Solid Waste & Recycling Collection 2008 Solid Waste Management Update Waste Collection The primary objective of waste management is to protect the public and environment from potential harm. The traditional role of government in solid waste management is the creation and enforcement of regulation to ensure the safety of the public and environment. A historical as well as a futuristic view is necessary to be able to enact and enforce relevant effective regulation. One way of acquiring a historical and futuristic view is by using a set of metrics that captures and analyzes the key indicators of a solid waste management program. The Annual Solid Waste Management Survey Residential Waste and Recyclables and Full Cost Report provide us with information on some of the key indicators of solid waste management programs throughout the State. Collection FY 2006 - 2008 2006 2007 2008 This update will focus on the level and type of solid waste collection, processing and, recycling methods available throughout the State. The level and type of solid waste, recycling and yard trimmings collection services provided throughout the state varies greatly depending upon a community's size, density and demographic profile. The data contained in this report is obtained mainly from the No. of local governments responding 631 643 663 to Solid Waste Management Survey Solid Waste Service Providers Local governments 593 640 509 providing/arranging for residential waste collection Provided by public sector 335 347 429 Provided by private sector 356 293 214 Annual Solid Waste Management Survey and Full Cost Report. This data is used to acquire an over-all "annual snapshot" of solid waste and recycling activities in the State. Before applying any analysis to this data it should be Types of Residential Programs Curbside/backdoor City County 436 448 370 66 71 45 noted that annual response rates vary greatly and may contribute to the variations in trends. In the table entitled Residential Waste & Recyclables Collection the changing role of local governments as solid waste collection service providers is highlighted. Many local governments are now "providing for" rather than "arranging for" solid waste collection services. One potential trend appears to be the increasing availability of recycling services. In FY 2006 66% of local governments who provided or arranged for residential waste collection for Staffed Drop-off City 42 21 43 County 80 57 78 Unstaffed Drop-off City 40 26 22 County 43 32 14 Dumpsters (Green box) City 23 20 22 County 25 17 27 Recycling Service Providers Local governments making residential 395 408 401 recycling services available their residents, also made recycling services available, in FY 2008 this number increased to 79%. Provided by public sector Provided by private sector 264 290 315 77 112 104 Local governments can partner with the private sector to Provided by non-profit organization 80 80 108 manage the waste generated within their communities by using permits, ordinances, franchise agreements, and/or contracts. Permits and ordinances governing the collection of solid waste are typically the least restrictive tools local governments use to manage solid waste collection in their community. Collection ordinances typically establish general standards by which a private sector service provider must operate. Franchise agreements, either exclusive or open, generally establish a minimum level of services that must be provided by all service providers and usually stipulate the specific operating standards. A contract between a local government and private waste service provider provides the greatest degree of management control over the waste stream, with the local government setting forth specific performance measures and standards to be met Private/Public Partnerships for Residential Waste Collection FY 2006 - 2008 2006 2007 2008 City County City County City County Private collection does not exist 181 59 199 58 199 58 Issue permit or license 57 37 68 41 69 41 Local ordinance 267 84 278 95 279 95 Franchise agreement 142 41 149 42 150 42 Governments contract 260 63 274 64 275 64 by both parties. Open competition -- no local 169 72 151 74 151 74 government oversight C - 1 Revised July 31, 2009 Solid Waste & Recycling Collection 2008 Update The number of local governments reporting they use ordinances continues to increase (351 in FY 2006 to 374 in FY 2008). The wording of this question as well as the section of the survey in which the question was asked was changed in FY 2005. We will continue to monitor the trending of this question in the future. As can be seen in the Residential Waste and Recyclables Collection table (C-1), the types of residential solid waste collection services range from "green box" or Dumpster drop-off service to curbside or backdoor pick-up. One trend the Department of Community Affairs has been tracking for several years is the use of Dumpsters. They are often placed in unsupervised areas, usually in rural communities, for trash collection and frequently become dumping grounds for everything from household trash to disabled vehicles, tires, and animal carcasses. They can become an eyesore in a community and attract waste from neighboring jurisdictions. The number of local governments using green boxes for residential waste collection has dwindled. In 1994, 74 cities and 99 counties reported using them for residential waste collection. In FY 2008, just 22 cities and 27 counties Yard Trimmings Management FY 2006 - 2008 2006 2007 2008 City County City County City County Promote home composting and grasscycling 25 25 22 29 28 21 reported using green boxes. Provide for collection 258 33 326 56 304 45 and disposal Collection Options Yard Trimmings Collection Staffed drop-off facilities 19 28 21 28 12 31 The number of local governments reporting that they Unstaffed drop-off facilities 9 3 10 3 10 3 provide for the collection and disposal of yard Curbside collection 294 22 302 21 295 17 trimmings increased from 291 in FY 2006 to 349 in FY 2008. The number of local government reporting Accepted at 21 32 23 31 15 24 landfill/transfer station they provide the service has increased from 253 in FY 2006 to 290 in FY 2008. The type of collection service options ranged from accepting yard trimmings at solid waste management facilities like a solid waste transfer station to curbside collection programs. Recyclables Collection Residential Recycling Service Providers FY 2006 - 2008 During FY 2008, 401 local governments reported they provided or arranged for 450 residential recycling services in their 400 communities. As can be seen in the Residential Recycling Services Providers 350 graph, the strong tradition of public, private, 300 and non-profit partnerships used to provide recycling services throughout Georgia 250 continues, however it appears that the public sector maybe taking a stronger role in 200 providing collection services. 150 The number of local governments whose 100 residents have access to recycling services has increased slightly during the last three 50 years. Collection programs for paper, beverage 0 containers and plastics continue to rise. It appears that cities and counties are expanding collection programs at about the same rate. This increase in programs may be linked to the rise in prices for recyclable commodities. What is notable is the increase in the number of Counties who reported collecting other 2006 2007 2008 Governments with recycling services available to residents Provided by public sector Provided by private vendor Provided by non-profit organization C - 2 Revised July 31, 2009 Solid Waste & Recycling Collection 2008 Update Household Hazardous Waste. As shown in the Number of Jurisdictions Collecting Materials for Recycling tables on page C-4, there has been a steady increase in the number of local governments making residential recycling services available in their jurisdictions. Nationally and regionally, market prices for recycled materials have risen steadily. Over the past year we have seen a stabilization of the price for recycled materials. This price stabilization along with local residents demand has prompted local governments to add recycling services and to increase the number of materials they accept in their program. This report does not address the scale of the individual local recycling operations, which would be difficult to quantify. Rather, it focuses upon the level of recycling services being offered throughout the state. Since 1992, newspaper has been reported as the residential recyclable material most widely collected in Georgia, followed by aluminum cans. During FY 2008, the most popular commodities recycled from residences were newspaper (492 jurisdictions reporting collection); aluminum (448); corrugated cardboard (431); magazines (430); and Phone books (415). It should be noted that there was a decrease in the number of jurisdictions collecting these materials. We will continue to monitor this decrease. The tables on page C-4 tally the number of local governments collecting commercial and residential materials for recycling. Recyclables Processing In FY 2008 145 local governments reported processing residential recyclables as source separated materials, or reported that they collect source-separated materials from their customers. Source-separated means the materials are separated before being collected, typically by the consumer. For example, a homeowner may have to place glass, plastic and metal in separate containers before collection. Commingled collection means the consumer places all the material in one container and the material is sorted after collection, often by paid staff, inmates or probationers. Processing of Residential Recyclables FY 2006 - 2008 2006 2007 2008 City County City County City County Source-separated 79 97 77 92 74 71 Commingled 46 14 31 13 78 21 Both 6 9 9 8 23 20 C - 3 Revised July 31, 2009 Solid Waste & Recycling Collection 2008 Update Number of Jurisdictions Collecting Number of Jurisdictions Collecting Residential Materials for Recycling by Commercial Materials for Recycling Type by Type FY 2005 - 2008 FY 2005 - 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 Automobile components tires auto batteries motor oil Metals aluminum scrap metal Paper newspaper magazines corrugated cardboard white paper phone books other paper Misc. plastic glass 2005 2006 2007 2008 62 54 47 31 44 38 13 26 50 36 14 24 248 196 187 74 106 94 94 49 293 254 252 69 189 84 67 48 202 177 174 83 98 66 66 * 163 71 71 60 92 50 31 35 214 181 162 * 139 57 47 56 Automobile components tires auto batteries antifreeze motor oil oil filters Metals aluminum steel cans scrap metal aerosol cans Paper newspaper magazines corrugated cardboard phone books paper board other paper Misc. 117 142 127 224 89 100 88 167 18 21 24 78 66 95 100 187 18 28 25 75 292 452 463 448 118 226 228 289 124 208 204 294 16 39 35 101 344 509 507 492 269 378 381 430 280 368 386 431 202 322 324 415 111 72 105 293 172 236 253 339 #1 plastic 247 360 363 378 #2 plastic 208 311 324 348 other plastic 52 69 72 238 glass 180 303 311 361 white goods 246 225 222 324 Christmas trees 253 262 254 363 Transfer Stations With fewer, more regional-sized landfills in the state and a C&D materials agricultural chemical containers 51 48 45 0 15 10 8 37 wide array of solid waste collection programs, solid waste electronics 12 transfer stations continue to be a popular method of Household streamlining solid waste collection services. Transfer stations Hazardous Waste are especially effective when collection routes are farther paint 42 than 50 miles from a landfill. Combining several conventional cleaning products 0 76 102 221 29 27 93 2 0 44 rear-loader garbage truck loads into a single tractor-trailer for pesticides 4 4 4 19 the trip to the landfill saves fuel costs, vehicle wear and tear, other 19 12 6 65 and means fewer trucks can service more customers. Only 70 counties reported that they or their contractors used transfer stations for the collection or disposal of residential waste in FY 2005. By FY 2008, 82 counties or their contractors were using transfer stations to manage residential waste. Use of Solid Waste Transfer Stations FY 2005 - 2008 City County 2005 153 70 2006 157 72 2007 157 77 2008 106 82 C - 4 Revised July 31, 2009 Solid Waste & Recycling Collection 2008 Update Georgia banned yard trimmings from lined Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills in 1996, as part of an effort to extend landfill disposal capacity. Effective September 1st 1996, each city, county and solid waste management authority was required to impose restrictions on yard trimmings generated in or disposed within their jurisdiction. The restrictions required that yard trimmings: Not be placed in or mixed with municipal solid waste; Yard Trimmings Management Be sorted and stored for collection to facilitate composting or other handling; FY 2006 - 2008 2006 2007 2008 To the maximum extent feasible be sorted, stockpiled or chipped for composting or used as a mulch or for other beneficial purposes; and Be banned from disposal at MSW disposal facilities having liners and leachate collection systems. City County City County City County Promote Home 25 25 22 29 28 21 Composting and Beneficial Reuse Provide for collection 258 33 326 56 304 45 and disposal Collection Annually, DCA surveys local governments to determine how they collect, process and use yard trimmings generated within their communities. During FY 2008, 28 cities and 21 counties reported actively promoting waste minimization practices such as home composting or beneficial reuse of yard trimmings. During FY 2008, 304 cities and 45 counties reported Not available 178 96 189 96 203 98 Your government 242 76 245 8 254 36 Another government 17 22 12 9 4 0 Solid Waste 8 11 7 8 1 1 Authority Private vendor via 11 24 8 17 8 0 individual subscription Private vendor via 35 11 36 9 35 5 government contract collecting yard trimmings for diversion from MSW Collection Options landfills. It is not surprising, given lot sizes and Staffed drop-off 16 32 20 29 12 31 population densities, that cities lead the way in facilities providing yard trimmings collection services. Most local Unstaffed drop-off facilities 10 8 10 3 10 3 governments also reported that they provided the Curbside collection 240 16 277 22 295 17 collection services with just a few indicating they contracted with a private vendor to collect yard Accepted at landfill/transfer station 21 44 23 54 15 24 trimmings. In many areas, especially urban and Other 8 6 suburban communities, the visible result of the yard trimmings ban has been the presence of large paper Processing Methods Composting 48 18 35 9 9 1 Solid waste landfill 22 8 42 5 40 1 bags of leaves and grass at curbsides. Collection of Inert landfill 154 92 104 30 63 16 yard trimmings in paper bags enables them to be ground into a mulch or feedstock for composting. The Grind/chip into mulch Own a 183 76 158 30 99 12 143 29 144 17 0 0 majority of local governments who reported collecting chipper/shredder yard trimmings either ground or shredded the collected Contract out 31 33 47 21 chipping/shredding 0 0 material for use as mulch, however 79 local Use another local 18 9 21 3 0 0 governments reported disposing the collected materials government's into an inert landfill. Composting and chip into mulch were also reported as common processing methods. chipper/shredder Burning Other 24 4 26 0 21 0 23 6 0 0 10 1 Yard trimmings, when processed properly, have Beneficial Use Give away 178 68 159 16 73 0 numerous beneficial uses in a community. The use of Sell 8 8 11 3 2 0 compost and mulch is extremely beneficial for slowing storm-water runoff and retaining moisture around Used by local 97 41 48 17 7 0 government Becomes property of 39 15 39 21 15 0 plants. Many local governments use processed yard private contractor trimmings as mulch for their landscaping and civil engineering applications or report offering the processed yard trimmings to their citizens for residential landscaping. C - 5 Revised July 31, 2009