CITY OF BERKELEY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE

CITY OF BERKELEY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE Waste Stream Analysis

August 2, 2004 Revised September 22, 2004

Prepared for City of Berkeley Solid Waste Management Division Department of Public Works 2180 Milvia Street Berkeley, CA 94704

Prepared by Environmental Science Associates 225 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94104

TABLE OF CONTENTS CITY OF BERKELEY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE Page INTRODUCTION

1

SOURCES

1

GENERATED WASTE

2

DIVERSION

3

DISPOSED WASTE QUANTITY AND COMPOSITION

7

DIVERTIBLE MATERIALS IN DISPOSED WASTE

10

FIGURES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

City of Berkeley, Generated Waste 2002 Diversion Trends by Category, 2000-2003 Counted Diversion in 2003, by Program Diversion Trends, 2000-2003 Disposed Berkeley Refuse, 1995-2003 Detailed Disposed Berkeley Refuse, 1995-2003 Berkeley Disposed Waste, 2000, by Wastestream Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: All Disposed Waste Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Single Family Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Multi-Family Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Commercial Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Roll-Off Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Self-Haul Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste

4 5 6 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

TABLES 1. Counted Diversion in Berkeley, 2000-2003 2. Major Divertible Materials, By Waste Stream

City of Berkeley Solid Waste Management Plan

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CITY OF BERKELEY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE WASTE STREAM ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION This report presents recent information on quantities and composition of waste generated in the City of Berkeley. This includes information on waste that is generated by Berkeley households, businesses, and institutions, both that which is disposed in landfills, and that which is recycled, composted, or re-used. The information is analyzed and interpreted to provide guidance for developing new or expanded programs to divert waste. The report is divided into the following sections: Generated Waste, which details the total quantity of waste produced in the City, for the most recent year for which data is available; Diversion, which provides information on the quantities of material diverted by existing recycling, composting, and source reduction programs; Disposed Waste, which includes information on the quantities of Berkeley waste that have been disposed in recent years; the landfills in which it has been disposed; and the most recent information on the composition of disposed waste; Divertible Materials in Disposed Waste, which draws on the above information and presents information on which materials types may be the best targets for diversion program development and enhancement.

SOURCES The following sources were used in developing this report:

Generated Waste •

California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) web site, Diversion Rate Calculator (http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/LGTools/MARS/DRMCMain.asp)

•

City of Berkeley, Year 2002 Annual Report to the CIWMB


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WASTE STREAM ANALYSIS

Disposed Waste Quantities •

CIWMB web site, Disposal Reporting System (http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/LGCentral/DRS/Reports/JurDspFa.asp)

•

Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board/Waste Management Authority, Year 2000 Waste Characterization Study (http://stopwaste.org/wcs2000.html)

Disposed Waste Composition •

Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board/Waste Management Authority, Year 2000 Waste Characterization Study

Diverted Waste Quantities •

City of Berkeley, Year 2002 Annual Report to the CIWMB

•

City of Berkeley, Refuse Division, Internal Staff Memorandum

GENERATED WASTE Generated waste is defined by the State of California as all waste that is disposed and diverted within a particular jurisdiction. In other words, Disposed Waste + Diverted Waste = Generated Waste Disposed waste includes all waste that is disposed in landfills or “transformed,” the term that the State uses for incineration. Diverted waste includes all waste that is recycled, composted, or reduced at the source. Source reduction includes reuse of discarded items, such as clothing and furniture. The State’s definitions and methods for calculating disposed, diverted, and generated waste are important, because they are used in determining the City’s progress toward achieving and maintaining the state-mandated 50 percent diversion rate. The state does not require the City to count all generated and diverted waste each year. Rather, the amount generated and the amount diverted are estimated from year to year using a standard formula. The formula is based on the amount counted in a “Base-Year” in which the City conducted a comprehensive study of all diverted and disposed waste. The City of Berkeley’s Base-Year is 1990. In 1990, 188,804 tons of waste were generated in the City of Berkeley. Each subsequent year, the amount of generated waste is estimated using a formula that takes into account changes in population, taxable sales, and employment. For example, in 2002, the estimated generation tonnage was 222,081 tons, reflecting an increase in both population and economic activity. While the City is not required to, and does not, conduct a comprehensive survey of all diverted waste each year, each county in the State is required to track the origin of all wastes disposed in


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landfills located within the county. Using the reported disposal amount, an estimate of the amount of waste diverted can be used by subtracting disposed waste from generated waste: Estimated Generated Waste – Reported Disposed Waste = Estimated Diverted Waste The State allows cities to adjust the amount of disposed waste under certain conditions. For example, disposed waste that is produced as a residue from a “Regional Diversion Facility” or as a result of a natural disaster such as a fire or an earthquake, and which cannot be recycled, can be subtracted from the total amount of disposed waste for the purpose of calculating diversion. Using the State’s formula for estimating waste generation, the City of Berkeley generated 222,081 tons of waste in 2002. The amount of waste coming from the City that was reported as disposed in landfills was 130,665 tons; however, the City has requested that 13,362 tons of disposed waste be discounted. This consists of contaminated sand and slag from two metal recycling foundries (considered Regional Diversion Facilities) and contaminated soil. If this request is granted, then the City’s diversion rate for 2002 will be 47.3 percent, as shown in Figure 1. Using the adjustment method, the City’s diversion rate has fluctuated between 41 percent and 51 percent since 1995.

DIVERSION While the City of Berkeley is not required to keep track of all materials recycled, composted, and reduced within the City each year, the City does track materials recycled and composted through its own programs and programs it sponsors. These include the City’s own commercial recycling and organic material collection programs, activities at the City’s transfer station, and programs run by the City’s contractors, the Ecology Center and the Community Conservation Centers. As was seen in Figure 1, the amount of diversion that is tracked or counted is less than half of all the material that is assumed to be diverted using the State’s method of calculating generated and diverted waste: 36,936 tons of materials were actually counted as having been diverted in 2002, while an additional 54,480 tons were assumed to have been diverted. This assumed, or derived diversion includes private sector commercial recycling, redemption of beverage containers at certified redemption centers other than the Buy Back at Second and Gilman Streets, and various source reduction activities. Diversion programs that the City tracks can be divided into recycling programs, organics (composting) programs, and transfer station salvage programs. As shown in Figure 2, organics programs and recycling collection programs make up the majority of diverted materials that are counted. Between 2000 and 2003 there have been increases in all three categories. The greatest change has been a substantial increase in organics programs, which now account for the greatest volume of tracked diversion in Berkeley. Within these categories, the City tracks the diversion achieved by 13 different programs. Figure 3 indicates that the three programs that diverted the most tons in 2003 were the curbside recycling program, self-haul organics (organic materials delivered to the Berkeley Transfer Station by businesses and residents), and the residential plant debris collection program, each of


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Figure 1: City of Berkeley, Generated Waste 2002

Inferred Diversion, 54,480 tons, 25%

Disposed, 117,003 tons, 52%

Counted Diversion, 36,936 tons , 17%

Excluded Disposed, 13,662 tons , 6%


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Figure 2: Diversion Trends by Category, 2000-2003 25,000

20,000

Tons/Year

15,000

Recycling Organics 10,000

TS Salvage 5,000

0 2000


2001

2002

5

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Figure 3: Counted Diversion in 2003, by Program CRTs/Electronics, 80 , 0% Mattresses, 149 , 0% Concrete, 277 , 1% Urban Ore, 456 , 1% Tires, 33 , 0%

Metals, 994 , 2% Drop-Off, 2,350 , 6%

Curbside, 8,623 , 22% Commercial Food, 3,330 , 8%

Buyback, 3,590 , 9%

Self-haul organics, 8,457 , 21%

City Commercial, 3,678 , 9%

Residential Greenwaste, 8,399 , 21%


6

Legend: Program, Tons Diverted, Percent of Counted Diversion

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which diverted over 8,000 tons of material in 2003. Other programs that account for at least six percent of counted diversion are the Buyback at 2nd and Gilman; the City’s commercial recycling program; the City’s commercial foodwaste collection program, and the Drop-off recycling facilities at 2nd and Gilman and at Martin Luther King Way and Dwight Way. The figures in Table 1 are also graphed in Figure 4 to show the trends in diversion achieved by the various programs over the past several years. TABLE 1 COUNTED DIVERSION IN BERKELEY, 2000–2003a Year Program

2000

2001

2002

2003

Curbside

7,422

7,605

8,203

8,623

Self-haul organics

4,379

5,408

7,043

8,457

Residential Greenwaste

5,924

6,869

7,620

8,399

City Commercial

3,389

3,809

3,773

3,678

Buyback

2,555

3,079

3,313

3,590

Commercial Food

1,777

1,925

2,612

3,330

Drop-Off

1,883

2,066

2,247

2,350

Metals

1,041

1,439

1,010

994

Urban Ore Transfer Station Salvage

454

457

483

456

Transfer Station Concrete Recycling

-

93

427

277

Transfer Station Mattresses Recycling

-

79

115

149

Transfer Station CRTs/Electronics

-

14

59

80

16

17

30

33

28,839

32,861

36,936

40,415

Transfer Station Tires Total

a

Figures are Tons; programs are sorted from greatest to least for 2003

DISPOSED WASTE QUANTITY AND COMPOSITION As noted above, The State requires all counties in California to track the origin and quantity of waste disposed at landfills and incinerators located within their boundaries. This requirement has been in existence since 1995, and has resulted in an excellent record for tracking the quantity and final destination of individual jurisdictions’ waste. Figure 5 shows the total amount of waste originating from within the City of Berkeley that has been reported as disposed from 1995 through 2003. The figure shows that during this time, the total amount of disposed waste has fluctuated between about 120,000 and 140,000 tons per year. In 2003, the amount disposed


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Figure 4: Diversion Trends, 2000-2003 10,000 9,000 8,000

Tons Diverted per Year

7,000 6,000

2000 2001 2002 2003

5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000

Ti re s

tre ss C es R Ts /E le ct ro ni cs

on c C

M at

re te

re O n rb a U

M et al s

pO ff D ro

Bu yb C ac om k m er ci al Fo od

nw

C om m er ci al

C ity

G re e

R

es

id e

nt

ia l

Se lfh

au

C

lo

ur

rg a

ni

bs id

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cs

as te

-


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Figure 5: City of Berkeley, Landfilled Waste 1995-2003 150,000

130,000

139,790

135,111

140,000

131,358

124,658

140,648 130,665

130,421

121,312

119,062

120,000 110,000

Tons Landfilled

100,000 90,000 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Year


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fell below 120,000 tons for the first time since record keeping began. Waste from the City of Berkeley is disposed at several landfills in the greater Bay Area. Figure 6 shows the quantity of waste disposed at different landfills between 1995 and 2003, and indicates that the great majority of waste from Berkeley is disposed at two landfills: Vasco Road Landfill, located in eastern Alameda County near Livermore; and West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, located near the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond. Most of the waste that is transferred through the City’s Transfer Station is disposed at Vasco Road Landfill. About 5,000 tons of the approximately 40,000 tons of Berkeley waste disposed at West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill in 2002 was from the University of California. Note that there was a substantial decrease in the amount of material disposed at this landfill in 2003. Additional data on the quantities of waste produced in year 2000, categorized by load type or destination, is shown in Figure 7. The first 5 categories in the figure, self-haul, single family, multi-family, commercial, and roll-off, include materials disposed at the Berkeley Transfer Station and other facilities in Alameda County. Figure 7 shows that self-haul wastes are the largest single load type, followed by waste from single family and multi-family homes. The 30 percent of the waste stream that was disposed of at the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, representing over 40,000 tons of material, probably included waste from U.C. Berkeley, self-haul loads, commercial loads, and roll-off loads; however, no details are available on this waste stream. The Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board/Waste Management Authority performed the last characterization of Berkeley’s disposed waste in the year 2000. This study looked in depth at the composition of several of the waste streams from the City. The results are summarized in Figures 8-13, which show all the material types making up over 3 percent of each waste stream. Characterizations are shown for the entire waste stream, for self-haul wastes, single family and multi-family loads, commercial loads, and roll-off containers. The amount of waste represented by each of these waste streams is shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 indicates that the most common disposed waste types in 2000 were food waste, prunnings and trimmings; “other” paper, unpainted wood, and composite bulky items (see the list of material definitions in Appendix A). Other highlights of this data source include the high volume of food waste, recyclable paper grades, and film plastics in both the single family and multi-family waste streams (Figures 9 and 10) and also in the commercial waste stream (Figure 11); and the prevalence of unpainted wood, inerts, composite bulky items, and prunnings and trimmings in both the roll-off and self-haul waste streams (Figures 12 and 13).

DIVERTIBLE MATERIALS IN DISPOSED WASTE Figures 8–13 indicate that many of the most prevalent waste types in Berkeley’s disposed waste can be recycled, composted, or reduced at the source. Table 2 shows the major divertible waste types in each of the five waste streams analyzed.


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Figure 6: Disposed Berkeley Refuse, 1995-2003 160,000

140,000

Tons per Year

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

0 1995

1996

1997

Vasco Rd (TS) Redwoood LF Total


1998

1999

West Contra Costa SLF Keller Canyon Landfill

11

2000

2001

2002

2003

Altamont SLF Others

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Figure 7: Berkeley Disposed Waste, 2000, by Wastestream

Others, 308 tons, 0% Redwoood LF, 1,387 tons, 1% Keller Canyon Landfill, 4,912 tons , 3% Self-Haul, 31,455 tons, 22%

West Contra Costa SLF, 41,474 tons, 30%

Single Family, 19,637 tons, 14%

Roll-off, 9,552 tons, 7% Multi-Family, 16,267 tons, 12%

Commercial, 15,891 tons, 11%


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Figure 8: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: All Disposed Waste Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste

30 28 26 24 22 20

Percen t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Food Waste

Prunnings and Trimmings

Other Paper

WoodUnpainted

Composite Bulky Items

Crushable Inerts

Mixed Paper Film Plastics

WoodPainted

New spaper

Other Ferrous Metals

Leaves and Uncoated Grass Corrugated

Material Type


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Figure 9: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Single Family Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste 30 28 26 24 22 20 Percen t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Food Waste

Other Paper

Mixed Paper

Textiles and Leather

Film Plastics

New spaper

Uncoated Corrugated

Magazines


Material Type


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Figure 10: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Multi-Family Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste 30 28 26 24 22 20 Percen t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Food Waste

Other Paper

Mixed Paper

New spaper

High Grade Paper

Film Plastics

Magazines

Uncoated Corrugated

Leaves and Grass


Textiles and Leather

Material Type


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Figure 11: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Commercial Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste 30 28 26 24 22 20 Percen t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Food Waste

Other Paper

Film Plastics

New spaper

Mixed Paper

Uncoated Corrugated

High Grade Paper

Wood-Unpainted

Mixed Plastics

Material Type


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Figure 12: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Roll-Off Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste 30 28 26 24 22 20 Percen t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Wood-Unpainted

Composite Bulky Items

Crushable Inerts


Food Waste

Leaves and Grass

Wood-Painted


Material Type


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Figure 13: Year 2000 Disposed Waste Detail: Self-Haul Showing All Material Types over 3% of Disposed Waste 30 28 26 24 22 20 P erce n t

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Prunnings and Trimmings

Wood-Unpainted Composite Bulky Crushable Inerts Items

Wood-Painted

Carpet

Leaves and Grass


Gypsum Wallboard Painted

Branches and Stumps

Material Type


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TABLE 2 MAJOR DIVERTIBLE MATERIALS, BY WASTE STREAM (Based on Year 2000 Waste Characterization Study) Single Family

Multi-Family

Commercial

Roll-off

Self-Haul

Food

X

X

X

Paper

X

X

X

Film Plastic

X

X

X

Wood-Unpainted

X

X

Crushable Inerts

X

X

Bulky Items

X

X

Plant Debris

X

X X

Carpet Textiles

X

This information may be used as the basis for developing new or expanded diversion programs. For example, Table 2 suggests that a program could be developed to recover materials from selfhaul and roll-off loads at the Transfer Station. Such a program might target wood waste, inerts, bulky items, plant debris, and carpet. Significant gains in diversion could be achieved through new programs or improvements in existing programs that target food waste and various paper grades in the residential and commercial waste streams. Film plastic is also prevalent in these waste streams, but the market for mixed film plastics is poorly developed; source reduction of film plastics may be a more appropriate strategy than recycling.


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