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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-05-10 City CouncilTO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER MAY 10, 2004 POLICY AND SERVICES REGARDING PROPOSED WASTE SERVICES DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC WORKS CMR:205:04 COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS NEW RECYCLING AND SOLID 6 RECOMMENDATION The Policy and Services Committee (Committee) and staff recommends that Council approve the following: 1)Implementation of a single stream recycling program; Committee voted 2-1 recommending program; 2)Change the collection of yard trimmings to cart service; Committee voted 3-0 recommending program; 3)Supply optional curbside cart service for garbage; Committee voted 3-0 recommending program; and 4)Approve compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel for the collector’s recycling collection vehicles. Committee voted 3-0 recommending pro~am. COMMITTEE REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS On March 9, 2004 the Policy and Services Committee (Committee) discussed the Proposed New Recycling and Solid Waste Services. (See Attachment 1: CMR 165:04). The Committee voted two to one to accept staff’s recommendation to implement a single stream recycling program with the condition that staff returns to Council with a status report 18 months after the programs begin (scheduled to begin July 2005). Chair Kishimoto voted "nay" because of her concern of where and how the recycled materials would be used and the global view of how the single stream program would integrate with the proposed Environmental Service Center project. The Committee voted unanimously to accept staff’s three other recommendations, including changing the yard trimmings recycling collection to cart service, supplying residents with the option to CMR:205:04 Page 1 of 6 obtain a cart for curbside garbage service, and approving compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel for the collector’s recycling collection vehicles. The Committee’s review included discussions regarding recycling markets and the quality of materials processed; the alternative service optiong including the split cart system; the single stream recycling program connection with the proposed future Environmental Services Center; the environmental impact of the recommended new services; and the impact on the refuse rates. Both chair Kishimoto and Vice Mayor Burch asked whether the single stream material was being recycled. Staff has obtained a recycling guarantee from Waste Management, investigated recycling markets, visited single stream processing facilities and researched at what level recycling material degradation occurs if any. The following were staff findings: Recycling Guarantee To ensure that the materials are reused and/or recycled with the existing source separated program, the City currently requires: ~Monthly Recycling Reports" from PASCO that include tonnages marketed by material type and revenues received from those materials. Staff conducts a "PASCO Performance Audit" which includes reviewing selected recycled materials and the markets used to ensure materials are recycled. With the proposed single stream program, the following items will be required from PASCO to ensure that the materials are reused and/or recycled: A monthly recycling verification form will be required to be filled out by Waste Management reporting all inbound, outbound tonnages by material types, residue rates, and specify the brokers purchasing the recycling materials. The processing facility will also ~Tice per year perform an analysis of the Palo Alto stream which will indicate specific quantities of materials being processed just from Palo Alto. Staff will require annual letters from the brokers and material manufacturers that purchase the recycled commodities from the single stream facilities stating that they recycle the material and what it will be recycled into. PASCO will be subject to stringent performance adjustments including the possibility of termination of its Agreement with the City if it is determined that PASCO or the processing facility has landfilled the recyclables collected. CMR:205:04 Page 2 of 6 Staff will continue to ensure that selected recycled materials are reused or recycled as part of the "PASCO Performance Audit." Recycling Markets Markets are important to follow to ensure that all the materials are reused and/or recycled, and that the highest market values are received. Waste Management reports that minimal market changes will occur by switching from a source separated program to a single stream because the materials sorts remain similar. Waste Management is giving the City a high market value for the materials collected during the pilot program which staff believes will continue if the single stream program is approved. Waste Management markets its materials from a regional approach, resulting in a higher market value for the material and ensuring long-term market commitments. During the pilot program, staff inquired and followed where the raw materials were sold and received written verification that these materials were used as recycled materials. The following is what can be expected if the single stream program is approved: The Waste Management Castroville facility currently markets 75 percent of its fiber/paper tonnage to Asia, mostly China. These plants make packaging material such as cardboard and paperboard as well as new newsprint from the recycling material received from Waste Management. The remaining 25 percent of paper is sold domestically to SMURFIT, specifically its San Jose site that makes cereal boxes for General Foods, or Weyerhaeuser, a plant that makes new cardboard. Half of the plastic containers are marketed to domestic plants within the United States and 50 percent of the plastics are marketed to Asia. The plastic containers are shredded and made into plastic pellets that are reformed to create a variety of new products including new beverage containers, new toys and new household items. Tin cans are sold to domestic markets and converted to new containers. Aluminum cans are sold to Anheuser Busch within the United States and made into new beverage containers. Scrap steel is also sold to domestic markets to be melted and formed into new metal materials. The glass is processed at a facility in Union City where the material is further sorted and marketed to Gallo Wineries (to be used in wine bottles) and to aggregate manufacturers that use the glass mixture in road projects. The best recycling guarantee that a community can obtain is to collect materials that have positive market values. At the same time, communities have to be willing to risk accepting a material type in order to improve the recycling markets. As a result, Palo Alto expanded the materials accepted in the current pilot program to include the addition of #3- #7 plastics, plastic bags, and milk and juice cartons. Waste Management is successfully marketing the #3 - #7 plastic containers and staff recommends keeping them in the single stream program. However, during the pilot program staff discovered that plastic bags and other film plastics have a poor or negative market value and create CMR:205:04 Page 3 of 6 problems with the sorting equipment at the processing facilities. The markets for the milk and juice cartons are also limited and at this time, the material is only accepted and recycled in North Korea. Since staff has not received a guarantee that the brokers will recycle these materials and not ultimately throw them out as residue, staff recommends not extending the collection of these materials with the citywide single stream recycling program. However, staff does recommend that these materials continue to be collected at the Palo Alto Recycling Drop-off Center where both PASCO and City staff can better control where and how these commodities are marketed. In addition, if the overseas market stops accepting the milk and juice cartons, the materials can easily be removed from the drop-off center as an acceptable item. If the materials were collected curbside, it~vould entail the re-education of the community to no longer place the material in the recycling containers. Single Stream Processin~o Facilities Recycling materials collected through the proposed single stream-recycling progam would be taken to a regional processing facility located outside the city limits. Waste Management has two regional processing facilities that could accept Palo Alto’s single stream recycables. The Castroville processing facility is currently the preferred location to take the materials if the program is approved. The Castroville facility began processing single-stream in September 2002 and is currently processing single stream recycling for the following cities: unincorporated areas of Monterey County, Seaside, Marina, Pacific Grove, King City, Sand City, Del Ray Oaks, Pebble Beach, Carmel and Hollister. The second Waste Management single stream processing facility is the Davis Street Transfer Station located in Oakland. The Davis Street processing facility location processes single stream recycling materials for 11 cities, including Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Danville, unincorporated areas of Alameda County, Albany, Emeryville, Castro Valley, Ora Loma Sanitary District, and Oakland. This facility is currently at capacity in handling single stream recyclable materials but plans are being made to improve this facility in the near future, which would allow Palo Alto to take its recyclable materials to this facility, if it proved beneficial. The table below compares the type of material sorts that are accomplished at these single stream processing facilities and the source-separated materials that are processed at the City’s Recycling Center. The only difference is that office paper, currently collected only from the commercial sector, would be collected and processed with the mixed paper. CMR:205:04 Page 4 of 6 Materials plastic plastic Newspaper Cardboard Office Paper Mixed paper Colored HDPE/#2 containers Plastic containers #3 through #7 Natural HDPE/#2 containers PET/# 1 plastic containers Tin Aluminum Glass Scrap metal (small pieces) Source separated materials processed at the City’s Recycling Center Materials sorted by the single stream processing Recycling Material De,oradation When municipalities first started rolling out single stream pro~ams a few years ago, they ran into issues with marketing some of the material, primarily the fiber/paper stream, due to high contamination levels of glass, or not being able to successfully separate most of the newspaper from mixed paper. As a result, the material was often down~aded into a lower-quality end product. Staff’s research has found that material degadation in single stream is becoming less of a concern due to advancements in technology and changes in the sorting equipment. Today, processing plants have better screening of materials than they did even one year ago since technology continues to advance as the processing facilities update their equipment. As an example, Waste Management invested over $1 million last year to update the equipment at its Castroville facility and plans to implement up to another $1 million in improvements this year to its processing lines to make the sorting of materials faster and cleaner. As a result, the Waste Management Castroville facility is able to sort the various fibers (cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper). An example of the sorting equipment improvements is that it is able to market its mixed paper as a #3 Fade, the same as the mixed paper collected from the source separated progam in Palo Alto. If degadation of recyclable materials does occur, it lowers the value of the materials and means that the raw material is reused and/or recycled in a different form. De~adation does not result in landfilling. By switching to a single stream or split cart recycling progam, the City would see a decline in what is received for recycling revenues by approximately $740,000 annually. CMR:205:04 Page 5 of 6 Waste Management reports that this loss of recycling revenues has little to do with the degadation of recyclable materials, but is the result of the cost for equipment and the additional labor needed to sort these materials. With regards to Chairperson Kishimoto’s other concern about how single stream is integated with the proposed Environmental Service Center project, staff has developed the single stream pro~am which is not dependent on the future of the ESC or vise versa. The advantages and disadvantages of having an ESC locally will be discussed at a later date. ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1:CMR:165:04 PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: MICH~J’ACKSON Public Works Operations Deputy Director GLENN S. ROBERTS Director of Public Works CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: SON Assistant City Manager CMR:205:04 Page 6 of 6 TO:CITY COULNCIL ATTN: CiVy of Paio Alto Manager’s Report POLICY AN--D SERV-ICES COMMITTEE FROM:CITY NL~NAGER DEPA_RTMENT: PUBLIC WOR_KS DATE:Mf!~RCH 9, 2004 CMR:165:04 SUBJECT:PROPOSED NEW RECYCLENG AND SOLID WASTE SERSffCES REPORT EN." BR.rEF Staff recommends implementing a single stream recycling program, chanNng the collection of yard trimmings to a cart service, providing residents -with the option of a curbside cart for garbage service and chan=m~g the co!lection contractor’s recyc!ing vehicles to run on compressed natural gas as a preferable alternative Nel. Single stream recycling-will enable all residents as well as businesses and multi-family complexes to benefit from usin~ a wheeled cart for the r,.,’vclm_ and yard trimming services. Single stream recycling allows for the expansion of accepted materials, improves container mobiliW, and reduces noise and litter created from normal collection. The wheeled cart for recycling and yard trimmings will increase participation due to its convenience rand ulc easy pro~am g-a_de:mes containing less restrictions than the current system. Alternatives considered to the single stream recycling included the split cart system (where customers sort recycling materials into two compa-tments) and keeping the existing four recycling crate system. Staff also recormrnends providing residents with the option to obtain a wheeled cart, collected at the curb. for their garbage service. This service would eiiminate residents’ concerns of missing lids and of containers purchased at local hardware stores not meeting the required restrictions for garbage collection. The garbage cart would also eliminate privacy concerns, as well as improve container mobility and minimize coilection cost. Finally, staff recommends requi~mg the collection contractor to change the recycling collection vehicles to run on compressed natural gas as a preferable alternative fuel that is also approved by the Cali~%rnia Air Resources Board’s fiature clean air requirements. CMR:165:04 Page i ofl I r~ " N T NRE.. OM_ME_ ,TDA 1 Staff requests that the Policy and Services Com_mi~ee recommend to Council k~proval of the following: 1)Implement a single stream recycling prog-ram. 2)Change the collection of yard trimmings to cart service. 3)Supply optiona! curbside cart service for garbage. 4)Approve compressed natural gas as an akemative fuel for the collector’s recycling collection vehicles. BACKGROUND As required in the ageement with the Palo Alto Sankadon Company/%;aste Management (PASCO), the City periodically performs a customer service satisfaction survey to evaluate the general satisfaction of the community with the quality of service provided by PASCO. The results from the survey conducted in 2001 showed that 96 percent of residents responding to the survey rated the PASCO ser,4ce as excellent or satisfactory (C’_M_TZ 364:0!). The survey also provided the opportunity for residents to add commen~s about their service. Comments related to improving service levels included: 1) recycle additiona! plastics._ . -~,v~ improve how ~’~o~ta~ne~- ~ ,’~ are ,-~*~,~,~ a~er being ~-"~’; ~’~ 3) reauce collection noise, and 4) create flexibility and simpIi~ collection methods. As a result of this survey., a pi!ot program was implemented to address the concerns and needs of the public. Currently residents have to separate curbside recycling materials into four different stationary containers and then carry them to the curb for collection by PASCO. The new- piloted service involved testin~ sin~!e~ stream ~e..’~clin_.~ , ~ ~ Sin_~le~ stream recvclin~ ~ is the cow_mingled co!lection of recyclabte materials in one wheeled cart. The pilgt also tested the placement of yard trimmings in a wheeled cart instead of the current system where residents place their yard trimmings into their own 32-gallon cans, which are then carried to the curb for collection. The pilot prog-ram was implemented in October 2002 in five different locations throughout the Paio Alto community, including sections of Downtown, Crescent Park, M~d,own/V~,~s~ Bayshore Road area. Barron Park and College Terrace. The pilot pro~am was comprised of approximately 2500 households, with about 500 being serviced each day of the week. Each household in the pilot area received new pubiic educational materials and was provided with two 96-gallon wheeled carts, one for the commingling of r,.cy~I_n= materials and one ,_or yard trirnmin_c~s materials. The 96-ga!lon cart s:ze was chosen because it would accommodate al! the _,~c~,c,able materials placed inside the current system of four lg-gallon recycling crates. The cart CMK:I65:0a Pa=.. of 1 t also accommodates corrugated cardboard and extra materials generated seasonally (mixed paper during the. holidays, e,-ctra beverage containers during the warm summer days). Recycling materials accepted were expanded to include all plastics numbered one through seven, milk and juice cartons, and plastic bags. The 96-gallon cart for yard trimmings accommodates the normal amount of material placed for collection at the curb as well as any extra yard trimmings occasionally generated by residents. Staff evaluated carts from five different cart manufacturers and selected the cart delivered to residents for its pricing, capacity to hold recycling materials, ease in maneuverability and compatibility with the existing PASCO collection equipment. The color of the carts was chosen after careful consideration .of the colors normally associated with recycling materials and yard trimmings. For yard trimmings, the color geen was selected since it is associated with the color of the materials collected. The blue coior for the recycling cart was custom-made for the Ci~ of Pato Alto. The color blue is generally associated with recycling of materials. Since Palo Alto prides itself in being unique and different from other municipalities,, staff wanted to continue that tradition by having the manufacturer create a custom blue color for the recycling cart. The deliver of the carts and announcement of the pilot recycling progam was well accepted, with the normal level of initial resistance to service changes. City and PASCO staff worked hard to accommodate special requests and to educate the public that residents would be ~ven the opportunity to evaluate the serv’ice and help determine whether to continue and expand the piloted service cit?-~vide. Within a month, residents initially rejecting the idea of change began to enjoy the benefits of single stream recycling. The recycling materials are collected at the curb and taken to a processing facility, where both people and machinery with advanced technology separate the recyclable material. The sorted materials are then marketed to material brokers or manufacturers, According to PASCO’siWaste Management market analysts, the majority of the material including paper is sold to markets in Asia. Some materials such as some plastic, tin and glass are sold to markets within the United States. DISCUSSION A survey of the piloted area was conducted in March 2003 to assess residents’ response to the new s:#stem of single stream recycling and yard trimmings using wheel carts. The survey inciuded questions about their preference of container, the size of the carts issued during the pilot, color of the Cart and collection changes noticed during the pilot. Staff received !,279 responses for a 55 percent return rate. When asked the question, "Do you prefer the cart instead of the crates?" 93 percent of the survey respondents preferred the cart, with 4 percent disageeing with the statement. The survey responses also showed that the size of the recycling cart issued at the beginning of the pilot was adequate for 59 percent of the participants, while 32 percent preferred a mid-size cart (64-gallon) and 7 percent preferred a smaller 32-gallon carE. For yard trimmings, 68 percent of the survey CMR:165:04 Page 3 of l 1 participants preferred the larger 96-gallon container, while 25 percent preferred the smaller containers. In the survey, 86 percent of the respondents liked the custom blue color for the recycling carts, 4 percent did not like the color, and 9 percent had no opinion. The survey results for the color of the yard trimmings cart were similar in that 85 percent liked the color, 1 percent did not like it and 9 percent did not have an opinion. While some survey responses expressed the concern about the lack of sorting and a change in their recycling habits, most residents welcomed the ease and convenience of the single-sort system. Single Stream Recvclin_~ Staff recommends expanding the piloted single stream recycling progam to the entire city. Single stream recycling has many advantages. It saves people time from having to sort recyclables into the current four-crate system and carry each material t.-v?ge to the curb. Collection carts have aKached lids and wheels. This improves cart mobility and reduces noise and li~er created from the collection progam. It al!ows the Recycling Pro~am to expand the types of materials accepted. It changes the desig-n of the collection trucks to single compartment bodies. This reduces the number of collection vehicles needed to collect materials, reduces noise levels in neighborhoods, reduces street wear, reduces collection cost and allows the ability to utilize full truck capacities. The semi-automated collection of the cart instead of the current manual co!lection of crates results in reduced worker injuries and in the future will reduce the collector’s insurance costs. Single stream recycling in wheeled carts has proven to be a successful sera, ice for the Palo Alto residents participating in the pi!ot program. Single stream recycling is also a service that has become the trend in many communities throughout the nation due to its convenience to the customer and the technoto~cal improvements that have been made in the sorting systems. City and PASCO staff believes that single stream recycling Will increase participation and tonnage due to its convenience in using the wheeled cart and of the easy progam guidelines containing less restrictions than the current system. Based on the results from the piloted area, PASCO projects an increase of 10 percent in curbside recycling tonnage and 35 percent increase in curbside yard trimmings tonnage if services are expanded citywide to residents. Collection Containers With ~e expansion of single stream recycling cit;~dde, residents would be given the choice of pre-selecting their recycling cart size (32, 64 & 96 gallon). The default cart size for those residents that do not make a cart selection would be a 96-gallon cart. This is based on the responses from the pilot survey where the majority, (59 percent) of respondents preferred the larger 96-gallon cart for recyc!i_n_g. The carts used for single stream recycling will alleviate some of the container placement issues mentioned in the PASCO survey by reducing the number of containers placed at the curb for service. Residents will be given the option to keep and reuse their existing crates or the crates w’ill be collected and recyclect. CMR: 165:04 Page 4 of 11 Processing The goal for the City’s solid waste management services is to have Palo Alto’s materials se~dced within the community instead of having to transport materials to other jurisdictions. However, the current Palo Alto Recycling Center is not equipped nor does it have the space to process the commingled mixture of recyclabtes. With single stream recycling, PASCO would transport the material to another Waste Management materials recovery facility for processing. The proposed processing facilities are the Davis Street Transfer Station located in Oakland or the Waste Management Castroville Processing Center via the transfer station in San Jose. The additional travel time to deliver the recycling materials to Oakland or Castroville would offset any time saved during the collection time. Since all the recycling is placed in one container, there is an increase in processing costs and degadation to some of the marketable items. This resuks in PASCO receiving a lower cost per ton for the materials marketed. PASCO currently receives approximately $71 per ton for an average of 14,500 tons of material recycled armually. PASCO projects to recei~,~e only $15 to $20 per ton for the single stream material, resulting in a loss of revenue of approximately $740,000 on an annual basis. It is estimated that the increase in participation wi!! !ead to an additional 1,450 tons of materials to be recycled, which will offset some of the revenue loss by approximately $30,000. Single stream may also increase the amount of residue, which PASCO estimates to be between 3 and 12 percent. The residue is a result of people placing items inside the container that are not recyclabte. Staff plans to try to control the residue rate by providing extensive educational outreach on what can be recycled. PASCO will also use its non-collection notices to inform customers of items which are not recyclable. As a way to prevent high levels of residue, staff recommends not extending the piloted curbside collection of milk and juice cartons or plastic bags due to the poor plastic recycling markets and the inability of processors to guarantee that all materials will be recycled and not disposed as residue at the end of the sorting process. As a result of sending the recycling materials to another community for processing, PASCO would no longer operate the processing of recyclables at the local. Recycling Center. The public drop-off center would remain open and would continue to accept all the current recycling items including those not collected curbside such as milk and juice cartons, polystyrene, and plastic bags. Expandin_~ Recvclina for Multi-Family Complexes. Businesses and Schools Staff recommends extending the single stream progam to multi-family complexes, businesses and schools. The current service involves the collection of materials separated in muttiple containers including: 1) office pak (a mixture of white and mixed paper), 2) newspapers, 3) bottles and cans, and 4) cardboard. Allowing these sectors to mix paper, bottles and cans would increase participation and tonnage due to the convenience and less restrictive recycling guidelines involved in single stream recycling. Since the majority of CMR:!65:04 Page 5 of I 1 cardboard from these sectors is oversized and is best placed in large containers, staff recommends continuing the current cardboard service. The change in service would involve collecting the existing carts and exchang-ing them for the new single stream recycling carts that would resemble those issued to residents. Al! recycling carts would then be standardized (by color, size and manufacturer) through- out the city and Could be ser~dced by any of the collection trucks. Carts for Yard Trimminas Collection Staff recommends changing the collection of yard trimmings to cart service. Collecting yard trimmings in wheeled carts means that the cart would be more convenient and easier to wheel to the curb than carrying multiple 32-gal!on cans full of yard trimmings. The carts would provide a clean and uniform appearance, as well as improve the aesthetics of the streets on collection days due to the containment of the yard trimmings. PASCO would create desig-nated routes for the collection of yard trimmings, resulting in more efficient use of the truck space and fewer trips to the composting site at the landfill. Under this progam, residents would be given-the option of obtaining one 96-gallon cart at no charge. The 96-gallon cart would accom_m__odate the same amount of ma*,eria! as three of the currently allowed 32-gallon cans. Smaller sized carts (32 and 64-gallon) would also be available. Residents regularly generating more yard trirmrnings and needing more than one cart would have the option of renting or purchasing additional carts. The processing of the yard trimmings would continue to occur at the composting site in the City’s landfill. Optional Curbside Cart Ser~,ice For Oarba_~e Staff recommends continuing the backyard garbage collection se~’ice, in addition to offering residents a choice of obtaining a wheeled cart and placing it at the curb for their garbage collection. PASCO currently provides backvard garbage collection to residents with can service. This allows residents to leave the cans in a convenient location on their private property and for a PASCO driver to enter the backyard to empty the containers on collection day Over the years, staff has obtained feedback from residents *hat 32-gallon cans are becoming more difficult to obtain through the local hardware stores. The containers sold are generally larger and over the size limit required for garbage service. ..~,,s~d,,nts are also not compatible with theMany of these new containers ~urchased by ~ " ~ ’ PASCO equipment. By having PASCO provide the optional wheeled cart for garbage, it ensures that the cart will be compatible with the collection equipment used and the weight limit guidelines. The cart service would also eliminate some of the concerns residents mentioned in a recent PASCO customer service survey of lids not beino returned to the container, which is a problem thatrises during rainy and windy days. With this option, residents would be provided a wheeled cart. at no cost for the collection of their garbage. Those residents wanting a cart for their garbage would be provided the CMR:165:04 Page 6 of 11 choice of cart sizes that would equal the current service rate structure. The smallest size available is a 20-gallon, which is the same capacity as the mini can currently used by some residents. This cart would be a 32-ga!lon cart with a 20-gallon insert allowing only 20 gallons of trash to be piaced inside the cart. Other cart sizes would include 32-gallon, 64-gallon and 96-gallon. The 96-gal!on would be equivalent to the current three cans (each at 32-gallons) used by some residents. By choosing the cart option for garbage collection, residents would be required to place their carts at curbside for collection. Curbside collection would help maintain the cost of proYiding the cart collection service by allowing PASCO to maintain its efficiency in emptying the carts. Similar to the recycling carts, by placing the garbage carts at the curb, PASCO would be able to drive up to the carts. The driver would place the cart on a liRing mechanism, which would then empty the cart without moving it far from its original location. No rate incentive was proposed to residents who elect to put their own carts at curbside because the collection labor saved would be used towards the CiD" yard trimming collection pro~am~ in anticipation c~f the pro~am. Education PASCO would need to hire three additional temporary customer service representatives for approximately six months prior and during the start-up of the new services to handle the expected increase in customer telephone calls and administrative work, s~a~ will develop all the educational outreach mat~na~s to educate the Palo Alto community, including residents, businesses and schools, on the future service changes. This will include developing a postcard to send residents requesting that they pre-select the size of their recycling and yard trimmings cart as well as offering the option of a garbage cart for curbside collection. Brochures with new recycling ~m.!idelines will be developed and distributed to all customers. Newspaper advertisements will be placed in the local newspapers. In addition, staff will work with business, home and neighborhood associations as well as the local media to inform the community about changes to their seEr-ices. Collection Vehicles & Alternative Fuels Staff recommends switching the new PASCO recycling collection vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG). The City requested that PASCO research the possibility of using alternative fuels to improve air quality and to comply with upcoming mandates by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). PASCO switched to using biodiesel (B-20) as a fuel alternative in i[s vehicles in July 2002, helping to reduce air emissions during collection. CMR:t65:04 Page 7 of il However, it is uncertain at this tim_e if using B-20 would meet future requirements by the Air pollution reductions can be made by switching the vehicles to operate on another preferable alternative f~,~el such as CNG. Since four of the PASCO recycling trucks are due for replacement during FY 2004-05 and two vehicles are scheduled for replacement the following fiscal year, the City and PASCO have an opportunity to obtain trucks that operate on CNG to meet the CARB requirements. Each collection vehicle with the CNO fuel en~ne would cost an addkional $50,000. The added cost would be included in the FY 2004-05 budgeted PASCO depreciation costs. PASCO plans to fuel these vehicles at the Ciu;’s new CNG fueling station. The City’s Public Works Department?Refuse Fund would absorb the cost of the fuel (see Attachment A). Using CNG would require PASCO to retrofit its maintenance shop at a cost of approximately $100,000, bud=eLed through the PASCO budget. The retrofit includes installing gas detectors; required ventilation, and spark prevention improvements as wel! as upgadLng the shop’s heating and electrical s~,stem, Maintenance and labor costs associated with CNG are estimated to increase approx_imatety 15 percent, which would also .be budgeted through the normal PASCO budget process. Alternative h Split Cart System As an alternative to single stream recycling, staff considered the split cart system. Instead of commingling all of the recvclables into one wheeled cart as the case of the single stream recycling, residents would sort their materials into two-categories. Paper (mixed paper, newspaper and smal!er pieces of cardboard) would be placed in one side of the cart and the rest of the accepted materials (glass, plastic boKles, and cans) would go in the second partition of the cart. The t-y.?e of materials accepted would aiso be expanded to include all plastics numbered 3 through 7. This progam woutd be similar to the direction that the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View are taking their recycling progams, and it would allow- the City to take the materials from the split cart to the SMART Station in Sunnyvale for processing. The SMART Station is currently processing materials from the split cart service used in the City of Sunnvvate and is gearing up to take the recycling materials from Mountain View. The potentia! for PASCO to reduce employee injuries and worker’s insurance costs would also be realized since the semi-automated lifting of the carts would be used instead of the crates that are cu~ently collected manually. W2hile the split cart would be an improvement over the current four-crate system, and residents could save time in separating recyclable materials and the labor from carrying the various crates to the curb. there are a number of disadvantages. Costs for the divided cans are 93 percent more than the cans for single stream recycling (see At~achmen.t A). There are more components to a split cart, increasing the potential of having a higher rate of repair and maintenance costs. The spilt cart can lead to the CMR:165:04 Pa~,o 8 of I I contamination of the mate~als when residents run out of space on one side of the cart and use the available space on the other side of the cart partition. This contamination would also lead to a higher amount of residue. The split cart would require trucks with a split body, which may affect the collection efficiency since if one side of the truck fills up faster than the other, the PASCO driver might have to make an extra trip to the SMART Station to unload, the truck before continuing to finish the route. With the split cart option, residents would be given the opportunity to pre-select the size of their cart; however, the options would be either a 64-gallon or a 96-gallon cart with a divider in the midd!e of the cart. Due to the nature of the divided cart, the 64-gallon cart is the smallest size available. Unfortunately, this size would be too large for some residents in Pa!o Alto. With the split car~ system, PASCO would stiI1 need to hire tN-ee additional temporary customer service representatives for approximately six months prior and during the start- up of the new services to handle the expected increase in customer telephone calls and administrative work. City staff would develop the same educational outreach materials as single stream recycling to educate the Pa!o A!to community, including residents, businesses and schools, on the serv’ice changes. Alternative II: Continuing with E?dsting Four Recycling Crates The second alternative to single stream recycling would be to continue with the e~sting four-crate system. This option involves expanding the type of mate~als accepted for curbside collection and requesting that residents keep their existing four recycling crates. Residents would continue to sort their recycling materials into the four crates separating mixed paper, newspaper, plastic containers, glass bogles and cans. Cardboard would continue to have .to be flattened, folded to the required size and placed next to the recycling crates. City staff would p~iepare outreach materials to educate the community on the expanded list of accepted plastics and residents would be able to add them to their existing crates. ~amy overflow of materials would be accommodated in a paper bag placed next to the crate at the curb. Keeping the e.’dsting crate system means residents will continue to have to sort their materials into the four individua! containers and will need to adhere to the current sorting restrictions. Since the crate system began in 1994, many of the existing crates are due for replacement at an estimated cost of $3 84,000 including the cost to collect the old crates to be recycled. (See Attachment A). This option would not have a si~m~_ificant impact on the PASCO operation or processing. The processing and marketing of the recycling materials would continue to be done at the Palo Alto Recycling Center with minimum impacts to the operation. CMR:165:04 Page 9 of 11 Implementation Timeline of New Services The projected implementation date for the new services is July t, 2005. This is based on having approximately one year from the time Counci! approves the implementation of the new services and the new budget. This would provide the City and PASCO time to 1) order the new collection vehicles, 2) order and assemble the carts, 3) create, print and distribute educational outreach materials, 4) train emp!oyees on the new progam collection and guidelines, and 5) inform the community of the future services and provide them with information and time to choose the size of their carts. RESOURCE IMPACT Funds to implement the new pro~ams are detailed in "Attachment A". One time expenses include educational materials & order forms ($40,000), cart purchases, assembly and delivery ($2,007,300), crate collection and recycling ($16,000), temporary help for outreacN;education ($23,550), and CNG shop conversion ($100,000), totaling $2,186,850. Fiscal year 2004-05 adopted-in-concept budget included a 10 percent rate increase for the Refuse Fund to maintain the Cnuncil-actnnt~d minimum Rnr~ <1~,;t~-,o,;~,,, ,,,~,o .... (RSR). If the 10 percent rate increase adopted-in-concept for FY 2004-05 is approved and the recommended staff pro~ams go forward, no additional rate increases will be needed in FY 2004-05. There will not be any rate reductions in future years if the recommended pro~am.s do not go fopa, ard, however rate increases could potentially be delayed one fiscal year if the new progams are not approved. Staff identified two (2) one-time reductions in the Refuse Fund operating budget, $1.275 million in the Environmental Services Center - Capital Improvement Project and $585,943 from the adopted-in-concept FY 2004-05 payments to PASCO, as a result of PASCO being more than 2% outside the/target operating ratio range in FY 2002-03. These reductions will provide the majority of the one time funding for the capital costs of the new pr.ogams with remaining amount funded by the RSR. The on-going costs for the proposed new progams are anticipated to be $659,414 in FY 2005-06 and $630.944 in FY 2006-07 and each fol!owing fisca! year, mostly due to the anticipated loss of revenue ($740,000), from the sale of recyclabte materials. These on- going costs have a rate impact calculated at nearly 3% of the revenue requirements for the refuse fund. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW This project is a class 8 categorical exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act under Section 15308 - action by regulatorT agencies for the protection of the enviro_n_ment. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The implementation of the new serwices would temporarily be in conflict with the City’s Comprehensive Plan N-55, which requires the City to ~’Maintain and expand the use of CMR:I65:04 Page 10 of ll the Recycling Center at the City’s refuse disposal area". However, the implementation of the Environmental Services Center full size proposal would provide single stream processing and would make the new services consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. ATTACHMENTS A~achment A:Cost comparison of services considered for both PASCO and the City budgets. DEPARTMENT I-~AD: CITY NL~_NAGER APPROVAL: MICHN~,~.~/j. :ACKSON Deputy. Director of Public Works Operations " GLENN- S. ROBERTS Director of Public Works EMILT’~"-~ARRi gON Assistant City Manager CMR:i65:04 Page II of I1 z ATTACHMENT A