Palm Beach County and ABA Public Space Recycling Pilot Project

Project Goals  Measure and improve public space recycling performance  Create an effective, attractive, and sustainable recycling system for beverage containers generated in each host jurisdiction  Create opportunities for the public to manage their beverage containers to reduce the amount of litter  Identify and demonstrate the use of functional and aesthetically pleasing recycling receptacles  Increase public awareness of the opportunities and convenience of recycling in the host jurisdiction(s)

Participants: 5 Palm Beach Municipalities and County SWA Jurisdiction/ Service ProviderBin Types Lake Park/Lake Park Witt Stadium North Palm Beach/ North Palm Beach Witt Metal Slat Delray Beach/ Waste Management Witt Metal Slat Rubbermaid Wellington/ Waste Management Witt Metal Slat West Palm Beach/ West Palm Beach (trash); Waste Mgt. (recycling) Witt Metal Slat

Recycling Bin Locations

Project Tasks  Select host jurisdictions and enlist their participation in the project  Prepare MOU for local government participation and obtain signed copies  Select PSR sites in each jurisdiction, based on project site selection criteria  Select and order recycling receptacles approved by each municipality  Design implementation plan for the pilot in the participating jurisdictions:  Optimal container sites  Receipt and delivery of receptacles  Logistics of prestart audit work  Roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders  Develop communications plan  Design decals and related printed materials (with SWA)  Perform prestart waste and litter audits to determine current recycling and disposal behaviors

Project Tasks  Order decals and apply to recycling receptacles  Guide local reps in receptacles installation  Prepare and distribute all media releases, place ads, add content to municipal websites, and announce America Recycles Day kick-off event  Hold kick-off event  Carry forward with ongoing promotional activities  Measure the contamination rate of non-recyclables in the recycling stream post-implementation  Measure the increased rate of recycling achieved by measuring the pre- and post-implementation recycling rates achieved in each selected host jurisdiction  Measure change in behavior with respect to litter, etc. as well.  Prepare pilot project report

3 Types of Containers Selected Rubbermaid Witt Metal Slat Witt Stadium

Pre Start Waste Audit

Project Hard Launch: America Recycles Day – Thursday, Nov. 15 th  Delray Beach: Kick-off event on the Beach  Wellington: Booth and containers at Food Truck Rodeo  West Palm Beach: Kick-off event in Northwood Village – Art and Wine Promenade (Last Friday in November)

Ongoing Promotion  SWA booth at fairgrounds during the fair  SWA website  SWA public service announcements  Available for your use: draft articles for newsletters, and text for use on your websites, and social media pages  Poster – available in electronic format for printing

Post Start Audit

Change in Percentage of Beverage Containers in Waste

Beverage Containers in Recycling Bins

Change in Beverage Containers in Waste– by City PET Bev Bottles Alum Bev Cans Glass Bev Bottles Paper Bev Cartons Delray Beach-48%-66%-43%-62% Lake Park-74%290%-29%-77% North Palm Beach-33%-65%-80%58% Wellington-69%-66%-72%46% West Palm Beach-18%-57%-34%-80% All Cities-53%-48%-53%-47%

Composition of Material in Recycling Bins

Composition and Change in Composition of Litter – Pre-Pilot vs. Pilot Pre-Pilot (# items) Percentage of Total Items Pilot (# items) Percentage of Total Items Percent Change Beverage Containers PET Bottles386.2%83.4%-46% Aluminum Cans254.1%10.4%-90% HDPE Bottles50.8%2 3% Glass Bottles40.7%20.8%29% Paper Cartons40.7% 0.0%-100% Other Plastic Bottles40.7%104.2%543% Pouches30.5%20.8%71% Steel Cans20.3% 0.0%-100% Other Materials Film Plastic %7230.3%56% Paper Plates & Napkins579.3%4016.8%80% Rigid Plastic Containers569.2%93.8%-59% Other Plastic Packaging538.7%3514.7%70% Other Materials %5723.9%-39% Total % %

Beverage Containers in Litter Pre-Pilot Litter CompositionLitter Composition during Pilot

Seeking Your Input  Containers – size, functionality, durability?  Container locations?  Contamination? Litter? Scavenging?  Container servicing – frequency, cost?  Community feedback?  What would you do differently?

Key Learnings (as observed, and reported by operations staff)  Many people recycle when given opportunity – particularly in parks and beaches.  Streetside receptacles don’t gather beverage containers to the extent as do those in parks and marinas.  There are a lot of glass bottles in the recycling stream.  Aluminum cans may also be higher than reflected due to removal by scavengers particularly in West Palm Beach sites.  Both waste and recycling containers need to be twinned and tethered.  Labels don’t stick well to Rubbermaid bins and lids break, but otherwise all containers did their job and were well received.  Both waste and recycling containers need to be serviced regularly or they both collect trash and cause increased litter.

Key Learnings (as observed, and reported by operations staff)  Labels did their job of differentiating the recycling receptacles from waste receptacles. Colors were attractive. Text could be simplified.  Recycling receptacles were well received and used regularly except for the street side containers in both Delray Beach and some of those in Northwood Village.  North Palm Beach and Lake Park saw less bottles and cans and litter in general after the program start. Trash volume was now also notably lower.  All communities noted that feedback from the public has been favorable. Northwood Village however did get some requests for the containers to be serviced more frequently, which prompted a change in servicing.  Ideas for future – do more promotion of the program earlier; get local business support for the containers located near their storefronts; tether containers to the ground.  Some of the reps discussed that they had learned what works now and will relocate a few bins to other areas where they feel they will get more material and in West Palm Beach’s case, less scavenging.  All of the communities want to expand their programs. Other communities have expressed an interest in starting their own programs.