Best Practices in Single Stream Recycling Susan Kinsella & Richard Gertman

1. Best Practices in Single Stream Recycling Susan Kinsella & Richard Gertman Conservatree Environmental Planning Consultants CRRA Conference Workshop August 2006

2. What is Best Practices? • Recover wasted resources • Recover manufacturing feedstocks • Achieve ‘Highest and Best’ Use • Make sure changes work for the whole recycling system Best Practices Manual & Guide http://www.conservatree.org/learn/SolidWaste/bestpractices.shtml

3. Special Thanks California Department of Conservation American Forest and Paper Association American Plastics Council Forest Products Association of Canada Glass Packaging Institute Alameda County Stopwaste.org Sonoma Co Waste Management Agency GreenWaste Recovery, Inc.

4. Single Stream • Has the potential to increase recycling by residents • Has the potential to increase supply to recycled product manufacturers • But it has to be done right!

5. Closing the Loop! • Collect recyclables • Process into commodities • Manufacture new products • Purchasers buy recycled products • Consumers put recyclables out for collection

6. The Collection Industry Moved Ahead! The Rest of Us Are Playing Catch Up!

7. Implementing Single Stream • Savings in collection and worker injury costs • Higher processing costs • Higher cost for new collection and processing equipment • Higher manufacturing costs when processing not done right • Overall not much change, but more recyclables collected

8. Types of Single Stream Programs • Fully automated carts, semi-automated carts, manual bins or totes • Collect only paper and containers • Collect paper only • Do not collect glass • Collect glass separately • Collect additional material types

9. Cost Difference: Single Stream vs. Dual Stream • Collection - saves $10-20/ton • Processing - increases $5-15/ton • Paper Production - increases $5-13/ton • Average systemwide - increases $3/ton Source: American Forest & Paper Assn./Jaakko Poyry/ SERA 2004

10. AT INDIVIDUAL PAPER MILLS • 8x the yield loss at pulper (2%  16%) • $2 million/year to replace non-fiber materials received in paper • 4 times increase in annual maintenance costs to repair damage • Problems vary by type of paper mill

11. Paper Mill ContaminantsCan, Glass and Plastic Industry Loss

12. Re-Thinking Wastes Recycling is a Resource Management System • Recyclables are resources, not diverted wastes • Garbage is the residue of a resource based economy

13. Program Elements • Request the services that achieve the program goals • Consult with recycled product manufacturers • Get the best price for the services requested • Don’t put savings before performance – do your police drive the Ford Focus?

14. Best Practice GOALS: conserve resources andproduce quality manufacturing feedstocks The economics of the system should serve, not determine, the goals

15. Best Practice Promote your program, early and often! Hire a professional promotions firm, not a garbage collector

16. Program Promotion Tell the public • What to Recycle • What not to recycle • How to prepare recyclables • Why to recycle • What happens to the recyclables Target your messages No one message fits all

17. Tell your residents • How well the program is working • Truth in Advertising – is it really being recycled? • Provide ‘instant feedback’ to residents

18. Best Practice Require processors to get feedback about materials quality from the manufacturers who buy your recyclables, and share it with your program

19. Best Practice “Collection” is not the same as “Recycling” Recycling includes processing and making new products!

20. Best Practice “Diversion” is not the same as “Recycling” Recycling includes making new products from the recovered materials!

21. Best Practice • Make sure processing system can take apart what collection put together • Ensure that marketed materials meet manufacturers specifications [ISRI Specs] • Produce quality feedstock materials to maximize revenues

22. Who is in charge? • City, County, Authority or State • Hauler • Processor • Manufacturer • Resident Local government controls the curbside recycling program

23. It’s a Balancing Act • Diversion or Commodities • ‘Collect It All’ or ‘Only Marketable Materials’ • Highly sorted or mixed

24. It’s a Balancing Act • More Equipment or More Labor • Capital Cost or Operating Costs

25. Cart Collection Higher recovery rates are from • Higher participation • Collecting more material types • The large wheeled cart Relative size of garbage carts and recycling carts is a factor

26. Convenience (for whom?) It’s easier to: • Throw it all in together • Wheel the cart to the curb • Collect the cart contents • Promote the program But it’s not as easy for the processor or the manufacturer

27. Contracting • Specify the services you want to receive • Specify what happens if it is not done ‘right’? • Offer incentives as rewards for cleaner recyclables

28. Collection • One truck or two for garbage and recyclables • Size of compartments • Number of Loads per day [60:40] • Compaction rates • Monitoring set-out quality • Mirrors and cameras

29. Collectors • Driver training is essential • Are accountable for what is collected • Are the point of contact with your residents

30. Automated Collection • Larger container = higher recovery rate • Easier to store recyclables • Easier to get to the curb • Reduced worker injury & costs • Less litter on windy days • Keeps the paper dry • Fewer setouts increases efficiency Don’t wait, automate now !

31. What about Glass? • Bottles are not the problem, Broken glass is! • Glass is broken during processing • Change to low-impact processing – separate the glass before it breaks • allows removal of contaminants • allows color sorting of bottles

32. PET and HDPE PET and HDPE recovery is higher if all plastic containers are collected than if only PET and HDPE are collected

33. Plastic Bags If you are going to collect film plastics, ask residents to ‘bag-your-bags’ to keep them clean, and so you can separate them from the paper

34. Processing & Quality • Tons per day received v. processing equipment capacity. • If equipment is rated at 25 TPH, the optimum rate is really 20 TPH, but facility is probably run at 30 TPH • Balance higher per ton cost of sorting with added market value. • Don’t skimp on staffing Don’t overload the system !

35. Processing Operations • Receive only what you can separate • Plan on receiving materials you don’t want • Process in sequence to produce quality • Meter flow of materials to minimize process line burden depth • Eliminate material surges • Don’t make a big storage pile, it degrades recyclables

36. Processing Variables • Design to process the number of streams of materials your facility will receive - single stream and dual stream - residential and commercial • Plan for future growth • Prepare for seasonal population changes • Be ready for future changes in the markets for your recovered materials

37. Market Focus ‘It’s Good Enough’ is not good enough! Don’t sort materials just enough to be sold! Do sort materials into high quality feedstocks for manufacturing!

38. Market Compatibility • Types of materials collected • Targeted Recyclables • Unwanted Recyclables • Unwanted Wastes • Problem Materials

39. Sampling • Sample collected materials to identify contaminants • Sample processed recyclables to make sure you are shipping the right material to the right buyer • Sample the residue to make sure you are not discarding recyclables

40. Contaminants & Residue • Minimize non-recyclable materials received • Design processing system to minimize degradation of recyclables • Minimize recyclables disposed • Send the right recyclables to the right market

41. Processing Contract • Focus on what happens to the collected materials • Identify processing steps taken to avoid degrading materials • Maintain quality of shipped product • Allowable residue rates should not include contaminants collected

42. Reporting • To track how well the program is working • To know whether the program goals are being reached

43. 5 Key Elements • Write a good contract • Keep residents happy • Recover resources for reuse • Allow Contractors to make a good profit • Maximize efficiency of the whole system

44. Recycling is a collaborative system and all of the pieces must fit together to ‘Close the Loop’

45. Richard GertmanEnvironmental Planning ConsultantsA Green Business 1885 The Alameda, Suite 120San Jose, CA 95126-1732408-249-0691 richard@environplan.com

46. Susan Kinsella Executive Director 100 Second Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118 • 415-516-6526 • www.conservatree.org