusing on minimizing waste and increasing reuse, our economies can help slow climate change and improve community health. Organizations like Perennial, New Earth Farm, and many others are encouraging reuse and circular economy growth within St. Louis. Regions like Silicon Valley, CA are also pursuing innovative, large-scale projects to create a more circular economy. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and real estate developer Westbank are working together to pair three data centers with up to 4,000 residential units to create a sustainable downtown San Jose. Excess heat from the data centers will be harnessed and repurposed through a district energy system to heat and cool surrounding buildings. The project addresses the region’s growing demand for artificial intelligence-driven data centers and housing, while simultaneously advancing San Jose's net-zero community goals, in which the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere is the same as the amount taken out. Moreover, the project will increase energy efficiency and reduce energy bills for businesses and residents.