Artificial Intelligence Approach to Improve HHW, Reuse, and EPRWesley Won| September 20, 2018

San Mateo County Household Hazardous Waste Program

• Introduction• A Brief History• Our Reuse Program• Reuse Data • EPR and PaintCare• Reuse and Smarter

Sorting

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Introduction

• San Mateo County– Located between San

Francisco and Santa Clara Counties

– 741 Square Miles– Population: 718,451– Households: 264,493– Based on 2010

Census– FY 2017-18: Over

9,000 residents used HHW Program

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San Mateo County HHW – Brief History

• First HHW event 1984– Collected ~1 ton (96 Barrels)

• Second HHW event 1986– Collected ~2.5 tons (250 Barrels)

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What were the types of HHW we received?

– Paints– Garden Chemicals

(Fertilizers/Pesticides) – Cleaners (Acid/Base)– Automotive Care

(Oils/Waxes/Fluids)– Solvents– Batteries– Fluorescent Lights

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During the early HHW events, all of these items went to disposal although many were recyclable and reusable!

Household Hazardous Waste What’s New!

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California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989

• SMC required to promote waste management practices through:– Source Reduction– Recycling and Composting– Environmentally Safe transformation and safe land

disposal, at the County’s discretion

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Public Resources Code 40051 (1995)

• In order to reduce the amount of solid waste that must be disposed of by transformation and disposal, a requirement to maximize the use of all feasible:– source reduction, – recycling– composting options

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San Mateo County Reuse Program

• One Persons Trash is Another’s Treasure

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Paint Recycling with Early American Paint Old chemicals found at a vintage fair

San Mateo County Reuse Program

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San Mateo County Reuse Facility Inside the Reuse Facility

San Mateo County Reuse Program

• Intent of the SMC Reuse Program:– Distribute reusable household hazardous waste

products to the public (HSC 25218.12(a)).– The public is NOT restricted to only County residents.– The recipient may be a business. – As “product”, waste manifesting to document “cradle

to grave” management and end destination is NOT required.

– We have begun to work with Smarter Sorting (late 2017), who further extends our reuse program to Habitat for Humanity at a National level.

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San Mateo County Reuse Program

• At the time of segregation of HHW, items are evaluated to determine if the HHW is reusable.

• SMC has a Quality Assurance Plan as required per HSC 25218.1(o) to determine if the HHW qualifies as reuse.

• Once determined reuse, the product is no longer hazardous waste and no longer regulated as waste or recyclable HHW by DTSC.

• Product is given away to the a recipient. The recipient is to use the product consistent with the instructions on the label.

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San Mateo County Reuse Program

• Hurdles– Reuse facility is at a remote site in Redwood City: The

HHW and reuse facility should be at the same location.

– Demographics: The reuse program in Redwood City serves a better need to those residents.

– Transportation: Bill of Lading is necessary for transport to and from the remote reuse facility.

– Regulatory interpretation:• Waste generated from reuse facility not taken within 365

days needs a manifest and EPA ID for waste disposal.• By further distribution to Smarter Sorting allows us to not

generate waste from the remote facility13

San Mateo County Reuse Program

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San Mateo County Reuse Program

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San Mateo County Reuse Program

• Our Reuse Program outlived the facility!

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Reuse Data

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A Decade of Household Hazardous Waste

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0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

FY 9-10 FY 10-11 FY 11-12 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18

Total Waste

Reuse

Paint Care

Other Waste

Percentage of Reuse over the past decade

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2

3 3 3 3

4

3

2

4

0

1

2

3

4

5

FY 9-10 FY 10-11 FY 11-12 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18

Reuse (% of total waste)

% of total waste

Categories of Reuse in the past Decade

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

FY 9-10 FY 10-11 FY 11-12 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18

oil based paint

latex paint

base

flammable

poisons

oil products

aerosols

acid

propane/compressed gas

oxidizers

antifreeze

Extended Producer Responsibility:PaintCare (2013)

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Comparison of Reuse to PaintCare (EPR)

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8%

30%33%

33%

35%

2% 3% 3% 3% 3%4% 3%

2% 4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

FY 9-10 FY 10-11 FY 11-12 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18

Reuse & Paint Care (% of Total Waste)

Paint Care

Reuse

Extended Producer Responsibility: PaintCare (Oil versus Latex Paint)

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

FY 9-10 FY 10-11 FY 11-12 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18

oil paint

latex paint

Reuse and Artificial Intelligence:Smarter Sorting (2018)

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Smarter Sorting Implementation

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Our Smarter Sorting Setup

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Implementation

• Scale and Cameras• Bar Code Scanner• Product Reuse Bins

• Labels and Shipping• Bill of Ladings• Data Reports

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Automated vs Manual Segregation

• Learns the categorization of reuse• Minimizes errors of co-mingling of incompatibles• Minimizes the demand on the chemist to ID

waste28

Local Distribution of Reuse

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• Minimal Outreach• Limited Hours:

– 1hr/week• Demographics• Location of Facility• Average about 25

recipients per week• Repeat Recipients

National Distribution of Reuse

• Reaches More Recipients Nationwide• Further Reduces Diversion of Waste to Reuse

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Data Management: Old Methods

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Data Management: Old Methods

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Data Management: New Methods

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Data Management: To Date

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• Partnered with Smarter Sorting in Late 2017• Fiscal Year 2017-18, we have diverted about

31,000 pounds of HHW to Reuse.• Of that 31,000 pounds;

– 85% went to San Mateo County Reuse Program– 15% went to Smarter Sorting

• We hope to increase reuse numbers and generate data to support EPR!

• Stay Tuned for What’s Next!

Conclusions

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Conclusion

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Come Visit Us!San Mateo County HHW Program

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Kaeo(Extra Help)

Lex

Curtis

Wes

Elizabeth

Aaron (Contractor)

Questions?

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Thank You!

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Presented By:Wesley Won, M.S.

Hazardous Materials Specialist IIISan Mateo County Environmental Health

wwon@smcgov.org650-655-6217