Using ADC to get landfill diversion
Recology has been working to transform the landfill industry for over a decade. It’s not as simple as it sounds. Landfills are the place where we put all the things that cities and towns don’t recycle, the things that we don’t yet know how to recycle, and the things that were made without any thought given to their recoverability. Unfortunately, product designers are still slow to catch up on making recoverable products. Many municipal programs still don’t offer complete recycling and composting programs throughout the U.S. Many families, businesses and well-meaning people don’t understand composting. And then there are all the other quirky things, like ADC for example.
In California, 10% or nearly 3.5 million tons of the 34.9 million tons of material that were disposed of last year (including what was landfilled in California, imported and exported) was alternative daily cover, or ADC. According to CalRecycle, ADC is:
CalRecycle-approved materials other than soil used as a temporary overlay on an exposed landfill face. Generally, these materials must be processed so that they do not allow gaps in the face surface, which would provide breeding grounds for insects and vermin. Public Resources Code section 41781.3 stipulates this practice is recycling, not disposal, and authorizes Cal Recycle to adopt regulations, such as Title 27 California Code of Regulations, section 20690. Approved materials include processed green materials, sludge, ash and kiln residue, compost, construction and demolition debris, and special foams and fabrics.
In other words, ADC is material that actually goes to the landfill, and for all intents and purposes is landfilled, but ADC is counted as landfill diversion because it prevents clean soil from being imported and then contaminated at a landfill. That’s not so bad right? Instead of using clean soil to cover an exposed landfill on a day to day basis, why not use other materials that serve the same function? Well, a closer look at what was actually used as ADC may be enlightening.
Much of what was used for ADC in California in 2008 was auto shredder waste, sometimes called “auto shred” or “auto fluff.” According to the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology, “Auto fluff is waste left over from shredding old cars for scrap metal. It can contain heavy metals and poly-chlorinated biphenyls.” Although this material would probably have been landfilled anyway, it counts towards the diversion rate.
So, now that you know that ADC can be counted towards landfill diversion, how are the diversion leaders in California using ADC in 2008?
Oakland used 202 thousand tons of ADC that year. San Jose used 159 thousand. San Francisco used 63 thousand.
In 2008, city of Oakland reported a diversion rate of 66%, but nearly 25% of that was achieved through ADC. Without ADC, it’s diversion rate would have been 41%!
San Jose diverted 65% that year, and 10% of that diversion was through ADC. Without ADC, it’s diversion rate would have been 55%!
San Francisco achieved a 72% diversion rate, but only 3% was from ADC. Without ADC, it’s diversion rate would have been 69%.
The important point here is that many cities across California are getting diversion credit without doing the heavy lifting. There are many cities that do not really divert materials from landfills. They may not create programs to educate people about reducing their consumption, programs to make it possible to reuse materials, and certainly don’t work to create robust recycling and composting programs. It means that although cities are achieving relatively high diversion rates, they are still landfilling valuable materials but getting the credit for landfill diversion by abusing the leeway CalRecycle has given them to count ADC towards their diversion rate.
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Until there is a level playing field regarding what material can be used as alternative daily cover, and how landfill diversion is calculated, we will have to keep pounding the drum of resource recovery and insisting on the concept of WASTE ZERO. It is the only real and permanent way to make a positive impact on our natural world, our children’s future, and create the jobs that are so badly needed right now.
Upcycling beyond crafts
What does the future look like? We love this photo, which was part of the Super Crafty Costume Contest this past Halloween.
Crafty and creative people are always looking to repurpose the things around them, but for us here at Recology, upcycling holds a special place, and we are glad it is catching on. Sites like Etsy are helping. Through it, people can set up their own store fronts. Found*Ling, is one example of a store where new things are made from old things. Other examples of upcycled products range from table lamps made from recycled circuit boards to neckties made from cassette tapes. (See Mashable Tech for a full list).
This week, the Sierra Club Green Home reported on the Recologized Tote bag, a brainchild of a Recology San Francisco employee. The bag, made from the old or unused uniforms of Recology San Francisco employees, were created with the idea of utilizing landfill-bound items as “up-cycled” goods for sustainable living. The tote bag can be used as a shopping bag at your local farmers’ market, to run errands or for a day at the beach. The bag was made in collaboration with UPsicle, an SF-based designer who is a member of SFMade. UPsicle specializes in creating unique, water resistant, washable and reusable bags.
Recology has also been working with SFMade, which was founded in 2010, and has as its mission to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco. It is the only organization of its kind focused on building San Francisco’s economic base through these means, and currently supports more than 200 local manufacturers who collectively sustain more than 2,500 jobs in San Francisco. This month, SFMade and the Banana Republic are launching the first SFMade Pop-Up shop at the Banana Republic’s flagship store on Grant St. Their collaboration supports independent, San Francisco-based apparel and accessories companies.
With our 90+ year roots in reusing and recycling what others have thought of as “garbage” we are excited to continue to recover everything we can from landfills. This is what we mean by WASTE ZERO.
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The biodegradable bandwagon
Marketers, in their zeal to “green” their products, are calling everything they can “biodegradable.” There was an article in September’s paper about making plastics “green.” Everyone’s trying it–softdrink manufacturers, plastic bag manufacturers and even pen manufacturers.
With the array of products being marketed as “green” alternatives to plastic ranging from “new carbon” inputs to biodegradable (although not necessarily compostable) processing options, it can be a confusing world out there. And consumers are confused, or more often, misled.
There is a line that marketers tend to cross. Under the pressure to produce the greenest consumer products, they tend to misuse language, and the word “sustainability” most of all. If we consider the entire lifecyle of these products, what do we really gain? We’ve seen some plastic bags marketed as “will biodegrade in a landfill,” which is dually funny, if you know anything about landfills.
An article in today’s Mercury News announced that California’s Attorney General is finally going after false advertising. This is a significant step in the recycling world. We are sure there will be a long road ahead for recyclers, manufactuers and consumers–everyone.
California is moving the needle on recycling
By now you may know that California has a new state goal of diverting 75% of “garbage” from landfills by 2020. 2020 is a big year for the state. San Francisco and Oakland have their own goal of reaching zero waste by that year. The city of Mountain View has set the goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by that year. Why is 2020 so important?
Over twenty years ago, the California legislature mandated that 50% of landfill-bound materials had to be diverted to other uses. San Francisco, with its growing population opted for the higher goal of 75% several years later. The year 2020 is the target year for proving what can be accomplished in three generations. The idea of zero waste has gained momentum here in the United States because, whether aspiration or not, the technology, know-how, public will and information is now available for us to make it happen. Yet, according to CalRecycle, although some places in San Diego County are on their way to meeting the 75% recycling mandate, there are many places within that county and throughout California where cities, towns, municipalities and unincorporated areas struggle to divert even 50% of their landfill-bound materials.
Percent Diverted from Landfills, San Diego County
So what is zero waste?
Zero waste is the perspective that no materials are sent to landfills or incinerators. At Recology we believe in WASTE ZERO, which means making the best and highest use of all resources. There is a slight distinction. It is not enough to aspire to send nothing to landfills. Rather, the idea of WASTE ZERO is that the materials that are diverted from end-of-life destinations should be used in smart ways.
Raising the bar on mandated recycling isn’t just about the destination of landfill-diverted materials. Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation not only to save our natural resources, but also to create jobs. Assembly member Chesbro, who authored the bill, said that the original 50% mandate helped to create 125,000 new jobs since 1989 and provide $4 billion in yearly salaries. Members of StopWaste.Org mentioned that for every job lost at a landfill, three more were created in recycling. Here’s to more jobs! Let’s keep recycling!
A direct portal to a landfill
There was an article posted last week on tinygreenbubble.com about the semantics in the world of resource recovery. Jocelyn Saurini wrote “don’t think that I’m one of those girls on a bandwagon about how San Francisco does everything right. Believe me, I am not that girl. However, the city has nailed one thing fabulously: They’ve found a way to make residents think about landfill size every single time they throw things away.”
During her trip to SF, she discovered that landfill-bound material is collected in a container labeled “landfill” and not “trash” or “garbage”.
Semantics do matter in what we do because the materials that go into the green and blue containers ARE NOT garbage. According to one dictionary, garbage means: “any matter that is no longer wanted or needed; trash.”
But in the areas where we work, what diligent people do every day is make a decision to save our natural resources by recycling and composting. They are not “throwing away” anything except what there is no next best use for. The materials we recycle become the same or next use items. We convert the organics that we collect into compost. Let’s stop calling it garbage.
As for landfill size–yes, landfill space matters. In some communities people do not think about what they throw away and quickly use up the area available to dispose of true garbage. That means they end up having to find more land to use for landfilling “garbage”. But we see a more fundamental problem. Many useful resources are buried in the first place because no recycling alternatives exist.
As for everything that goes in the landfill container, yes its true that has no chance to be recovered. It doesn’t get sorted for usable material. So we depend on people to make the wise choice and minimize the amount of true garbage they put in that container. We know, like Jocelyn does, that “waste doesn’t just disappear.” That’s why we say WASTE ZERO.
Zero waste event puts a sustainable Oregon on the horizon
Recology coordinated the sustainability component of this year’s Bite of Oregon, a benefit for the Special Olympics Oregon held in Portland on August 12th, 13th and 14th of this year.
The zero waste event was a success. 99% of the materials discarded over the three day period were diverted from going to a landfill. Last year’s diversion rate was 81%, which is not bad at all. Achieving 99% diversion is more impressive though because this year’s Bite had over 40,000 visitors from both near and far.
What does a zero waste success mean?
It means only 260 pounds of true waste were generated and sent to a landfill. Among those materials were soiled shrink wrap, soiled aluminum foil, wrappers, non-compostable packaging and baby diapers. It means the event was clean from start to finish, facilitated by great communication, education and effort.
It means that beyond the 99% diversion, over 1,200 people took the Recology pledge to reduce, reuse, recycle and Recologize™! There are now 1,200 more people who understand what we mean by WASTE ZERO.
At our company we really value team work. It’s what makes it a great place to work. Besides being a great team-building experience, there were several people who took leadership roles at the Bite who deserve a shout out. Steve P., Dan Van D., Leo A., Mike D., and Robert Ro. are rock stars.
Get in touch with us via our Recology Portland website to learn more about what we can do together!
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Recology Wins California Product Stewardship Council’s Partner of the Year
Last week the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) awarded Recology their Partner of the Year Award at their annual meeting at the California Resource Recovery Association’s Conference. CPSC recognized Recology for its belief in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), contributions to EPR educational outreach and participation in local, regional and statewide efforts to expand the implementation of EPR.
EPR, or product stewardship, is a strategy to place a shared responsibility for end-of-life product management on the producers, and all entities involved in the product chain. It is an approach to product and materials management that improves their utilization and promotes waste minimization. Under product stewardship, the consumer, the product designer, the manufacturer and the recycler are called upon, as environmental stewards, to take responsibility for the design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, use, and recycling of the product. This method removes the sole responsibility, for end-of-life management, from the general public and instead encourages changes in product design that reduce waste and the negative impacts on human health and the environment at every stage of the product’s lifecycle.
Currently 28 California counties, in addition to dozen of cities within these counties, have individually passed EPR resolutions, together these total 121 resolutions supporting product stewardship. Every other remaining county is a member of an association that passed an EPR resolution or policy statement. These resolutions support phasing out the end-of-life management that is free to manufacturers of problem products like carpet, paint, batteries, electronics and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. However the only current statewide programs are carpet and paint. Now that local governments are setting the goals, the next step is to develop a statewide EPR framework policy for all applicable products, so that individual legislation isn’t needed on a product by product basis. When this type of progress occurs, California can, through successful EPR programs, rapidly decrease the waste production of these products and effect changes to require better product design.
As a part of Recology’s product stewardship work, Recology provides educational programs in the communities it serves, gives first hand presentations and explanations of how to appropriately recycle difficult materials, works on state legislature to allow for the creation of EPR programs and participates in regulatory packages to allow for existing EPR programs to thrive.
Recology has long expressed its excitement about the direction recycling and composting efforts are moving in California, and a big part of those efforts is the growing support and expansion of EPR programs. With a rallying cry of “WASTE ZERO,” Recology looks forward to the future successes of more EPR programs. Recology is well-deserving of this recognition and together with organizations like CPSC, by promoting improvements in product design, appropriate end-of-life product management and overall environmental sustainability, goals like “WASTE ZERO” can be achieved.
The partnership between CPSC and Recology is a great way to continue the support of product stewardship and continue the movement toward finding the highest and best use for every resource.
The Story of Zero Waste
The 850,000 residents of San Francisco are what make it the country’s environmental leader. Read The Story of Zero Waste and of the hard work that the City and Recology do every day to support it in this month’s issue of Resource Recycling.
Menlo Park Connoisseurs Marketplace
Connoisseurs’ Marketplace: One Green Festival
Are you planning to attend the Connoisseurs’ Marketplace this weekend in Menlo Park? It’s their silver anniversary, and it’s going to be their GREENEST event yet!
Menlo Park’s Chamber of Commerce has pledged to make this a Zero Waste event while showcasing top artists, music, chefs’ demos, fabulous food and drink, fun for kids, artisan specialty food purveyors, a collector car show, home and garden exhibits, health and wellness displays, an organic and green products showcase, and the new Cuda Lounge.
July 16-17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Santa Cruz Avenue.
Admission is FREE–don’t miss it!
Learn more about the event and how Recology is helping out with their greening efforts.
San Francisco Recycling Helps Make It Greenest City in U.S. and Canada
- Src: Edward via flickr.com
In a new study on the environmental sustainability of major cities, San Francisco ranked #1. The rankings were based on environmental policies that examined carbon emissions, energy, land use, buildings, transportation, water, waste, air quality and environmental governance.
SF Has a Perfect Recycling Score
San Francisco ranked near the top in six categories, but stood alone in one area–-recycling. In that category, the city earned 100 points out of a possible 100.
Mayor Edwin Lee said the achievement is “an honor for San Francisco,” which “is committed to working toward a greener, healthier future.”
The report, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Siemens Corp., credited San Francisco’s recycling and composting programs as the city’s “strongest” environmental area.
| Top 5 Cities Garbage, Recycling, Compost |
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| City | Score |
| San Francisco | 100.0 |
| Seattle | 83.1 |
| Los Angeles | 81.9 |
| Toronto | 78.6 |
| Minneapolis | 72.6 |
San Francisco, in 2009, became the first U.S. city to require that all residents and businesses separate recycling and compost materials from normal trash. The report stated that for years San Francisco has been a trailblazer in partnering with the private sector on innovative green initiatives.
The study compared 27 major U.S. and Canadian cities on categories such as environmental governance and performance. In grabbing the mantle of greenest major city, San Francisco topped New York, Seattle, Denver, and Boston.
“The Green Cities Index demonstrates that America’s cities are the driving force behind the nation’s sustainability efforts,” said Eric Spiegel, president and CEO, Siemens Corp.
The study provided some important key findings. Notably, cities that performed best in the rankings are the ones that have comprehensive sustainability plans. San Francisco is working to achieve zero waste by 2020, a goal set by the Board of Supervisors.
We are proud that our good, hard work, in partnership with the city, has contributed to setting an example in the U.S. and Canada.
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