John Watson EPt

Waste Diversion Education Coordinator Halton Region

Hot Beverage Paper Cup Recycling Pilot Reaching Residents to Encourage Participation

Population 501,669

Total waste managed 216,453 metric tonnes

Blue Box waste managed 48,879 metric tonnes

Waste diversion 57.6%

Regional Municipality of Halton

Halton Region Waste Management

• Collection –  150,000 houses –  550 apartment buildings (20,000 units) –  160 publicly funded schools –  8 business improvement areas (1,000 businesses) –  3 commercial areas (1,000 businesses)

• Battery Recycling Depots • Special Waste Drop-off Days • Halton Waste Management Site • Communications & Outreach

Getting started

Partners

Background

• Plastic laminated paper cups (hot beverage paper cups) are comprised of fibre with a polyethylene coating that keeps liquids warm.

• Primarily used by the food service industry, and particularly by coffee shops.

• Hot beverage paper cups have traditionally not been accepted in many municipal Blue Box recycling programs.

Other Municipalities Garbage City of Guelph

City of Stratford City of Toronto County of Dufferin County of Wellington Region of Durham Region of Niagara Region of Peel Quinte Waste Solutions

Organics City of Barrie City of Hamilton City of Ottawa County of Simcoe Region of Waterloo Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre

Recycling (single stream) Region of York

Recycling (two stream, fibres) City of Orillia

Recent developments

• Recent market developments suggest that hot beverage paper cups can be effectively mixed and recycled with existing Polycoat (gable top cartons and TetraPak) materials.

Pilot Area

• Approximately 400 houses in Burlington

• Single family homes and townhouse complexes

• Not included: businesses, schools, places of worship, or public parks

• Neighbourhood selected due to its proximity to Emterra Group

Pre-Pilot Waste Audit

• No waste audits had been conducted that specifically looked for hot beverage paper cups only

–  Previous waste audits in Halton used a grouped category: “paper cups and paper ice-cream containers”

•  Category followed Stewardship Ontario methodology

• Three stream waste audit conducted in August –  Average home throws away 0.09 kg of hot beverage cups

every other week (or 2.4 kg per year) •  45% are already being captured in the Blue Box •  19% are being captured in the GreenCart •  36% are being captured in the Garbage

• Halton households would produce 360 tonnes of hot beverage cups per year

Reaching residents

Communication Tools

• Addressed envelope with prompt

•  Information Package –  Regional Chair’s message –  Frequently Asked Questions –  Images of acceptable cups –  About the partners

• Survey • Postage paid return envelope

Information Package Frequently Asked Questions • Why are hot beverage paper cups being piloted in the Blue Box program?

• What cups are accepted? • How will the hot beverage paper cups be recycled? • What will the hot beverage paper cups be recycled into? • Many coffee shops already have bins to recycle hot beverage cups. What’s the difference between store recycling and household recycling?

• Who is paying for this pilot? • What happens when the pilot ends on December 13, 2012?

Communication Considerations

• No additional communication tools were utilized at the pilot launch

–  Pilot area is 400 homes (out of 150,000 houses served) •  No media releases, advertisements, website or social media to

prevent participation in non-pilot neighbourhoods –  Pilot ends December 13, 2012

•  No social norming prompts (stickers) on Blue Boxes –  Restaurant goers don’t necessarily live in the pilot area

•  No in-restaurant promotion about at-home pilot

• That being said… –  Local news reported about the pilot based on a Council Report

Evaluating results

Survey

• 11% response rate

• 41% indicate they drink the hot beverage in the car, 36% at work, 26% in the coffee shop, 26% at home

• 31% indicate they dispose of the cup at the coffee shop, 31% at home in the GreenCart, 18% at work

• 47% indicate “it doesn’t matter” what bin they place hot beverage paper cups

• 36% indicate “having to rinse cups first,” and 31% indicate “having to stack cups” as barriers to participating

Follow-up Waste Audit

• A follow-up waste audit will be conducted in the pilot area in mid October

–  Looking for higher capture of hot beverage paper cups in Blue Box

Follow-up Communication

•  In December, a follow-up communication piece will be mailed to the pilot area

–  Share results of the pilot –  Indicate the pilot is over (and to go back to placing hot

beverage paper cups in the GreenCart)

Measurements for success

•  Increase awareness with pilot area residents •  Increase hot beverage paper cups capture in Blue Box •  Increase the tonnes of Polycoat material marketed • Continue to market Polycoat materials mixed with hot beverage paper cups without any price penalties or market downgrades/rejections

Take Aways

• Municipalities must be included in any recycling pilots –  Multi-year contracts for collecting, processing, marketing –  Experience communicating about recycling to residents

•  Residents look to municipalities to provide information about recycling

• Research, benchmarking and follow-up data is vital • Set very clear objectives (tonnage increases, etc.) • Give yourself enough time

–  Conduct research –  Secure stable end-markets for materials –  Inform elected officials

John Watson EPt

Waste Diversion Education Coordinator Halton Region 905-825-6000 x 8238 john.watson@halton.ca

Contact

@HaltonRecycles

www.haltonrecycles.ca

HaltonRecycles

HaltonRecycles