December 1, 1999, Whittier, California
Part of a Forum Series to Assist Local Jurisdictions in Getting to 50% Diversion
Organized by the Southern California Council on Environment and Development

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Damien Leone, L.A. Regional Food Bank, 877-NO-HUNGER (667-8643), Ext. 130: We are one of largest food banks in the country, diverting 40 million pounds annually of surplus food and personal care items. We distribute food to 960 charities, which feed 260,000 people per week. We encourage more donations.

Bill Gorman, West Coast Recycling Company, 323-261-4176: Our company recycles food waste from large restaurants and hotels with large catering and food service operations. They experience a cost savings of 10-15% without any extra labor involved.

Eric Wilhite, Community Recycling, 818-767-1203: We recycle edible unsalables from grocery stores (perishable goods) that used to go to landfills. The result is the cleanest, purest organic compost on the market. Farmers love it. Every ton is sold every 3 weeks before it is done.

Joe Haworth, Information Officer, L.A. County Sanitation Districts, 562-699-7411: L.A. County's Mow Down Pollution Program is a region-wide grasscycling campaign. We are trying to educate the public to use mowers without a bag, so the grass goes right back on the lawn, and fertilizes it.

Nick Morell, L.A. County Sanitation Districts, 562-699-7411, Ext. 2444: Alternative Daily Cover (ADC) using greenwaste has helped us to achieve our AB 939 goals. Placing greenwaste on the refuse at the end of the day has many benefits including conservation of air volume, odor and vector control, as well as preserving soil for intermediate and final cover use.

Howard Levenson, Waste Prevention & Market Development, CIWMB, 916-255-2159: The Board has many efforts to support the diversion of organic materials and promote their beneficial use. These include fact sheets, end-user application guidelines, compost/mulch supplier and worm bin manufacturer lists, etc. Check our website at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Organics.

Kevin McCarthy, California Organics Recycling Council (CORC) & Waste Management, Inc., 510-563-4214: The CORC Board is recommending the "Yard Waste Recycling Opportunities Act," which would require California jurisdictions to divert yard waste from landfilling through programs consistent with the AB 939 waste management hierarchy.

David Peterson, City of Santa Clarita, 661-284-1411: We have good separation of greenwaste (it totals 48% of our waste stream). We encourage home composting with a reduced fee. We mulch or compost tree trimmings and Christmas trees and we use it on parks and medians for weed abatement, etc.

Bill Camarillo, California Wood Recycling, 805-650-1616: Greenwaste recycling has created a supply push on an undeveloped marketplace. We need to provide hundreds of products, customized for specific industries and customers. The CIWMB also needs to push regulatory reform to help get more compost facilities permitted.

George De La O, L.A. County Dept of Public Works, 626-458-5184: The Yard Waste Program includes workshops throughout the County to teach composting, grass recycling, and water-wise gardening techniques to help residents reduce yard waste in their own backyards.

Sev Williams, Earth's 911, 310-401-0317: Earth's 911 is an information resource on national and local environmental issues, via either phone (1-800-CLEANUP) or the Internet, (www.1800cleanup.org). Users can punch in their zip code to get local information including recycling locations, hazardous waste disposal, water and air quality and organics diversion.

SUMMARIES OF PRESENTATIONS

Welcome

Joe Haworth, L.A. County Sanitation Districts, 562-699-7411:

The Southern California Council on Environment and Development (SCCED) has worked since 1993 to bring issues of sustainability to the cities of the region. It has been very successful, involving organizations, corporations and public agencies. We are proud of what Kathleen Gildred has accomplished with SCCED.

Recycling Food through Non-Profit Organizations

Damien Leone, L.A. Regional Food Bank, 877-NO-HUNGER (667-8643), Ext. 130:

We are one of largest food banks in the country, diverting 40 million pounds annually of surplus and second quality food and personal care items. We distribute food to 960 charities, which feed 260,000 people per week. We want to encourage more donations.

Our sources include donations from: retail and manufacturing distribution centers; processing and manufacturing plants; reclamation centers; dry and cold storage facilities; logistic trucking companies; food service distributors; restaurant, caterers and prepared foods.

Types of donations include products with: cosmetic and production errors not affecting edibility; change in recipe formula or packaging; out of season items; meat products with labels only in foreign languages.

We feature convenient quick pick-up, on the same day, or the next weekday, in climate-controlled refrigerated trucks. Companies say they donate because it is the right thing to do, and they save the disposal cost.

Here is a sample list of places to call to make donations of various goods:

• L.A. Regional Food Bank, 877-NO-HUNGER (667-8643), Ext. 130: All types of food, personal care products, paper goods, cleaning supplies for the home.
• L.A. Shares, 213-485-1097: office supplies, art supplies, miscellaneous goods.
• Habitat for Humanity, 213-975-9757: building supplies
• Goodwill Industries, 888-4GOODWILL: used clothes, furniture, appliances, computers, and other miscellaneous goods.

Hotel and Restaurant Food Waste Recycling

Bill Gorman, West Coast Recycling Company, 323-261-4176:

Our company handles food waste from large restaurants and hotels with large catering and food service operations. There is about 40-50% waste in food products from plate scrapings and kitchen preparations.

We started with the Disneyland Hotels and found them motivated to do waste food separation and recycling. We now include all restaurants in the theme park. We collect 7-8 tons/day, 365 days/year.

The operation at the hotel is simple. We just place a 44 gal Rubbermaid container next to the kitchen prep areas and one additional container for waste food at the bussing stations. The hotels experience a cost savings of 10-15% without any extra labor involved. The current landfill fee, plus shipping fee, is about $41/ton. We charge $35/ton.

The food waste is used as an ingredient for livestock feed.

Supermarket Organics Recycling

Eric Wilhite, Community Recycling, 818-767-1203:

We recycle edible unsalables from grocery stores (perishable goods) that used to go to landfills. We divert over 100 trucks/week from landfills.

We have the grocery store personnel put them in the same wax-coated cardboard containers they were shipped in. The boxes are palletized, capped, wrapped, and sent back to the companies that distribute the perishables. They are dumped in our facilities at the loading dock and taken to our grinding facility. There they are mixed with municipal greenwaste and then shipped to our compost site in Lamont near Bakersfield.

Our composting site has 600 acres, with 100 acres composting at any one time. The result is the cleanest, purest organic compost on the market. The farmers love it. Every ton is sold every 3 weeks before it is done. This is closed loop recycling because the compost grows the food products that go to the grocery store.

LA County Grasscycling Program

Joe Haworth, Information Officer, L.A. County Sanitation Districts, 562-699-7411:

L.A. County's Mow Down Pollution Program is a region-wide grasscycling campaign. We are trying to educate the public to use electric mowers without a bag. Most mowers (gas or electric) can be used without a bag, but the best is a mulching mower.

This is our third year of the campaign. In the first year, we did advertising and electric mower sales. We spent $200,000 and we sold 800 electric mulching mowers at discounted prices. We are now getting up to 3% diversion of grass clippings.

There are still subsidized electric mulching lawnmower sales. AQMD and ARB will provide $40,000 in subsidies, so a cordless rechargeable costs $150, and a corded for $75.

Using Green Materials in Landfills

Nick Morell, L.A. County Sanitation Districts, 562-699-7411, Ext. 2444:

We have four active landfills, representing approximately 20,000 tons per day of disposal. We have an active materials recovery program, including asphalt, refuse-to-energy ash, white goods, soil, ferrous metals, motor oil, tires, etc. We also recover methane gas and produce energy.

Alternative Daily Cover (ADC) using greenwaste has helped cities to achieve their AB 939 goals. The greenwaste is placed on the refuse at the end of the day to meet the mandatory daily cover requirements. The many benefits of the program are: AB 939 credits; conservation of air volume and reduced soil use; reduced tipping fees for greenwaste; enhanced potential for landfill gas generation; odor control; vector control; control measure for rain infiltration and erosion; useful material for onsite landscaping efforts.

Since we started this program in 1989, we have handled 2 million tons of greenwaste. The tipping fee for greenwaste is $11.50 per ton vs. $18 for refuse at Puente Hills and Spadra landfills.

A State Perspective on Organics Diversion

Howard Levenson, Waste Prevention & Market Development, CIWMB, 916-255-2159:

In 1990, the CIWMB estimated that about 15 million tons of organic materials were generated statewide, including 30% of commercial waste and 43% of residential waste generation. About 90% of these materials were sent to landfills. Today, based on the CIWMB's 1999 Waste Characterization Study, organic materials still comprise about 35 to 40% of what is disposed in landfills.

Ideally, we want a home for all compostable organic materials, in a manner that protects the environment and public health and safety. We need to ensure we have safe processing facilities, but they often are hard to site. One of the biggest operational issues for composting facilities is odor.

We also want to ensure product quality and consistency. Buyers of compost need better information on the products. The problem is that there are no industry standards for compost quality. A voluntary organization, the California Compost Quality Council (CCQC) has developed a voluntary registration system in which registered producers agree to disclose product parameters.

For the latest information on CIWMB activities related to organic materials management, please check our website at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Organics.

Sustainable End Markets for Organics

Kevin McCarthy, California Organics Recycling Council (CORC) & Waste Management, Inc., 510-563-4214:

CORC is a technical council within the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA). CORC monitors state and federal regulations regarding organics and provides public information. We were founded in 1992 and operate on an all volunteer basis.

CORC's goals are to maximize diversion of organics from the waste stream by: restoring a "program" focus to AB 939; supporting diversion programs that promote the AB 939 waste management hierarchy; supporting development of environmentally superior and diverse end markets involving the highest and best use of organic materials; serving as a technical clearinghouse and resource on organic materials recycling programs; providing expert testimony and comments on legislation and regulations.

On October 28, 1999, the CORC Board unanimously approved a resolution entitled the "Yard Waste Recycling Opportunities Act." This act would require every California jurisdiction to divert yard waste from landfilling through implementing residential and commercial diversion programs.

Since 1996, when the state approved ADC use to meet diversion goals, its usage has nearly doubled, from 560 thousand tons to over 1 million tons in 1998, with 80% of that increase in Southern California.

A Successful Municipal Greenwaste Program

David Peterson, City of Santa Clarita, 661-284-1411:

Santa Clarita has 150,000 people living in 47 sq. miles. Our greenwaste program totals 48% of our waste stream by weight, mostly coming from residences. We have a lot of large lots that fill up 1.5-yard bins every few weeks. The total is 18,000 tons per year.

In 1996 we offered a 65 gallon bin for greenwaste. We encourage home composting, by providing gardeners with a $1.50 fee reduction and no bin, but only 1000 households are doing that. We have recycled Christmas trees since 1991. Last year we mulched 10,000 Christmas trees. We use it for our parks. The city arborist sends the tree trimmings for mulch or composting and we use it for parks and medians for weed abatement, etc.

Managing the Dynamics of the Organics Industry

Bill Camarillo, California Wood Recycling, 805-650-1616:

We process over 250,000 tons/year of greenwaste. We are a professional wood and greenwaste management and marketing firm providing comprehensive turn-key services for waste haulers and city and county governments.

Greenwaste recycling has created a supply push on an undeveloped marketplace. The CIWMB needs to push regulatory reform to help us get more compost facilities permitted. The solution to greenwaste is demand-side economics. We need a market development plan and more demonstration projects. We need to provide hundreds of products, customized for specific industries and customers, including nurseries, agriculture, golf course, sod and turf, etc. ADC should only be a last resort after making every effort for better uses.

Countywide Yard Waste Program

George De La O, Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, 626-458-5184:

Because approximately 20% of the residential waste stream consists of yard waste, the Countywide Yard Waste Program was established in 1991 to reduce and divert this yard waste from landfills.

The Program uses Smart Gardening workshops, held countywide, to teach residents: composting, including worm composting; grass recycling to allow the grass clippings to decompose and release nutrients back into the lawn; water-wise gardening techniques to conserve water and reduce yard waste while maintaining a beautiful and efficient landscape.

The Program also provides compost bins at a discount, displays at regional events, and does outreach through the use of billboards, newspaper advertisements, and radio and television public service announcements. In 1998, the Program reached approximately 900 residents through the workshops and an additional 19,000 through participation at regional events. For more information on the Countywide Yard Waste Program or to schedule a workshop for your organization, call 1-888-CLEANLA.

Environmental Hotline and Website

Sev Williams, Earth's 911, 310-401-0317:

Earth's 911 is an information resource on national and local environmental issues, via either phone (1-800-CLEANUP) or the Internet, (www.1800cleanup.org). Users can punch in their zip code to get local information including recycling locations, hazardous waste disposal, water and air quality and organics diversion.

Earth's 911 is a free service funded by the private sector. Earth's 911 is the official hotline for CIWMB, and California EPA. EPA Region 9 and Cal EPA have signed a Harmonization Agreement to consolidate the state's environmental outreach efforts under 1-800-CLEANUP and www.1800CLEANUP.org.

Earth's 911 recruited the Harlem Globetrotters to make a TV PSA to show how simple grasscycling is. We can also tell people where to bring Christmas trees for recycling. We are developing a relationship with the US Compost Council. Home Depot will fund them to call up local representatives in California to gather data for posting it on the system.