Broward County Recycling and Solid Waste Management: 2011 Update

Presented to American Public Works Association, South Florida Chapter

By Phil Bresee, Recycling Program Manager, Broward County

March 24, 2011

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Overview of Solid Waste and Recycling in Broward County

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• Broward cities provide for solid waste (MSW) and recycling collection services within their jurisdictions.

– Municipal Franchise agreements (exclusive and non-exclusive)

– Municipal fleet collections• Disposal capacity includes WTE plants, WM’s

Central Disposal Landfill, Reuters MSW transfer operation.

• Recyclables processed primarily through Reuters MRF; other independent MRFs.

– All cities provide some level of residential recycling service

• Large C&D debris collection and processing infrastructure.

• Office of Waste and Recycling Services – provides programs and services for Resource Recovery System (RRS) cities; provides non-RRS services including School Board recycling and state MSW reports.

Photo courtesy of City of Fort Lauderdale

Recent MSW and Recycling Trends in Broward County

20032004

20052006

20072008

20090

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

Broward MSW Trends 2003-2009

MSW Generation PopulationMSW Disposed MSW Recycled

31%

46%

24%

MSW Management in Broward County – 2009*

Landfilling Waste-to-Energy

* WTE = Gross amount combusted

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How Should We Manage our Solid Waste?

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• U.S. EPA created MSW management hierarchy in late 1980s.

• Source, or waste reduction means minimizing or not creating waste in the first place.

• Reuse and then recycling are preferred way to manage materials.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Contributions to GHG Emissions

Transport. 36%

Res/Com Fuel Use2%

Indus-trial Fuel Use4%

Fossil Fuel (Ind.)

1%Indus-trial Pro-

cesses4%Wast

e5%

Agric. & Wildfires6%

Elec-tricity 42%

Florida GHG Emissions by Sector

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Source: Governor’s Climate Action Team, 2008

Prov. of Goods29%

Prov. of

Food13%

Appli-ances/

De-vices8%

Building HVAC & Light-ing

25%

Local Transport15%

Other Transport9%

Infra-structure

1%

U.S. GHG Emissions – “Systems-Based”

Source: U.S. EPA, September 2009

= GHG emissions from “stuff” that becomes waste

Environmental Benefits of Recycling

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• Greenhouse gases (GHG) are emitted during product life-cycles.

• Recycling and waste reduction can be effective tools for reducing GHG by:o Reducing / eliminating

emissions from raw materials extraction

o Reducing emissions from energy consumption during manufacturing

o Increases carbon sequestration (paper recycling)

o Reducing methane emissions from landfills

Illustration courtesy of U.S. EPA

Environmental Benefits of Recycling & Waste Reduction (cont.)

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Recycling 500 Tons Of…

= GHG Reduction Of…

Equal to Removing # of Cars from Road

for 1 Year

Paper 339 MTCE 259 cars

Aluminum 2,055 MTCE 1,569 cars

Glass 38 MTCE 29 cars

HDPE 192 MTCE 147 cars

Corrugated cardboard

354 MTCE 270 cars

• US EPA and ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) have developed models that allows communities to calculate GHG reduction benefits of recycling.

• Based on nationwide recycling rate of 33% of MSW in 2007, estimated benefits were equivalent to: o Reduced GHG emissions of 193

million metric tons of CO2eo Removing 35 million cars from the

roado 930,000 railcars of coal burnedo Annual electricity usage by about

23.5 million households.o Saving the use of 240 million

barrels of oil

Source: US EPA; E. Dorn, RW Beck, 2008.

Economic Benefits of Recycling

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• Recycling is value-added, creating more jobs per ton handled than disposal.

• According to national economic study in 2001, US recycling and reuse industry accounted for:o $236 billion in annual revenues.o 56,000+ recycling & reuse establishments.o Employment of 1.1 million with annual

payroll of $37 billion.• Florida study determined:

o $4.4 billion in annual revenues.o 3,700 recycling and reuse establishments.o Employment base of 32,000 with payroll

of $765 million.• Recyclables are commodities. (commodity

prices have been impacted by global recession)

Illustration courtesy of US EPA.

Residential Recycling• County assists curbside

recycling in RRS cities through management of Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) contract.

• Single-Stream, or “All-In-One” since 2009.

• County staff led a series of workshops for cities in advance.

• Increase of 12% in residential recyclables in FY 2010; on pace for further increases in FY 2011.

• County rebates cities revenues earned from the MRF contract.

• Residential recycling is typically backbone of overall recycling strategies.

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Residential Recycling - Multifamily• County and partner cities have begun to

refocus efforts on condominium and apartment recycling programs.

• About 45% of Broward County homes are considered multifamily.

• Cities facilitate multifamily recycling through:o Part of solid waste & recycling collections

contracto Ordinanceo Hauler licensing

• Property managers/HOAs need ability to “right-size” garbage service levels.

• County staff assists partner cities with:o Technical assistanceo Site visits & inspectionso Outreach materials, events and city-wide

workshops

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Electronics and HHW Recycling• E-Cycling and Household Hazardous

Waste programs managed jointly and include:

– Resident drop-off at three permanent stations

– 12 HHW and E-cycling collection events with partner cities; E-Cycling only for Earth Day, America Recycles Day and other one day collection events

• Electronics are recycled; HHW is either recycled or disposed of in HHW permitted facilities.

• Both programs continue to see strong participation and growth (more than 3 million lbs. of material captured between them in FY 2011).

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Recycling at Broward County Public Schools

• County provides service through ILA with the School Board (non-RRS program).

• RCAD works to establish linkages between recycling at school and at home.

• Combined with county government agencies = ~340 facilities.

• School Board recycles nearly 2,500 tons of material per year, saving nearly $1 million through avoided disposal.

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Other County Programs and Services • County staff has helped guide new

approaches through contract and program management, workshops, meetings, reports, program proposals, etc.

– Increased E-Cycling opportunities– Single-stream recycling– RecycleBank– Technical assistance (standard contract

language, sample RFPs)– Recycling assistance grants– Webinars through SWANA, U.S. EPA, etc.

• County provides broader, RRS-based program outreach but has also added focus in recent years.

– Partnerships with cities for event and workshops

– Recycling outreach template materials for use by cities

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What’s in Broward County’s MSW?

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ONP6%

OCC11%

Other Paper10%

C&D23%

Food Waste3%

Yard Waste16%

Glass B&J3%

Alum. Cans1%

Steel Cans1%

Plastic Btls.2% Other Plas.

3%

Other Metals11%

E-Waste1%

Other8%

Broward County's MSW Composition 2009

Paper = 27%

Containers = 7%

Organics = 19%C&D = 23%

Source: Broward County Waste and Recycling Services, 2010.

Big targets for recycling remain in Broward’s MSW stream...

“OK. What do we do now?”• City-County and State policy goals and

operational realities have begun to converge: o Flat-lined overall recycling rates and

state’s 75% Diversion goalo City SW franchise agreement expirationso 2010 collection efficiencies workshopso City sustainability plans and initiativeso County Climate Change Action Plano County Comp. Plan’s Solid Waste Element

• Increased recycling is common denominator.

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Cities

State

County/RRS

Florida’s 75% Recycling & Diversion Goal

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• Counties must meet in 2020 with incremental goals begin 2012 (40%).

• Creates Recycling Business Assistance Council (RBAC).o Market development crucial

• Overall county C&D plan and pre-processing requirements

• City expectations:o Design for recycling part of commercial

C.O.o City and public entity recycling reporting

requirements (to county)• Stay tuned:

o “Renewable energy credits.” WTE formula creates 100%+ diversion rates…

o Administrative rule-making suspended by governor in January; to be reviewed.

2009 2012 2014 2016 2018 20200%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Diversion Goal

Broward County Climate Change Action Plan Goals

•Roll-out carts for curbside recycling

•Grow multifamily recycling

•City-hosted E-Cycling network

•Recycling incentives; PAYT

Residential

•Market development

•Central processing infrastructure

•Green waste collections from residences

Organics

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Photo courtesy of San Francisco Dept. of the Environment

Broward County Climate Change Action Plan Goals (cont.)

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•Improve recycling at County agencies, schools, FLL

•Technical assistance

•Consider mandatory ordinances

Commercial &Institutional

•Pre-processing of C&D debris before disposal

•Linkages with LEED credits

•Building codes

C&D Recycling

Broward County Comprehensive Plan’s Solid Waste Element Goals

•Reduce per capita MSW generation by 5%

•Product stewardship initiatives•Education and outreach•Single-stream recycling w/roll-

out carts•Recycling incentives; PAYT•Green waste recycling•Multifamily recycling•Public place recycling•E-Cycling and HHW•C&D pre-processing

Waste Minimization

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Some Initial Steps Underway:• RecycleBank

o Hollywood (February, 2010) has seen 130% increase in recyclables collected; Sunrise to begin Summer, 2011

• Roll-out Carts for recycling (& automated MSW collections).o In Parkland, Hollywood, Coconut Creek, West Park…o Others to follow soon (Sunrise)

• Green waste collections and public space recycling in Ft. Lauderdale.

• Commercial Recycling in Deerfield Beach• City solid waste master planning including:

o Coral Springso Deerfield Beach

• RRB Recycling “Stimulus” Funds (single-stream, carts)• Green waste/C&D RLI process

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Continued City-County Partnerships

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• Goals dependent on strong city-county relationships.

• Ensure consistency among city and county goals.

• Establish realistic goals and performance indicators.

• Partnerships allows for better resource utilization and economies of scale.

• Cities manage “touch-point” elements – collections, outreach.

• Cities can lead through new contract approaches, ordinances, etc.

Recycling & Sustainability Goals

County Cities

Conclusions• Recycling continues to be a “low-

hanging fruit” for cities and counties to use to help reduce their carbon footprints. Uses infrastructure already in place.

• Recycling is also seen as a “gateway” to other positive environmental behaviors.

• Convergence of legislation, city and county goals, technology, economics present “green” opportunity to change Broward County’s MSW management paradigm.

Questions?Contact: pbresee@broward.org

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Graphic courtesy of Arlington County Virginia