CLARK COUNTY RECYCLING DONE RIGHT CAMPAIGN Changing and tracking recycling behavior at the curb Kim D. Harless, Environmental Operations Specialist WSRA WRED Event - March 29 th, 2018
CLARK COUNTY, WA Seven cities and a town Largest city: Vancouver 2017 Population: 474,643 2% increase in population last few years 9-12% increase in tons of garbage over last few years
500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Inbound Tons Population
Single-Family Recycling Residue by Percent Weight of Total Inbound Recyclables 25% 22.70% 20% 15% 14.72% 15.71% 17.81% 16.65% 19.14% 19.83% 10% 11.43% 5% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Soft tactics Pros Positive reinforcement People may be more openly receptive Less likely to negatively react or retaliate Cons May not be as motivated as negative reinforcement May not be as effective, but may have same costs 5
Public Perception Wanted to avoid Being the Recycling Police Negative attitudes towards recycling Elected officials - All publicity is not good publicity Be prepared. Notify the police Notify elected officials Be able to defend your project 6
Why Tags? Point of behavior Personal individualized feedback Reaching new audiences Collect data from the curb It is effective 7
TEST, TEST, TEST 2010 Pilot Plastic Bags: 70% improvement Glass Bottles: 94% improvement Overall: 22% improvement 2012 Pilot Saw similar results 2015 first rollout year Presort, post sort, and post-post sort 8
2015 Effectiveness Study Results Control June 13th % reduction October 17 th % reduction Plastic Bags/Wrap* 1.3%.78% 40%.8% 38.5% Total unacceptable 26.4% 20.5% 22.3% 19.6% 25.8% All values percent by weight *Significant declines in loose grocery bags; film and wrap remained constant Results for glass were uncertain due to seasonal changes and crushed glass It appears that the outreach campaign had a positive impact on the quality of recyclables set out in Clark County Green Solutions Check out the Recycling Partnership for resources and case studies
Implementation Overview 4 weeks to target 20,000-25,000 carts with 10 temporary workers in teams of two Have only reached about 60% of households 10
Teams of two
2015 2016 2017
Data Collection Opportunities Think of the possibilities! And do it! 13
Data Collection 14
What s in the cart? Cart Tagging By occurrence how popular is the mistake? The percent of the population making a mistake where a behavior change needs to be made Characterizations Studies By ton how massive is the problem? The impact of those incorrect behaviors on the facility One bad apple or collective community of mistakes Two different problems, with different ways to approach 15
How popular is the incorrect behavior? 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% 30.55% 30.33% 2017: Percent of carts tagged for... 20.87% 19.86% 12.96% 7.47% 7.00% 5.96% 5.08% 5.06% 4.73% 4.35% 4.28% 2.90% 2.61% 2.11% 1.90% 1.80% 0.86% 0.69% 0.60% 0.55% 0.47% 0.45% 0.44% 0.18% 0.05% 0.05% 0.03% Looking Good Hard Plastic Packaging Plastic Bags Plastic Wrap To-go Cups Paper Towels and Napkins Other Garbage Food-soiled Paper Foam Food-soiled Cardboard Tanglies Empty from Truck Tissue Garbage HHW Glass Food Waste Textiles Loose Shredded Paper Wood Wires Yard Debris Empty Set Out Hoses Electronics Diapers Light Bulbs Pet Waste Sharps 16
Top offenders by popularity 1. Miscellaneous hard plastic packaging, such as clamshells, salad containers, and blister packaging 2. Plastic Bags 3. Plastic Wrap/Film 4. To-go cups (paper and plastic) 5. Paper towels and Napkins 6. Other garbage (not any other category; not a bag of garbage) Home goods like brushes, shower curtains, plastic plants and chairs, etc. Other plastic packaging like candy wrappers Lids to containers Cigarette butts and packaging 17
RESIDUE VERSUS CONTAMINATION End of the sorting process vs. Actual non-program materials due to customer error Contracted with Green Solutions in 2016 and 2017 to find answers 18
Single-Family Recycling Residue by Percent Weight of Total Inbound Recyclables 25% 20% 15% 14.72% 15.71% 17.81% 16.65% 19.14% 19.83% 22.70% 14.70% 10.60% 11.43% 10% 9.23% 8.00% 5% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Residue Rate Contamination Rate MRF Error
Impact, by weight, at the MRF? Material % Description Fines 26.0%Too small Plastic packaging 6.9%clamshells, lids, blister and other plastic packaging Other wastes 4.8%Other items like diapers and miscellaneous garbage Non-recyclable paper 4.1%Wax or plastic coated, wet strength and freezer boxes Wood and C/D 4.0% Plastic objects 3.9%like toys and other objects, not packaging Rigid plastics 3.8%Possible to be recycled within a rigid recycling program Textiles 2.8% Food Waste 2.6% Bagged garbage 2.4%A bag of garbage Glass 1.5%Any glass Plastic bags 1.4% Plastic film and wrap 1.3% Non-recyclable metals 0.7%Mixed metals, metal lids, and appliances Styrofoam 0.3% Shredded paper 0.2%Both bagged and loose 20
Rank Popularity (cart tags) Weight (sort study) Combined Top 5 MRF Top 7 Pre-Sword MRF Top 7 Post-Sword Hit List? 1 Plastic Packaging Plastic Packaging, including plastic cups Plastic Packaging (2) Hoses and stretchy or tangly items Hoses and stretchy or tangly items Plastic bags and film 2 Plastic Bags and Wrap/Film Other waste To-go cups (4) Plastic Bags and Film Plastic Bags and Film Non-recyclable paper and food waste 3 To-go Cups Non-recyclable Paper Other waste (7) Bottles of Hazardous Chemicals Biological waste Textiles 4 Paper Towels and Napkins Wood and C/D Nonrecyclable Paper (7) Food-soiled paper Textiles** GARBAGE, including biological 5 Other garbage Plastic Objects and Rigid Plastics Plastic bags & Wrap/Film (9) Propane tanks Bottles of Hazardous Chemicals Non-recyclable plastics? 6 Food-soiled paper Textiles Sharps Food soiled paper and food waste** 7 Styrofoam (including food service) Plastic Bags and Wrap/Film Large car parts Propane tanks 21
Clark County s status 22
Impacts of National Sword on Clark County Increased operational costs Increased bale quality Increased residue Increased domestic end-markets available Nothing has been taken off the recycling list! 23
2017 September/October Brokers became conservative and market for MWP became uncertain, MWP began to stockpile Added at four FTEs to improve bale quality ~5% to 1.9% contamination Slowed line. Material still coming in and flowing out doors bottleneck November Slowed the sort line from 25 tons per hour to 14 Diverting nearly all out-of-county tons to other MRFs Material no longer flowing outside the facility Added another four FTEs to paper sort lines Material going to SE Asia instead of China December MWP became no longer marketable. Creating ONP product instead. Remaining MWP reprocessed into ONP, or disposed 24
2018 January Domestic markets reemerged to accept ONP product 1.1% contamination February 0.65% contamination so close! 10-15% of the paper that was formerly recycled is now landfilled March Material is all able to be moved Some disposal of stored bales from when the market disruption first occurred Possible buyer identified of the 10-15% MWP that used to be recycled 25
Public and Political Perception Upset to learn recyclables were going to China China is not to blame Opened some eyes about the mystical process Elves come and pick up Fairies use magic at the facilities to make new items! Public may be more receptive to stronger arm tactics 26
Outreach 27
In the Portland, OR Media-shed Different states Different state agencies Different system models Same waste-shed (mostly) 28
What we are doing in response Now Blogs App Tabling Social media Challenge Upcoming Inviting local news or radio hosts to come to transfer station Help in separating us from Portland and Oregon Inspire confidence in the system 29
Resilient Recycler Green Neighbors Blog Series
RecycleRight App
Tabling Events
Social Media
In conclusion Soft approaches are effective too Great for communities that would be resistant Who particularly value privacy and property Use tested models such as those by the Recycling Partnership Pilot in your community before rolling out National Sword may open opportunities to be more strongarmed, but soft is a good start 35
Questions? Kim D. Harless Kim.Harless@clark.wa.gov 360.397.2121 ext. 5957 Clark County Recycling Done Right Campaign 3/29/18 36