City of Yellowknife Strategic Waste Management Plan Final Report - April 2018 sonnevera international corp. Box 23 Bluffton, Alberta T0C 0M0 T: (403) 843-6563 [email protected] Strategic Waste Management Plan (SWMP) – Final Report The City of Yellowknife Executive Summary The 2018 Strategic Waste Management Plan builds on the waste reduction goals of the Corporate and Community Energy Plan and previous waste composition studies, composting projects and waste management plans to provide environmentally responsible waste management solutions that are cost- effective and address concerns and expectations of the public and stakeholders. The plan incorporates additional programs including: • Community elements such as government leadership, social marketing, branding, zero waste public events and improvements to public spaces recycling. • Enhancements to the backyard composting campaign, depot recycling system, curbside garbage system (user pay) and enhanced multi-family recycling. • Industrial, commercial and institutional initiatives such as waste diversion assistance, business recognition, food waste diversion, enhanced recycling and construction / demolition waste diversion. • Incentives and regulatory mechanisms including additional differential tipping fees and disposal bans. The plan will be implemented on a foundation of public consultation and program pilots to encourage high levels of support, engagement, and ultimately success. Program elements are outlined in the following table: i sonnevera international corp. Option Type Option Education / Government leadership Promotion Overall • Review and update internal procurement policy to encourage reduction, Approaches reuse and recycled content. • Develop a consistent comprehensive waste diversion program for all City and public buildings and operations. Community engagement • Develop a community engagement plan to promote waste reduction and diversion initiatives and leverage existing environmental networks. Community-based social marketing • Continue to build internal capacity in community-based social marketing and integrate these approaches into all program designs and implementation. • Expand marketing efforts for existing programming to improve participation and address specific behaviour issues. Branding • Continue using the City of Yellowknife waste branding to ensure a consistent program look and messaging throughout City waste reduction initiatives. • Initiate a cooperative design process between The City and the contractor for recycling infrastructure to improve consistency in bin design, colours and signage. Social Media • More actively promote the services offered though the ReCollect app. • Enhance The City’s website to provide more information related to The City’s waste reduction and waste management services, and incorporating more interactive features. Public spaces recycling • Pilot new and improved signage at existing public recycling bins, including assessment of participation and contamination levels, as well as an advertising campaign. • If the pilot is successful, all litter bins in public spaces should be replaced, over time, with multi-stream bins and supported by ongoing promotional activities. Zero waste public events • Promote the Yellowknife Sustainable Event Checklist to event organizers. • Require event organizers to prepare a waste management action plan including waste reduction and diversion elements as part of special events permits. • Continue to, and expand the program of, providing highly visible garbage and recycling containers to public events that are consistent (colours, signage) with other public space and municipal recycling initiatives. ii Strategic Waste Management Plan (SWMP) – Final Report The City of Yellowknife Option Type Option Residential Waste Backyard Composting Reduction / • Continue to promote, and expand, the backyard composting awareness Diversion campaign. Curbside Organics • Consider expanding the collection program to encompass MF and additional residences outside the current service area. • Deliver ongoing CBSM campaign to encourage Green Cart use and limit contamination. Expanded recycling sorting categories – Blue Bin Stations • Require residents to sort materials into additional plastics and paper categories to improve marketability of recyclables. User-pay/volume limitations • In the future offer a voluntary smaller waste container option that is associated with a lower fee. Enhanced multi-family diversion programming • Work with the recycling contractor to develop a targeted multi-family social marketing program. • As a launch to the campaign, provide in-suite recycling containers. Expanded residential organics collection – multi-family • Work with the waste collection/hauling contractor for the duration of the multi-family organics collection pilot at the Northview complexes. • Work with the waste collection/hauling contractor to develop a social marketing program specific to multi-family residents. • As a launch to the campaign, provide in-suite containers for recyclables and a kitchen catcher for organics (one for every unit in every building) • Due to the scale and potential capital costs associated with a multi-family organics program, a year-long pilot project is recommended. The pilot would allow The City to test organics collection with the multi-family sector and determine the desired program methodology – either by City service through a contractor, or by amending the Solid Waste Management Bylaw (4376). Industrial, Waste diversion assistance Commercial and • Provide technical and information assistance to businesses and institutions Institutional Waste that want to implement waste diversion programs. Reduction ICI recognition • Enhance the recognition program for businesses achieving high standards in waste diversion. ICI food waste diversion • Expand the pilot ICI food waste collection program, including promotion and education materials and training of staff at participating businesses, to identify specific opportunities and barriers to success. • Incorporating results from the pilot, introduce a community-wide promotion of ICI food waste collection service options. • Support ICI locations that want to implement on-site composting. iii sonnevera international corp. Enhanced ICI recycling collection • Work with the hauling contractor to design and implement alternate collection options for businesses in areas that present challenges to effective participation in diversion programs. • Consider providing municipal buildings with recycling services as an add-on to the multi-family recycling program Expanded C&D diversion opportunities • Expand the wood recycling program to include all clean (uncoated) wood waste. • Separate clean drywall loads for diversion in the composting program. • Assess the potential benefits of adding more aggregate diversion opportunities at the SWF. • Encourage all scalehouse operators/staff to encourage contractors to drop- off reusable items at the ReStore whenever possible. • Collaborate with the ReStore to encourage more donations, visitors and ultimately move material more quickly. Infrastructure and Weigh Scale Operating • Purchase a second scale so all vehicles can be weighed in and out at the Enhancements SWF. Infrastructure and • If purchasing a second scale is cost prohibitive, over a period of one month, Operating all self-haul loads should be weighed in and out and an average determined Enhancements for use in the future. • OR • Implement a scale traffic control system, where vehicles drive over the scale both inbound and outbound. • Complete a landfill traffic monitoring study to review the options for better reporting of load weights. Composting Site • Staff should develop a template form that can be used to document routine inspections of the composting facility. • Staff should correct the reference to pathogen time and temperature requirements on page 24 of the Operations and Maintenance Manual to make it consistent with the information provided on page 30. • Staff should take advantage of the ability of spreadsheets (or other software) to electronically track process data and develop trend charts. • A more complete discussion of the protocols for leachate sampling should be included in the Operations and Maintenance Manual. • Increasing the amount of coarse amendment in the composting piles • Equipe front-end loader used at the site with an over-sized bucket • Repair/complete electric safety fence to prevent potential safety issues resulting from human-bear interactions. • Install knotted ropes or rope nets/ladders around edges of leachate pond. Salvage Area • Develop a separate area where material can be donated and picked up without entering heavy traffic areas of the SWF or go across the scale. iv Strategic Waste Management Plan (SWMP) – Final Report The City of Yellowknife Option Type Option Regulatory Options Differential tipping fees • Create a financial incentive for diverting recyclable and compostable materials through a system of differential tipping fees at the Solid Waste Facility. Disposal bans • Consider implementation of disposal bans for waste materials that have an existing collection and processing infrastructure in place. Residential mandatory recycling / source separation • If promotion and education and financial incentives such as pay-as-you- throw garbage collection do not provide the desired level of residential program performance, implement curbside collection bans for all organics and recyclables that are part of both