MPS Waste Audit Report
by
Andre Xiong
For a copy of this report or to access more information about waste management / recycling at MPS,
visit: http://mpsgoesgreen.mpls.k12.mn.us
School name and grade: / Washburn High SchoolToday’s date: / 3-3-2010
Audit date: / 1-20-2010
Audit participants: / Andre Xiong, Hennepin County Environmental Services
Thomas Winn, Head Building Engineer
Pete Spartz, MPS Plant Operations
Doug Link, Allied Waste Services
ANALYSIS OF WASTE GENERATION AT YOUR SITE
District cost of trash and recycling disposal for your site in January, 2010 6:
Trash, actual / Mixed Recycling / Trash,had you not recycled
Monthly haul charge $1.90/yd / $240 / $24 / $240
Processing fee rate $/ton / $40 / $12 / $40
Processing fee based on weight / $104 / $5 / $120
MN State tax 17% / $17.68 / exempt / $20.33
Hennepin Co. tax 14.5% / $15 / exempt / $17
Total Cost / $593 / $53 / $613
In January, your school diverted 780 lb of waste towards recycling; saving the district $21 in disposal fees that would have incurred from adding that 780 lb to the trash instead. These savings allow the district to enhance its resource management strategy and offer programs like organics recycling and improved mixed recycling. Increasing your recycling rates would yield even higher savings throughout the school year.
ON-SITE AUDIT RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Included below are findings and recommendations based on the audit of your building’s waste management practices.7
Organics Recycling:
You were not recycling organics in addition to mixed recycling.
Approximately 35% of a school building’s' waste is compostable. Recycling compostable waste saves the district money from reduced hauling fees and taxes, helps the environment, and provides students an educational, hands-on way to learn about environmental stewardship. If your school is interested in starting an organics recycling program, there is an opportunity for additional schools to add an organics program in Fall, 2010. Start-up costs will be covered by a grant. For information about how to launch an organics recycling program at your school, please visit: http://mpsgoesgreen.mpls.k12.mn.us/Organics_Recycling.html
Recycling and waste reduction practices:
You were not stacking trays prior to disposal.
*not sufficient data*
Note: Trays, despite how little they weigh, take up massive volume and fill up bags quickly, requiring them to be changed out frequently. Stacking trays to be disposed of separately will allow much more room in the container for other waste items. This practice saves the district money from less bag usage, reduces plastic in the environment, and allows more space in dumpster(s).
You were using MPS Goes Green signage.
Congratulations on helping standardize the district-wide MPS Goes Green message. Remember that there are informational signs in English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali available on the MPS website. Also, there are fun ‘What to Collect’ signs on the website that are appropriate for a K-8 audience.
You [ were/were not ] using custom-made educational materials as well.
*not sufficient data*
Note: Members of your building community know what will work in your building. Encourage staff and students to create their own promotional materials in addition to those provided by MPS. This involvement promotes ownership and responsibility amongst students and staff which leads to a successful recycling program. Be creative. On your signs, use examples of real items that students commonly run into at their school or create a video or skits for a school assembly.
Some of the surveyed classrooms displayed posters and labels to aid in sorting.
It is good to see that classrooms in your building are taking ownership for the recycling program. Posters and labels help students and staff comply with the program. Teachers, take as little as a minute of your time to post up signage by recycling containers to encourage recycling in the classroom. Another step you can take is to incorporate environmental sustainability information into coursework. The MPS Goes Green website provides curriculum materials you may find useful.
You often used color coding to promote sorting.
Congratulations on using the MPS-designated colors (blue = mixed recycling, green = organics recycling, red/gray = trash) to promoting recycling and proper sorting. Note: Make sure to follow the designated color scheme—many of your containers’ color did not correspond with their designated use—and cover up any recycling labels on containers that do not correspond with its designated use. (i.e. recycling sign on a red barrel). Contact your Plant Operations Supervisor for stickers that can be used for this purpose.
Interior containers:
All classrooms sampled had recycling containers.
MPS will make every effort to provide every (class) room with recycling containers, please contact Plant Operations Supervisor for extra containers. Paper makes up a tremendous portion of classroom waste, yet an astounding amount of recyclable paper is still making its way into trash bins. The labor required to throw paper into the trash or recycling bin are equal. Give students the opportunity to recycle in the classroom by providing recycling bins in all classrooms. Promote proper use of recycling bins through signage and classroom activities. See the MPS Goes Green website for ideas, http://mpsgoesgreen.mpls.k12.mn.us/
You often provided both trash and recycling containers at the same location (in classrooms).
The practice of placing both trash and recycling containers near one another has been found to increase recycling. Making recycling containers available wherever there are trash containers maximizes the likelihood that recyclables will not simply be thrown away.
You were not bagging mixed recycling containers
Congratulations on further reducing your school’s environmental impact by minimizing plastic bag use.
MPS’ waste hauler prefers recyclables un-bagged because the bags become a problem at the materials recovery facility (MRF) where the recyclables are sorted and processed. At the MRF, in order to keep the plastic bags from getting wrapped around the sorting equipment, they must be separated and disposed. The plastic bags do not get recycled. Furthermore, the recyclables can easily be contained and transported through the use of bins, dumpsters, and trucks. Keep up this environmentally friendly, cost effective practice.
You were collecting liquid waste in a separate container.
*not sufficient data*
Note: A great way to minimize the weight of your waste is to divert liquid waste down the drain. Weight is one key basis that MPS’ hauler uses to charge the district for trash and recycling. In addition, because MPS sends its trash to the incinerator, dry waste results in a more efficient burn which is better for the environment.
Have students dump milk and other liquids into designated buckets to reduce weight of bags as well as leaking. Contact your Plant Operations supervisor for buckets if you don’t have any on hand.
Contamination assessment:
Number of sampled bags of trash: 2
Sample 1 had minimal contamination (plastic bottles.)
Sample 2 had excessive contamination (paper.)
Contaminants in your trash are any items that can be recycled or composted. Common items such as paper, glass/plastic bottles, and cans require much more energy to produce from raw materials than from their recycled counterparts. These items also add weight to trash, thereby, increasing disposal fees for the district. A collaborative effort from your school community is needed to prevent recyclables from becoming trash.
Number of sampled bags of recycling: 2
Both samples of mixed recycling had excessive contamination. Not all plastics can be recycled; a general rule is to recycle only plastic bottles. When a school diverts excessively contaminated recycling to the dumpster, there is a high likelihood that the hauler will ultimately discard the entire load as trash. Contaminated recycling prevents material recovery facilities from converting recycled material into high quality recycled products. It is very important that your school community works to keep the recycling stream as free of trash as possible. Improper sorting means the district is wasting money and not achieving a positive environmental impact.
Exterior dumpsters:
All dumpsters were labeled.
Congratulations for labeling the different dumpsters to distinguish what waste type goes in them, ensuring that trash and recyclables are disposed of properly. Contact Allied Waste or go through Plant Operations Supervisor to acquire labels so you do not have to write on the dumpsters.
Waste were correctly disposed of in their corresponding dumpster.
Congratulations on completing the process by correctly placing waste in their proper dumpsters.
Your dumpsters were effectively arranged to encourage recycling.
Your school has made it convenient to dispose of recyclables by placing the recycling dumpsters closer, thereby reducing chances of it being disposed of in the trash dumpster. If your school is participating in organics, it is especially important to put that dumpster close due to the heavy weight of those bags
Your trash dumpsters [ two at 6 yd3 each, picked up 5x weekly ] are typically overflowing at pick-up.
Contact your Plant Operations supervisor immediately if your dumpsters are overflowing on a regular basis. If you have not already, consider incorporating organics recycling or other waste reduction strategies to reduce the amount of trash rather than increasing dumpster size to accommodate increasing trash.
Your mixed recycling dumpster [ 6 yd3, picked up 1x weekly ] is typically ¾ full at pick-up.
Congratulations for filling your mixed recycling dumpster to near its capacity. Dumpster disposal fees are charged based on size and service frequency, so an underutilized dumpster costs the district extra money. Increasing capacity or service frequency is perfectly fine if your school’s recycling efforts have improved that much.
If your school needs to modify its hauling schedule / dumpster size or access additional materials to make your waste management/recycling program successful, please contact your Plant Operations Supervisor. For questions regarding the audit and audit report, please contact Andre Xiong.
Andre Xiong
MN GreenCorps School Waste Prevention Specialist
Hennepin County Dept. of Environmental Services
417 N. 5th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401
phone: 612-543-1316
email:
Appendix / Sources
1 Monthly waste generation data was provided by MPS contract hauler, Allied Waste Services. Data on
dumpster sizes and hauling schedules were also obtained from Allied.
2 Student enrollment numbers were obtained through MPS student account, available to the public online.
Staff enrollment numbers were obtained through payroll.
3 Allied Waste estimates one cubic yard of trash weighs approximately 100 lbs.
4 Ginny Black, from MN Pollution Control Agency, estimates approximately 50% of organic waste remains as
finished compost after decomposition.
5 It was decided upon to use 32% as the figure for organic waste composition of total waste generated at
schools. The study was conducted in southern California by California Integrated Waste Management Board
for 2002.
6 Calculations:
Monthly haul charge = [ $1.90 X dumpster size (yd3) X frequency of pickup in a week ] X 4 weeks (month)
Processing fee = processing rate X weight (tons)
Total cost = monthly haul charge + processing fee + tax
Savings incurred from recycling = total cost (gross weight) ▬ total cost (trash weight)
7 Audit procedures:
o Audits were scheduled for 1 hour and included:
1. Interview with head building engineer 2. Interior walkthrough
3. Contamination assessment 4. Exterior walkthrough
o Audits were conducted by Hennepin County Environmental Services’ GreenCorps member; alongside an Allied Waste representative and the Plant Ops supervisor for that site.
o Questions during audit were answered based on head engineers’ observations and perceptions.
o Walk-through portion of audit consisted of observing (as needed):
2 hallways (or other common areas)
3 classrooms
1 bathroom
Cafeteria
Dumpsters
o Contamination assessment portion of audit consisted of visually assessing:
2 bags of trash
2 bags of mixed recycling
2 bags of organic waste
8 Not all schools were able to supply samples for contamination assessment due to various reasons. In such
cases, samples were attained in these other manners (where possible):
Observing bags already disposed of in dumpsters
Observing un-bagged waste in dumpsters equivalent to bag
Observing active containers on the floor
Clarification on contaminants:
Non-recyclable paper include: food-soiled paper, napkins, paperware, milk cartons.
Non-recyclable plastics include: shrinkwrap, plasticware, food containers.
Cardboard is allowed in single stream collection, so it is categorized with ‘paper’ for our purposes. Food waste is only considered a contaminant in trash where organics recycling is in place.