Transcript Document

Best Practices
in
Single Stream Recycling
Susan Kinsella
Conservatree
&
Richard Gertman
Environmental Planning Consultants
CRRA Conference Workshop
August 2006
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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
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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.
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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!
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Closing the Loop!
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Collect recyclables
Process into commodities
Manufacture new products
Purchasers buy recycled products
Consumers put recyclables out for
collection
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The Collection Industry
Moved Ahead!
The Rest of Us
Are Playing Catch Up!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Paper Mill Contaminants
Can, Glass and Plastic Industry Loss
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Re-Thinking Wastes
Recycling is a
Resource Management System
Recyclables are resources, not diverted
wastes
Garbage is the residue of a resource
based economy
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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?
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Best Practice
GOALS: conserve resources
and produce quality
manufacturing feedstocks
The economics of the system should
serve, not determine, the goals
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Best Practice
Promote your program,
early and often!
Hire a professional promotions
firm, not a garbage collector
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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
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Tell your residents
How well the program is
working
Truth in Advertising –
is it really being recycled?
Provide ‘instant feedback’ to
residents
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Best Practice
Require processors to get
feedback about
materials quality from the
manufacturers who buy your
recyclables, and share it
with your program
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Best Practice
“Collection”
is not the same as
“Recycling”
Recycling includes processing
and making new products!
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Best Practice
“Diversion”
is not the same as
“Recycling”
Recycling includes making new products
from the recovered materials!
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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
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Who is in charge?
City, County, Authority or State
Hauler
Processor
Manufacturer
Resident
Local government controls the
curbside recycling program
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It’s a Balancing Act
Diversion or Commodities
‘Collect It All’ or
‘Only Marketable Materials’
Highly sorted or mixed
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It’s a Balancing Act
More Equipment or More Labor
Capital Cost or Operating Costs
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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
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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
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Contracting
Specify the services you want to
receive
Specify what happens if it is not
done ‘right’?
Offer incentives as rewards for
cleaner recyclables
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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
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Collectors
Driver training is essential
Are accountable for what is
collected
Are the point of contact with your
residents
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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 !
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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
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PET and HDPE
PET and HDPE recovery is higher
if all plastic containers are collected
than if only PET and HDPE are collected
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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
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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 !
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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
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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
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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!
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Market Compatibility
Types of materials collected
Targeted Recyclables
Unwanted Recyclables
Unwanted Wastes
Problem Materials
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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
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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
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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
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Reporting
To track how well the program is working
To know whether the program goals are
being reached
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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
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Recycling is a collaborative system
and all of the pieces must fit together
to
‘Close the Loop’
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Richard Gertman
Environmental Planning Consultants
A Green Business
1885 The Alameda, Suite 120
San Jose, CA 95126-1732
408-249-0691
[email protected]
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Susan Kinsella
Executive Director
100 Second Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118 • 415-516-6526 • www.conservatree.org
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