Designing Recycling Systems “Right” Alex Danovitch Eureka Recycling GRRN Conference October 19th, 2009

Eureka’s Mission – our purpose  Provide education, advocacy, programs and services that demonstrate the benefits of no waste.  Model that anyone can recreate.  Physical Operations (MRF and Collection Fleet) that service over 150,000 households weekly.  Fleet of 28 vehicles  60,000 tpy Material Recovery Facility  100 employees To demonstrate the waste is preventable, not inevitable.

The Bridge to Zero Waste  Recycling is not finished, and it’s not enough….time to tackle composting and product stewardship.  It’s not a numbers game.  “Bridge strategies” have to be consistent with our goals.

Designing a Recycling System “Right” Step 1: Who is it “Right” For?

Perspective and Goals  City?  Residents?  Haulers?  Environmentalists?  Processor?  End Market/Manufacturer?  Shareholders?  State, National, Global efforts?

The “Players” and what they value  Environmental Nonprofit Demonstrate best practices and feasibility  Contract with the city Cost and resident satisfaction  Resident who pays city for service Environmental benefit, convenience and cost  End User of Materials Cost and quality of materials  Manufacturers Concerned with legislation, PR, profits  Waste Haulers Competing with for this stream. Profits.  State and National Goals/Mandates

The Balancing Act  Test assumptions with research, studies and surveys.  Collection study  MF Study  Resident Survey  GHG Quantification: Show’s value of climate change impact  Understand the key factors and how they affect the players.  Balance: Cost Convenience Environmental Impact

Our Balance Operations: Two Stream Sorting Collection with (2) 18 gallon carts Weekly Collection Balance Highlights: Cost:  Lowest collection cost - didn’t have to buy carts. Convenience:  Capacity same as bi-weekly cart  Weekly is more frequent Environmental impact:  less then a 2% residual rate, from the curb to end market.  Ability to add unique streams.  monitor quality and give resident feedback  Sets us up to collect organics with recycling!

Highest and Best Use: Bottle to Bottle Glass Recycling  Balance Environmental Impact- High Cost- High Convenience- Residents wanted it  The Players State and County, Cities End Market Eureka  Installed MRF optical glass sorting. Tripled value of some streams of glass. Increased sorting by color to over 80% of glass collected. Our local market increased their use of recovered glass, decreased their cost and transportation impact of procurement.

Step 2: Things change, a lot.  Markets change Export growth and domestic consolidation  Technology Changes Sorting equipment and trucks  Economies Change The Recession  Producer Responsibility will Change Compositions 10% decrease in percentage of newspaper over last year. No decrease in volume, huge decrease in weight.

Dealing with Change  Flexibility Ability to add new streams Ability to change sorts according to market conditions.  Monitor, track and evaluate Be ahead of changes and ready to address Demonstrate value of investments in many ways  Keep the players close Loyal Markets Understand quality and volume requirements Build trust with Customers - Be transparent.  Contract structure  Staying local and being careful of large infrastructure investments.

The Future of Recycling  Recycling levels don’t need to be stagnant.  Producer responsibility will lead to more changes in composition.  Stay focused on highest best use and biggest env. impact.

Eureka! Recycling Collection and Processing Study Multifamily Recycling Study Public Space Recycling Study Green House Gas Quantification Report Municipal Recycling Contract Fact Sheet “What we call results are beginnings” Ralph Waldo Emerson