As carbon dioxide levels and average global temperatures rise, many are seeking ways to change the trend - to actively be more sustainable by lowering emissions, reducing waste and seeking alternative power sources.
Locally, sustainability can be seen at the individual level through recycling and reducing waste. At the municipal level, it's through education and provided services, as well as through partnerships within the private sector.
Global average temperatures have risen by almost 2 degrees since 1880, and 19 of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001, according to data from NASA. The year 2016 is the warmest on record.
Carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping or greenhouse gas, has also increased in recent years - from about 378 parts per million in 2005 to 412 ppm in 2019. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, along with some natural processes.
Methane, another greenhouse gas, has also steadily risen - from about 1,840 parts per billion globally in 2016 to 1,870.5 ppb in 2019, according to data complied by global monitoring division of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. One common source of methane gas is waste, primarily from landfills.
In 2017, Americans generated about 267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste, or about 4.51 pounds per person per day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Of that, about 67 million tons were recycled, 27 million tons were composted and 34 million tons were combusted with energy recovery.
Despite the increase in waste being recycled, composted or combusted, a majority - about 52 percent of all waste - was sent to landfills.
Being sustainable in Jefferson City means something different in different areas. Individual residents are attempting to produce less waste and recycle more, while one private partnership makes use of methane gas released from the local landfill.
Individual efforts
Lindsey Roush, a St. Martins resident and married mother of three young children, said her family has been trying to go zero-waste for a few years - replacing single-use or non-recyclable items from dryer sheets to toilet paper to plastic wrap.
But replacing tissues with handkerchiefs and plastic toothbrushes with bamboo didn't come all at once. Roush said reducing waste can happen one step at a time.
"I think a lot of people don't know where to start because there's so many ways you can," Roush said. "It seems overwhelming, like where would I even cut back? But you can take one thing and change it at a time."
For her family, Roush said they started replacing things as they went.
When they ran out of aluminum foil and plastic wrap, instead of buying more single-use, they replaced it with beeswax wraps, a reusable alternative that can be composted when it wears out.
They also order more sustainable toilet paper - a bamboo product that comes in cardboard packaging instead of non-recyclable plastic.
"Anything that we had once had a single-use item for, we have slowly been changing out for longer-lasting options," Roush said. "As a family, we try to be more mindful of what we bring into our home and does it have a long-sustaining life. Sometimes you might spend more money on something, but we find it will last us forever instead of a temporary time."
Roush runs a blog called Reduce the Rubbish, where she chronicles the family's efforts and includes tips for others on how to create less waste.
Since they started a few years ago, Roush said, they've cut down from a full garbage bin each week to just one bag of trash a week.
Jefferson City Neighborhood Services Specialist Rachel Senzee said even small efforts to reduce waste are important.
"I try to encourage eliminating the waste before it even becomes waste," Senzee said. "Just think about the things that you're doing in your normal, everyday life that you can get rid of. Little things matter. You can't always come in and do the big gestures, but it's those little things, those little habits, that you can get into every day."
Cutting down on single-use plastics is one of the easier ways to reduce waste. Buying reusable products such as water bottles, shopping bags or zip-lock snack bags can reduce the amount of plastic waste your household creates.
Another thing Senzee does personally is use wool balls in her dryer instead of dryer sheets, and she tries to purchase food items that come in recyclable packaging such as glass or cardboard. Wool balls are a reusable alternative to dryer sheets - one or two balls of wool can be thrown in with clothing and provide the same effects as dryer sheets without any of the chemicals.
However, trying to live with less waste isn't always easy. Access to recycling programs, knowledge of what should be recycled and how, and financial stability all play roles in the ease of a sustainable lifestyle.
A low-income resident may not have the ability to purchase a reusable water bottle or shopping bag or spend the extra money for food packaged in glass instead of non-recyclable plastic.
"I think the challenges are personal. I'm fortunate enough that I can go into a grocery store and instead of looking at the dollar amounts of the food I'm buying, I'm looking at the materials it's packaged in," Roush said.
For Roush, being sustainable is about creating a better future for her young children and future generations.
"Be more mindful of the products that you choose," she said. "What you leave on this Earth, it's not just for you, it's for everyone around you - your children, your grandchildren. We're trying to reduce our footprint as a family, and I'm teaching my kids as we go. We're trying to be more environmentally friendly and do our part."
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City services
At the municipal level, sustainability comes from recycling services and education on sustainable practices.
"I kind of see the city's role (in sustainability) as facilitating what the private sector is doing," Senzee said. "It could be anything from making city code more compliant with their needs or providing a service like the contract with Republic."
Republic Services provides single-stream recycling for those living in the city limits, along with garbage pickup. A 10-year service agreement between the city and Republic Services, which started in June 2016 and runs through May 2026, made Republic the city's only waste management provider.
In early 2019, Republic ended residential curbside recycling for Cole County residents in several area towns including St. Martins, Wardsville and Taos, meaning only those living in Jefferson City limits have curbside recycling. The company cited concerns within the industry, as China stopped accepting a lot of recyclable materials from the United States for being too contaminated.
At the time, Republic assured the community curbside would not be removed from Jefferson City. Senzee said if Republic decides to remove curbside recycling before the end of the contract in 2026, it would break the contract.
Senzee said the exclusive contract benefits the company and residents because the lack of competition means prices are kept low. Within the city, garbage and single-stream recycling can be picked up for $16 per month. If the company breaks its contract, it would open the city to competition for services.
Single-stream recycling containers can take paper, cardboard and metals like aluminum cans, as well as plastics 1-5 and 7, which includes beverage bottles, takeout containers and detergent containers.
Some items can't be included in single-stream recycling, such as plastic packaging, aluminum foil, ceramics, paper towels and napkins, diapers, Styrofoam and glass.
As a St. Martins resident, Roush lost curbside recycling earlier this year, but she takes the extra step to take her recycling to a center.
"I encourage people who don't have (curbside recycling) just to do their own recycling," she said. "It is an extra step, but I find it so rewarding, and you're minimizing the amount that goes to the landfill."
Jefferson City does provide a few locations to recycle glass. Large purple bins provided by Kansas-City based Ripple Glass collect certain types of glass - food and beverage containers of any color - to be recycled. They do not collect ceramics, window glass, televisions or Pyrex glass.
Ripple Glass provides the bins for free, Senzee said. The city just provides the land they sit on and the labor to load the trucks when the bins are emptied.
The four Ripple Glass bins can be found at 1228 E. McCarty St., 2284 Hyde Park Road, 2730 W. Main St., and 1700 S. Ridge Drive at McKay Park.
"Some of the glass goes back into glass bottles, some goes into insulation," Senzee said. "That's the kind of relationship we like. We're getting this awesome service, essentially for free, and it's going back into that sustainability loop that we like because they want the glass."
Communities that participate in Ripple Glass receive an insulation donation at the end of each year. In Jefferson City, the donation has been going to River City Habitat for Humanity.
Other recycling opportunities provided by the city can be found on the city's website under "Recycling Opportunities."
Some recycling centers in the city accept different recyclable materials, like New World Recycling at 2007 Idlewood Road, Midwest Recycling Center at 1327 Missouri 179 and Federal Recycling at 2730 W. Main St.
Jeff Holzem, a Jefferson City resident with an interest in sustainable practices, said the city could be doing more to push toward renewable energy compared to other cities nearby. In 2018, Columbia had about 15.6 percent of its electric generated from renewable sources, according to the city of Columbia website.
Senzee said Jefferson City has discussed replacing damaged infrastructure in areas hit by the May 2019 tornado with more renewable energy, such as solar-powered streetlamps.
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Private partnerships
When waste does end up collected and sent to the landfill, that doesn't mean something sustainable isn't coming out of it. Since 2007, one private partnership in the area has made use of a byproduct of the local landfill by using it to generate electricity and heat.
Many miles of piping runs within the Republic Services Jefferson City landfill. Some of these pipes help drain liquid, known as leachate, from the bottom of the tightly compacted landfills so it doesn't contaminate ground water.
The other series of pipe is a complex system of gas extraction wells and associated vacuum lines, designed to remove methane gas produced as the buried waste breaks down.
Craig Abbott, environmental manager for Republic, said it takes some time for the waste to break down and produce the methane, especially in climates with less moisture.
Because methane is a greenhouse gas, federal regulations require it to be controlled, typically by burning. When methane is burned, the emissions released are clean.
Instead of burning, methane produced by the Republic landfill is collected by the gas extraction wells - spaced roughly 200 feet apart - and sent through a system of pipes to three engines located between the Algoa Correctional Center and Jefferson City Correctional Center.
"If we weren't taking our landfill gas to the prison, if they weren't generating electricity, we would just be burning it all through the flare," Abbott said. "It's a beneficial use project. It's good for the environment."
The project is a partnership between Republic and Ameresco, a renewable energy and energy efficiency company. Ameresco owns and operates the landfill gas to energy plant next to JCCC.
Within the plant, there are three engines used to generate approximately 3.2 megawatts of green power, which is purchased by Columbia Water & Light and added to the power grid.
The landfill produces roughly 1,400 standard cubic feet per minute of methane. Each engine can burn around 330 standard cubic feet per minute of methane, Abbott said. The excess gas that doesn't go to the engines is burned off through a flare at the landfill.
In an effort to clean the gas before it is piped to the engines, another flare burns out siloxane, a fine-grit substance that collects in the methane as a trash byproduct from waste like makeup and lotion. Siloxane will destroy engines, so it's burned off at a pre-treatment site.
While providing a cost-effective and clean-energy use for the methane, the landfill gas to energy project provides an additional benefit at the landfill.
"If this landfill did not have an active gas collection system, we would stink terribly, because gas is going to escape through the cap," Abbott said. "Having the gas extraction system allows us to be proactive - we're collecting it before it has a chance to escape through the cap and smell."
Once the methane reaches the engines, an additional benefit is created as the engines run. The heat from the engines serves another purpose by preheating the boilers used at the prison.
Curt Robertson, operations manager for Republic, said the process offsets natural gas usage.
"It's kind of a two-part deal. I think back in the day - meaning the early to mid-90s - the gas-to-energy projects just got electricity off of the engines," Robertson said. "It was like 50-55 percent efficient, the rest was waste. But then when they captured the heat off of the engines, you have like 90-95 percent efficiency off of your gas."
The project has an annual carbon reduction equivalent to the heating of 1,500 homes or the removal of nearly 1,000 cars from the road, and produces an energy savings of $500,000 annually, according to Ameresco.
Both Abbott and Robertson said it's rewarding to be involved in such a beneficial project.
When Ameresco created this LFGTE project in Jefferson City, it was a relatively new process which has since become more common. Nationwide, Republic currently has 75 gas-to-energy and renewable energy projects.
Senzee said when thinking about sustainability, environmental impact can't be the only factor. Financial aspects are equally important, especially for making sustainability the norm.
"You can't just think about the environment, you have to think about the cost," Senzee said. "In the end, is it truly sustainable, is it truly efficient, if you're paying all that money, if you have to have a truck come down and haul off your waste, and you're paying for the services, and that truck is burning diesel? How is that sustainable?"
There are three pillars of sustainability: people, planet and profits. For true sustainability, Senzee said the private sector is the most important.
"If you can figure out a way where you're interacting in your community and you can make money off of it, or at least break even, then it's going back into the system and that's the best," Senzee said. "If you can find a way that you're truly having a cycle where you're producing waste, that waste is a product that can re-marketed or redistributed for someone else to make money off of it - that's truly sustainable."