Building the Infrastructure Beyond Recycling

GRRN National Zero Waste Action Conference

Saturday, July 30, 2011

1

Ruth C. AbbeNational Practice LeaderHDR Engineering, Inc.

Agenda• Barriers to Zero Waste

– “Legacy Discards”– “Design for the Dump”– “Mistakes”

• Zero Waste Infrastructure– Physical Infrastructure– Social Infrastructure

• Culture Change– Alameda

• Technical Assistance– Stopwaste.org– San Francisco

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Barriers to Zero Waste

“Legacy Discards”

“Design for the Dump”

“Mistakes”

3

Disposable Espresso Capsules Targeted for Redesign

Barriers to Zero Waste

4

Divertable, 25%

Compostable, 32%

Potentially divertable,

12%

Problem materials,

30%

Composition of Discarded Materials

Legacy DiscardsDesign for the DumpLegacy DiscardsDesign for the Dump MistakesMistakes

Zero Waste InfrastructurePhysical infrastructure• Universal access to recycling and composting collection services

– Residential– Commercial– Institutional

• Processing capacity– Recycling– Full spectrum organics

• Self-haul– Resource recovery park – Facility Use Fee (San Luis Obispo)– Scavenging prior to landfilling – Urban Ore style (Berkeley)

5

Recyclables Processing Facility

Tons per day 50-600

Cost per ton Pays $10-30

Acres required

5-10

Phoenix North Transfer Station and Material Recovery Facility

Curbside Processing

Composting - Large Scale and Small Scale

Lamont Composting Facility, Kern County

Tons per day 100-1,000

Cost per ton $35-60

Acres required

15-60

Griffith Park Composting Facility

WindrowIn-VesselAerated Static Pile

Resource Recovery Center

Tons per day 1-10

Cost per ton $50-100

Acres required

2

Monterey Regional Waste Management District

Construction and Demolition (C&D) Facility

Downtown Diversion C&D Facility, Los Angeles

Tons per day 50-500

Cost per ton $30-40

Acres required 10

C&D Processing

Anaerobic Digestion

Tons per day 200-500

Cost per ton $100-130

Acres required

5-10

Dranco, Brecht, Belgium

Valorga Process, Barcelona, Spain

Products/By-Products

Biogas for energy Digestate for

compost

Addressing “Mistakes”

Mixed Material Processing

Tons per day 200-400

Cost per ton $40-60

Acres required

5-7

Rainbow Disposal, Huntington Beach

Mixed Material Processing

Products/By-Products

RecyclablesCompostables

Conceptual Design for San Francisco Zero Waste Facility

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Facility Costs Per Ton

Facility Cost per ton (net)

Recyclables processing Pays $10-30

Composting $35-60

Resource recovery park $50-100

C&D processing $30-40

Anaerobic digestion $100-130

Mixed materials processing $40-60

Local landfill $35-50

Remote landfill $80+

Zero Waste Infrastructure

Social Infrastructure• Alignment of Goals

– Local Government– Generators– Service Providers

• Rate Structure Signals• Community-Based Approaches• New Rules and Mandates• Culture Change• Technical Assistance

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Miss Alameda Says “Compost!”

Community Based Approaches

Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda

• Local Action Plan for Climate Protection• Zero Waste Implementation Plan• Alameda Green Schools Challenge –

comprehensive recycling and composting at all schools (public, private, parochial)

• Miss Alameda Says “Compost!” – targeting restaurant food scraps

• Faith-Based Outreach Program – greening faith-based organizations (churches, temples, mosques) and their congregations

16

Commercial Technical Assistance

Stopwaste.org Metrics• Stopwaste Partnership $270,000 per year

– Targets large businesses (50+ employees or 15+ cubic yards per week of service)

– 800 active clients (30% of countywide total)– 50 new clients per year– 150 clients served per year– Goal is to divert 10,000 tons per year– New diversion costs less than $30 per ton for technical assistance

• Restaurant technical assistance $60,000 per year– Diverting 500 tons per month or 6,000 tons per year– New diversion costs about $10 per ton for technical assistance

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Commercial Technical Assistance (cont.)

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San Francisco Metrics• Technical assistance contract for $330,000 per year• New diversion from 60 to 80 businesses per month• Goal is to divert 44,000 new tons per year• New diversion costs less than $20 per ton for technical assistance