A couple of waste reduction questions

[Bruce England]

Hello Lori (with task force waste working group and Steve Attinger copied):

I've found over time that, especially once I started composting, but
for other reasons as well, I really don't need to have my trash
picked up more often than every two to three weeks, even though I'm
using the 20-gallon toter. I'm sure that I'm not alone in this, and
yet we have no choice but to have the pickup every week. Has there
every been a discussion at the City regarding having an option for
every-other-week pickups or something similar? On the face of it, I
would think that such a program could be reasonably implemented with
participants' toters tagged with City managed, non-removable, and
easily spotted markers. Then a reduction of the charge by $5 or so
could be provided.

A few benefits of doing this would be:
- Providing an incentive for city residents to reduce their waste volume
- Reminding city residents, by having this program in effect, that
waste reduction is a worthy goal for everyone
- Reduced energy costs (as the pickup trucks wouldn't have to make as
many stops and less gross weight would need to be transported to the
SMaRT station per run)

What do you think of this approach?

Also, I see on the utility bills that, for "Rates and Other
Information," we are referred to the top level of the City web site.
I'm very familiar with the site and how to navigate it, but I was
unable to find rates in any of what I thought would be obvious
places. I'd personally like to see the 20-gallon toter option
highlighted, so I hope that rates information can be more easily
located.

Finally, I had a question about how we might expedite getting green
business certification completed for Garden Fresh; I covered that in
my phone message to you, and that's off topic for the rest of this
email, so I won't go in to detail here.

Thanks for you help, attention, and consideration,
Bruce England
650-969-3720

[Jane Horton]

Bruce,

This is a great idea. I have the smallest garbage tote and it is never full - usually less than half full.

Perhaps there could be an option for some people to have everything, including their garbage, picked up every-other week on the same schedule as the recycle - then certain homes would just be skipped of the weekly pick up.

Jane

Jane Horton
"Remember Who You Wanted to Be."

Buy my book online:

http://www.amazon.com/50-60-Kid-Palo-Dreamer/dp/1435708172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208393374&sr=1-1

or at Keplers Book Store in Menlo Park

[James Kempf]

We only put out our garbage container every other week. Of course, it would be nice to get a reduction on our rates. We don't get that now.

         jak

[Tracy Gibbons]

Yes, my small trash tote often isn't full either. I imagine this is true for
those who are especially dedicated to recycling and small households. I
often don't put the trash cart out on non-recycle-pickup weeks, so the
driver doesn't stop. However, I walk around my neighborhood often, and there
are many toters are stuffed over the top.

On the other hand, my recycle toters are often full, and I'll have to hold
stuff for two weeks, because Foothill refuses to take even newspapers in
bags or boxes if they aren't in the cart. I think it's possible (perhaps
even likely) that some people will put recyclables in the trash if their
recycle totes are full, and we may be encouraging this behavior because of
the pick up schedules. Even though we know every bag of trash gets resorted
for recyclables at the SMART station, that's an added cost.

Given its success with recycling, perhaps it's time for the City to reassess
the overall trash and recyclable output, mix, and pick up requirements. I'm
not sure that saving $100 so a year would be a big incentive for people to
reduce waste.

Tracy





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tracy C. Gibbons, Ph.D.
CoastWise Consulting, Inc.
Creating competitive advantage for our clients by leveraging the
Power of Organization Design, Strategic Alignment, and Collaboration
www.coastwiseconsulting.com
  650 Castro Street, Ste. 120-332, Mountain View, CA  94041
650-969-3535 (voice)             650-255-9786 (mobile)             
650-969-5533 (fax)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----Original Message-----
From: mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jane Horton
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 8:54 AM
To: mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com; lori....@mountainview.gov
Cc: mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com;
Steve.A...@mountainview.gov

[Beth Mezias]

Say Tracy,

Is there a contract negotiation coming up with Foothill Disposal?  

Apartment buildings and businesses would benefit from more frequent recycling pickups.  My place has consistently full containers for white paper and plastics. 

While composting is great for some, there is no opportunity for city residents without a yard.  Can you say if there is anything in the works for diversion of organic waste beyond home composting?

Regards,

Beth

--

Samuel Goldwyn  - "I'm willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong."

[Tracy Gibbons]

I don’t know the details, but I recall that SF just enacted a pretty stringent law about recycling compostable material. And I don’t recall when the Foothill contract is up for renegotiation, but I think it’s a ways out.

 

TG

 

PS I don’t compost, and a big component of my trash is clamshell produce containers!

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tracy C. Gibbons, Ph.D.
CoastWise Consulting, Inc.
Creating competitive advantage for our clients by leveraging the
Power of Organization Design, Strategic Alignment, and Collaboration
www.coastwiseconsulting.com
  650 Castro Street, Ste. 120-332, Mountain View, CA  94041
650-969-3535 (voice)             650-255-9786 (mobile)              650-969-5533 (fax)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Beth Mezias]

Sorry - meant to address the query about Foothill to Lori...

--

Fran Lebowitz  - "Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep."

[Topley, Lori]

Hello Waste Group:

 

Good discussion.  Let me try and provide some information I hope will answer all the questions: 

 

Weekly vs. Every Other Week Trash Service:  Currently, City Code (section 16.4.a.) requires a minimum of weekly trash service.  This is also a State law (although I can’t put my hands on the code section at the moment).  These laws are of course aimed at making sure putrescible waste is removed on a regular and timely basis for health and safety reasons.  Codes can be amended, but we will want to proceed carefully as there are many cases where we need weekly service requirement.  I believe the whole discussion of service levels, for both trash and recycling, should be evaluated in the context of the Zero Waste Plan.  The Plan will identify programs the City can choose to implement to move towards Zero Waste.  These choices could likely include weekly recycling and reduced trash service options (such as a 10-gallon can or bi-monthly service).  These choices and incentives in turn need to be evaluated in the context of the rate structure.  All of your comments are valuable input to the process of developing the ZW Plan. 

 

The budget for the ZW Plan has been approved by Council.  We will begin with a waste characterization study this summer. That will give us the base data we need to understand what is in our trash.  Preparation of the Plan will follow.  We’ll put out a Request for Proposals and plan for some kind of public involvement process, but I’m not sure what that will look like yet.   

 

Organics Diversion:   Our commercial food waste diversion pilot is underway.  We hope to be up to the maximum allowed by our processor by next spring.  A full commercial program as well as a residential program will be key components of a ZW Plan, but it is too soon to know when we will be able to implement such programs.  There is still a lack of processing capacity.  For those really interested in this topic, there is some recent good news about a San Jose partnership to develop a facility that would process organic waste to generate biogas and compost.  This will help expand the processing capacity in Santa Clara County, as well as serve as a demonstration project for others.    Here’s a link to the press release http://www.sjeconomy.com/publications/pressreleases/zanker_biogas_06_17_09.pdf

 

Foothill Contract:  Foothill’s contract expires in April 2013.  However, as I have mentioned before, we don’t have to wait until the end of a contract period to negotiate changes.   

 

In addition, we currently have the ability to provide the level of recycling service needed for both multi-family and single family units (extra or larger cart).  If you live at or know of a location that needs additional recycling service, please do not hesitate to let us know. 

 

Location of Rates on the Web Site:  Here is a direct link City of Mountain View - Trash Rates to the rates.  Here is how to navigate there from the main web page:  Departments – Finance and Administrative Services – Utility Billing – Trash Rates (in the left column under “Related Links”).  The Mini-Can (20 gallon) is the first one listed under Residential.  Since we get a lot of traffic on our garbage and recycling pages at www.mvrecycle.org I will put a link to the rates there also.

 

Garden Fresh Green Business Certification:  The County runs the Green Business program on behalf of all the Cities.  We would love to have more staff devoted to this program, but in the current state of the economy, I’m not sure our plan to do that will hold up.  In any case, we (City staff) do promote the program to the many businesses that we come into daily contact with while promoting our recycling programs.  At this point, MV is doing very well with the 3^rd largest number of certified green businesses (42), behind San Jose (142) and Palo Alto (60).  Sometimes we can help facilitate the process so you are welcome to contact Cary Bloomquist (903-6311) to see if we can help in the case of Garden Fresh. Other times there is just a log jam due to the high number of enrollees and limited staff.  And still other times, the business cannot or does not want to meet the requirements of the program. For example, I think Shoreline Amphitheatre got hung up on their high water usage and the expense of retrofitting.

 

Please let me know if there are any questions I didn’t answer.  I look forward to our continuing dialogue and the upcoming preparation of a Zero Waste Plan. 

 

Lori

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From: mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Beth Mezias

Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:49 PM
To: mv-sust-task...@googlegroups.com