Moving Prince George’s Countytowards Zero Waste

Suchitra BalachandranGreg Smith

Community ResearchJanuary 23, 2013

Community Research is a Prince George’s County-based nonprofit that conducts public-interest research, education and advocacy on the environment, public health, sustainability, and other issues.

Community Research has helped to set up Zero Waste Prince George’s, a is group of about 60 activists in the County who are interested in resource recovery from waste.

We are working with Clean Water Action, the Energy Justice Network, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to build Zero Waste Maryland, a statewide campaign and alliance for zero waste.

communityresearch@igc.org

What is “Zero Waste”?"Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use.

Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them.

Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health."

-- Zero Waste International Alliance, November 2004.

Nuts and Bolts Definitionof Zero Waste

Zero waste means that: First, the amount of waste generated is systematically

reduced Nothing that can be recycled, reused or composted goes into

a landfill or an incinerator Green businesses are encouraged to mine resources from

what would otherwise be wasted and destroyed through landfilling or incineration

For many jurisdictions, the final goal is to reduce landfilling and incineration to less than 10% of the waste produced

Alameda County Waste Management Authority & Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board

Best Practices Study – Mecklenburg County

Residential Curbside (City and County)Residential Multi-familyCommercial/Industrial/InstitutionalConstruction and Demolition WasteSchoolsEvent RecyclingLocal Government In-house RecyclingWaste Prevention (Reduce, Reuse) Litter

Which companies are interested?

• Manufacture of rotary, in-vessel compost units in a range of sizes for commercial generators of organic wastes including animal manures – 30 jobs

• Mattress and carpet materials recovery – 30 jobs• Electronic Scrap, hand dismantling and processing of electronic discards – 20 jobs• Industrial Rubber Compounds – 50-65 jobs• Topsoil and compost – 8 jobs• Anaerobic digestion – 8 jobs• Storage and resale of recovered building materials – 20 jobs• Glass processing, industrial grade glass products, container glass – 3 jobs

Direct Jobs 200-300; Indirect Jobs 200-300Alachua County collects about 200,000 tons of waste annually

It has about 250,000 residents and covers roughly 970 sq. miles

Safeco Field – Seattle Mariners

Recycling rate increased from 17 to 80 percent

Stadium has 17 trash cans, 200 recycle bins and 300 compost bins

“All that’s left are potato chip bags, condiment containers and wrappers for licorice ropes.”

Saved over $100,000 annually in landfill fees.

Sustainability initiatives written up on ESPN website

Unwasted: The Future of Business on Earth (http://sagebug.com/zerowaste/)

Local Initiatives

Not everything innovative and inspirational is happening somewhere else

• Cheverly - household composting• University Park - food scrap collection• College Park - bulk waste pickup for reuse• Laurel – mandates residential recycling• University of Maryland - Sustainability Initiative• Community Forklift, Eco City Farms

CB-87-2012

• Sets 60 percent recycling goal by 2020• Mandates business recycling• Mandates pilot food waste composting

program• Revives and expands the Solid Waste

Commission and tasks it with resource management

• Requires periodic waste audits• Requires convenient recycling in apartments

U.S. municipal waste “disposed”

Source: US EPA, 2009 data (http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/msw99.htm)

160.9 million tons in 2009

What Prince George’s County Probably Landfills - Percentages from Montgomery County Waste Sort

Resources and Dollars Landfilled

Recyclable Paper + Metals + Plastics = 192,000 tons

At $6/ton MRF + $59/ton landfill cost = $12 million

Commodity Prices: $100/ton for paper $60-80/ton for metals $10-15/ton for plastics

Food Waste + Non-recyclable paper + yard waste = 145,000 tons

At $20/ton for compost assuming 2:1 ratio of waste to compost and $59/ton landfill cost saved = $10 million

Problems with Burning and Burying

• Both destroy valuable resources.

• Both pollute air, land, water, people and other living things…. upstream and downstream.

• Both destroy jobs and often export money from communities

• Both increase emissions of greenhouse gases.

• Both are subsidized at the expense of recycling, composting and clean renewable energy.

• Both tend to be sited in communities with lower incomes, higher percentages of minorities or rural areas.

Even More Problems with Burning

• Ton for ton, incineration is the most expensive waste “disposal” option.

• Watt for watt, incineration is the most expensive way to generate electricity.

• Watt for watt, burning trash emits more greenhouse gases and more of certain toxic air pollutants than burning coal.

Costs to Build, Operate and Maintain a 1500 Ton Per Day Trash Incinerator

• Construction costs can exceed $1 billion to build, including interest on 30-year capital debt.

• Gross operating and maintenance costs can approach $2 billion over 30 years.

• Retrofits to meet new standards or simply to deal with wear and tear can be very expensive.

1,500 TPD recycling facility = $8 million investment

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Job Creation: Reclamation vs. Disposal

Type of Operation Jobs/10,000 TPY

Computer Reuse 296Textile Reclamation 85Misc. Durables Reuse 62Wooden Pallet Repair 28Recycling-Based Manufacturers 25Conventional MRFs 10Composting 4Landfills and Incinerators 1

MRF = materials recovery facilityTPY = tons per year

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

So How Does Zero Waste Happen?

Key Steps to Zero Waste

• Inform, Inspire, Habituate• Implement Pay As You Throw trash fees • Accept many materials for recycling• Compost• Mandate recycling• Target all sectors• Augment curbside with drop-off• Market materials• Create green jobs by welcoming business that

reuse, refurbish, upcycle, recycle and compost

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Policy Framework• Landfill bans of certain materials, e.g., yard waste

• Recycling goals and requirements

• Beverage container deposits

• Recycled-content laws

• Creative funding mechanisms

• Buy recycled programs

• Pay-as-you-throw trash fees

• Product bans

• Product fees

• Extended producer responsibility (EPR)

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Prince Georges County: Current Fee Structure Sends No Clear Signal

Charges the same rate to all “single-family” households:

Base Charge $33.52Recycling Charge $58.16Bulky Trash $20.94Garbage $234.33

Typical Total $346.96

Municipalities - solid waste charge is not broken out

EPA advocates PAYT for Environmental and Economic Sustainability and for Equity

Unit-based Pricing Sends a Clear Message Worcester, MA

Population 173,000San Francisco, CA

Population 775,000

Unit based pricing is just a different way of paying for waste

Source: Kristen Brown, Green Waste Solutions, www.thewastesolution.com

Composting & Recycling Collection System Designed for High Diversion

Recycled Paper21%

Glass and Plastic BottlesAluminum and Steel Cans

5%

Construction andDemolition Waste

25%

Other15%

Food Scraps20%

Yard Trimmings5%

Compostable Paper10%

Courtesy of City of San Francisco

Easy to Understand Program

Courtesy of City of San Francisco

Designed for Easy Participation

Kitchen Pail

Labeled Lids

Wheeled Cart

Courtesy of City of San Francisco

Integrate food scrap composting

Switch to PAYT

Study feasibility of Resource Recovery Park

Conduct and analyze waste audit

Post monthly reports on website:landfilled tonnagerecycled tonnagerevenues obtained

Re-evaluate MRF Contract

Commission Zero Waste Strategic Plan

Recommended Steps Towards Zero Waste

"If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production."

-- Berkeley Ecology Center