Dive Brief:

• Pittsburgh has been touted by many, even President Obama, as a model of economic turnarounds, and has hosted the G20 Conference and other important international events. But the city’s waste and recycling practices are far from ideal. An audit of the city’s waste and recycling processes by Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb said the city is picking up less trash than it has, but also recycling less than it should.
• Lamb’s audit of the Department of Public Works Bureau of Environmental Services Refuse and Recycling Divisions showed that the city collected 95,603 tons of refuse in 2013, which was 1,158 tons less than it collected in 2012.
• But Pittsburgh, a city of more than 300,000 people, has not enforced state laws on recycling in its public housing, and so it is missing out on savings for taxpayers, the report said. Pittsburgh still has not reached a goal city leaders set in 1988 to recycle 25 % of all its solid waste.

Dive Insight:

"The city suffers consequences when the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh does not recycle," Lamb's report states. "The city's landfill fees are increased, no recycling sales revenue is collected, and the city does not receive state grants for recycling performance. The cost is absorbed by city of Pittsburgh taxpayers."

Not all of Pittsburgh Housing Authority residents are provided containers for recycling. Another area for improvement are the schools. Some are committed to recycling efforts, while others are not.