1. San José Food Scraps Pilot Program
Linda Chan
CRRA—Sacramento, CA
August 9, 2016

2. About the City of San José
3rd largest city in California
10th largest city in U.S.
Over 1 million residents
214,000 single-family dwellings
3,300 multi-family dwellings
Green Vision Goal #5: Divert 100% of waste by 2022
560,000 tons disposed Citywide in
3.1 lbs per capita
71% diversion rate

3. Current Recycle Plus Program

4. 2008 Residential Garbage Characterization

5. Pilot Program Development Process
Garden City
Pilot Proposal
May 2015
Operational Plan
June 2015
CEQA Exemption August 2015
Letter of Agreement;
Pilot Begins
September 2015

6. Pilot Design Pilot duration: September 2015-September 2016
6,500 single-family households
20-gallon single cart; 64-gallon split cart
Collection days remain unchanged
No additional charge for participating
Allow residents to opt out
Liner bags allowed
Food scraps processed are transformed into ingredient for animal feed

8. 20-gallon food scraps cart
3,850 households

9. 64-gallon split cart 46-gallons for garbage 18-gallons for food scraps
2,800 households

10. Collection Vehicles
Part of existing CNG fleet
Automated side loaders
Trucks retrofitted with augers

11. Sustainable Alternative Feed Enterprise (SAFE) Process

12. Initial Outreach—Postcard

13. Initial Outreach—Website
GardenCitySanitation.com/sort/food
“Hidden” webpage
FAQs
Contact form for feedback

14. Outreach– Kitchen Pail

15. Outreach– Cart Hanger

16. Outreach– progress

17. Mid-point Progress 20-gallon cart 64-gallon split cart
35% participation
15 lbs per week per home*
48 opt-out (1%)
64-gallon split cart
65% participation
11 lbs per week per home*
79 opt-out (3%)
Average of 66% diversion rate since launch from both routes
* 31 lbs of solid waste per week per home on average

18. Mid-point Survey
Multi-lingual Letter
Reply Postcard

19. 600 surveys received, 10% response rate
More than half of returned surveys provided written comments

20. Comments from Mid-point Survey
There are a lot of street parking cars. It's difficult to place three bins
This program should become nation wide, reduce landfill waste, keep up the great work.
Messy,
time-consuming
It makes our garbage container more clean.
Reduced our garbage by half the amount.

21. Next Steps End-point survey (Sept/Oct 2016)
Final comprehensive report (Nov 2016)
Exploring to expand pilot area with new technology

22. Questions?
Linda Chan Environmental Services Department Integrated Waste Management Division (408)