Measuring and Improving Diversion is Key to Sustainability Initiatives

Action Plans for Municipalities, Universities & Military Bases

Presented by Alan Housley Creative Microsystems, Inc October 2014 (Rev1. March 2014)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1 Environmental Sustainability 1 Why have sustainability initiatives become so important to Municipalities, Universities and Military Bases? 2 (MSW) 2 U.S is the Largest Waste Creator on Earth 2 United States Space is Dramatically Limited 3 2. The Only Solution – Waste Diversion! 4 Waste Diversion Best Practices 4 MSW Avoidance Save$ – Even for Small Cities and University Campuses 6 Measuring Waste Diversion 8 Simple Waste Diversion Math 9 Accuracy of Reporting is Key 9 3. The Waste Diversion Solution – Waste Measurement Automation 10 Software Automation is the Key 10 Ideal Load Management Software 10 Locating Waste Carts / Bins / Dumpsters 11 Waste Diversion Charts 11 Deep Mining of Data 13 Simple-to-Use Actionable Data Analytics 13

4. On-board Truck Scales 16

Summary 17 Appendix A 19 About the Author 20 References

Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion Page ii

Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion is Key to Sustainability Initiatives

Action Plans for Municipalities, Universities & Military Bases

Presented by Alan Housley Creative Microsystems, Inc October 2014

1. Introduction This paper will focus on the subject of Waste Diversion, a critical component to reducing waste, ridding our Beautification Act of 1965 environment of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and lowering the Lady Bird Johnson carbon footprint of each and every individual who During the Johnson administration, contributes to the waste stream. This paper will cover some Lady Bird Johnson was history of what has driven a vision of “”, projects instrumental in the passage of the that are underway, challenges and successes, and the real Beautification Act of 1965. While and achievable future that lies ahead. this Act focused on billboards and junk yards, it was also a key Furthermore, to achieve these highly visible goals, especially catalyst in creating a whole new in municipalities, universities and military bases, this paper world of awareness. So when offers direction on best practices for measuring waste we see blogs, nonprofit websites, diversion and the resulting GHG reductions. newspaper articles, and company taglines displaying tributes like Anyone who is responsible for sustainability programs in “Save our Climate”, “Please Don’t their institution, municipality, business, university or military Litter”, and “Zero Waste”, we can base should benefit from this paper to further their trace back 50 years and thank the understanding of waste diversion and how it will affect their First Lady for her vision. CO2/GHG reduction programs, goals and operating costs.

Environmental Sustainability The phrase “zero waste” is being discussed seriously in municipalities, universities and military bases. Zero waste programs are being implemented in facilities, towns, cities, campuses and businesses all over the world. Zero waste is real and it is achievable.

These sustainability initiatives range from lighting and energy management, storm water cleanliness programs, green home building guidelines, educational programs, waste reduction and , construction and limits and refuse derived fuel (RDF).

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There are nearly 3,500 county governments and over 36,000 municipalities1 (cities, towns, townships) in the United States. Googling “Zero Waste” ten years Not all, but most of these cities and counties have some type of ago, you would have received 245 Environmental Sustainability Report/Plan. Six or seven years search results. Today, you’ll find ago, these sustainability plans were mostly a paper exercise that over 1.32 million search results. would be reported to a council and literally gather dust for a This skyrocketing metric is being couple years until someone was tasked to update it to meet driven by state mandates, local some mandate or other annual planning exercise. Today, these municipalities with aggressive same Environmental Sustainability Reports & Plans are guiding environmental sustainability and documents whose main purpose is to drive the reduction of carbon reduction programs, as well GHG (Carbon Footprint) – at even greater dramatic rates. as universities and our U.S. military bases.

Why have sustainability initiatives become so important to Municipalities, Universities and Military Bases? • Saves money • Creates green jobs Increasingly higher landfill fees for municipal It takes 10 people to recycle material, solid waste (MSW) compared to one person to dispose of it2 • Saves precious resources • Progressive municipal branding Water, trees, open land and fuel; Attracting businesses and residents Improved living environment for residents, • Less landfill space businesses and business consumers Greater availability of municipal recycling • Reduces greenhouse gases facilities (MRFs) Meet state, county and city mandates for • Setting the example reducing carbon footprint And engaging communities3

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Trash, garbage, waste can be categorized in many ways, and the most common categories are:  Solid Waste Material -- more commonly known as trash or garbage—consists of everyday items we use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food , newspapers, even like batteries and paint. This comes from our homes, schools, hospitals, campuses and businesses. (Note that many items listed here will be found in solid waste, but the need is to divert much of this current solid waste material away from and toward the next two categories.)  Recyclable Material -- paper, glass, plastic, fabrics, and metals from the trash that can be used to make new products, reducing the amount of virgin raw materials needed.  Material -- organic waste, such as food scraps and yard trimmings that can then be used for creating fertilizer products.4

U.S is the Largest Waste Creator on Earth The United States has the dubious distinction of leading the world in MSW.5 According to the USEPA, nearly 250 million tons, or 4.4 pounds per person per day, of MSW was generated in 2010. The amount of MSW generated has changed significantly since 1960 when only 88.1 million tons (2.7 pounds per person per day6) of MSW were generated – nearly a 300% increase in 50 years.7

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U.S. MSW Generated (million tons) (USEPA 2010)

300

250 242.5 249.9 200 208.3

150 151.6 121.1 100 88.1

50

0

MSW Generated (million tons/per year) tons/per (million Generated MSW 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Figure 1. US MSW Generated (USEPA 2010)

United States Landfill Space is Dramatically Limited While the world watches the U.S. creating 250 million tons of MSW, we’ve witnessed a huge reduction in landfill availability. In 1970, there were around 20,000 landfills. Today that number has dropped by over 90% to just over 1900 MSW landfills in 20101 (see Figure 2).Figure 2. Number of USA Landfills (USEPA 2010) No matter how sharp the pencil, the numbers just won’t work. A 300% growth in MSW in 50 years and only 10% of the 1970 landfills remain 40 years later.4

Note that most of the lost MSW landfill space has come about because of necessary and stringent USEPA guidelines for safe landfills that will not our underground water sources. Many of these abandoned landfills were created for each city or township and many have been removed by direction of the USEPA1.

1 Some reports state over 3500 landfills in 2010, but many of these are used exclusively for Construction and Demolition. Others in this number are “inactive”. The EPA 2010 number is a census of “active” landfills for MSW. Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion Page 3

Number of Landfills USEPA 2010 25,000

20,000

20,000

15,000 15,000

11,000 10,000

8,200 Number of Landfills of Number 5,000 5726 2893 2142 2000 1908 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Figure 2. Number of USA Landfills (USEPA 2010)

The clear problem faced with everyone (citizen, municipality, businesses large and small, campuses, military bases, and so on), is that there is no way to fit a 300% growth in MSW into a 90% smaller landfill.

2. The Only Solution – Waste Diversion! Waste diversion, as defined by the USEPA, is the prevention and reduction of generated waste through source reduction, recycling, reuse, or composting.8 Not only does waste diversion solve the huge inequity between MSW and landfill space, but it also provides profitable streams of waste materials that are processed at MRFs – both public and private.

In its simplest form, waste diversion is the separating of MSW components into three different waste streams: solid waste, recyclable material and compost material.

Nearly all waste diversion starts at homes and businesses where waste is separated for curbside cart and dumpster pickup. But this simple process does not work as well as it should – even with thousands of direct public education and awareness programs delivered by waste haulers, municipalities and institutions who are chartered with their community’s waste disposal. To assist, municipal public works and private businesses have dramatically grown recycling streams with extraordinary services and processes that make the waste/landfill inequity manageable.

Waste Diversion Best Practices Studying the waste and recycling programs from leading municipalities and other institutions across the nation leads to a list of best practices.

 Recycling must be mandated – first within state/city/county government(s) to learn and to set the example to the public. Grass roots programs once drove awareness in the 80’s and 90’s, but results

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have proven that mandatory recycling has most effectively changed the habits of individuals, homes and businesses.  Variable rate systems – the larger the waste can/bin/cart, the greater the customer’s service cost.  Set the customer service cost to the size of the solid waste can, and provide all recycling and composting carts/bins and their pick-ups for free.  Ban any recycled material or compost from the solid waste can (and vice versa). Maybe even banning any pick-ups where waste and recycled material are comingled.  Establish an Office of Grants for raising needed capital from public and private funding of waste diversion programs.

Most recycling mandates are quite simple. First, the municipality/haulers provide curbside carts (dumpsters for businesses) for the separation of the three waste materials. In most successful communities, the cans are set out for solid waste (landfill destinations), recycling (MRF destinations) and compost/organics (MRF destinations).

To further drive down the amount of waste carried to the landfill, residents and businesses are receiving smaller and smaller waste cans; and/or their waste is only picked up bi-weekly. These container and pick-up tactics are forcing customers to rethink their own home and business waste habits. And if a customer still demands greater solid waste capacity by ordering larger bins, then they are charged a premium service rate/fee.

The ban on comingling waste is fairly new. If a recyclable or compostable item is found in the solid waste container, then some cities will refuse pickup or even fine the customer. This new ordinance has recently made headlines in Seattle, where zero waste is a committed goal.

The Seattle city council has voted to impose fees for not composting. When the ordinance goes into effect next year, homeowners found with food scraps in their trash container will be fined $1 for each violation. The fine is up to $50 for a business or apartment complex.

Under the new rules, collectors will take a look when they dump trash into a garbage truck. If they see more than 10 percent of the trash that should be composted, they'll enter the violation into a computer and leave a ticket on the bin that says expect a $1 fine on the next garbage bill. Or they may even have their service skipped completely.9

San Francisco Recycling Mandates In 1989 California approved the California Integrated Act, which has been the template for state mandates across the United States. This action requires cities and counties to “reduce, reuse and recycle (including composting) solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible before or landfill disposal of waste to conserve water, energy and other natural resources, and to protect the environment. AND, the plan calls for a goal of “zero waste.10”

From this state mandate, San Francisco has fully embraced zero waste by setting the goal to “send nothing to landfill or incineration. We create policies that reduce waste, and increases access to recycling and composting. San Francisco is doing everything we can to make it happen.”11

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The Results? In 2010 San Francisco exceeded its goal to divert 75% of materials away from landfills. They are now well on their way to 100% landfill waste reduction by 2020.12

Los Angeles Diversion Benefits In addition to diverting waste and converting a portion of the waste stream into renewable energy, other benefits are realized:  Drastic reduction in truck and rail transportation and their associated air quality and traffic congestion impacts.  Conservation of limited, virgin resources  Creation of construction jobs and permanent operational “green collar” jobs at Municipal Recycling Facilities.13

MSW Avoidance Save$ – Even for Small Cities and University Campuses Small changes in waste diversion can make a significant impact on any solid waste budget. Waste diversion programs are being introduced in small cities, universities and military bases.

Colleges and Universities who are implementing aggressive waste diversion programs (or currently bringing-up their processes) are:

Harvard University Yale University University of Washington University of Virginia University of Pennsylvania Towson University Loyola University University of California Santa Barbara University of California Santa Cruz Montana State University

University of Washington Seattle The University Of Washington Seattle Campus (43,600 students) adopted an aggressive diversion program from waste landfills in 2009. They have saved over $5 million in landfill costs over the past five (5) years.14

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Landfill Diversion Cost Savings University of Washington - Seattle $1,300,000 $1,229,505 $1,205,941

$1,200,000

$1,100,000

$1,000,000 $966,033

$900,000 $892,007 $795,884 $800,000

Landfill Landfill Cost Savings perYear $700,000

$600,000 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13

Figure 3. University of Washington Landfill Diversion Cost Savings13

American University Sustainability Policy and Goals 15 In Washington D.C, the American University policy is to protect and restore our environment by managing material flows through the university and manage waste/ recycling processes.  The University will strive to send zero waste to landfills and incinerators by the year 2020.  By July 31, 2013, reuse, recycle or compost 50% of ongoing consumables,  By December 31, 2015, reduce solid waste by 10%, and divert 90% of solid waste from being sent to landfills and incineration  By December 31, 2020, reduce waste by an additional 10% and send zero waste to landfill and incineration

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Cities and municipalities are also stepping-up and establishing aggressive timelines and goals.16 Municipality Population Goals / Metrics Served

Alameda County, CA 1.5 Million 75% diversion by 2010 By 2020, less than 10% by weight of landfilled material will consist of recyclables/organics Boulder, CO 100,000 70% waste reduction in 2012; 85% by 2017; zero waste by 2015 Fairfax County, VA 1.1 Million 25% of MSW recycled (no date provided) Fresno, CA 480,000 75% diversion 2012; 90% diversion 2020 King County, WA 2 Million 55% recycling by 2015; 70% recycling by 2020 Kirkland, WA 80,000 10% GHG reduction from 2005 through 2012 from city government operations; 20% reduction by 2020; 80% reduction by 2050.17 Orange County, NC 133,100 61% per capita waste reduction San Jose, CA 945,000 75% waste to recycling diversion by 2010; Zero waste by 202018 Markham, Ontario 300,000 81% diversion in 2014 Metro Vancouver, BC 2.3 Million 70% waste diversion by 2015

U.S. Army Net Zero Initiative / Waste Diversion A zero waste mandate is also driving waste diversion programs with our U.S. military. The “Net Zero Initiative” is a strategy for managing energy, water, and waste at Army installations. The Army’s Net Zero Initiative is built upon the Army’s long-standing energy efficiency and sustainability practices.

Recycling diversion programs are crucial for the Net Zero Waste pilot installations and will remain significant for years to come. Composting and other means of digesting biodegradable organic materials are also considered recycling activities or methods. Most of the Net Zero Waste pilot installations have robust metrics/goals that include many recent diversion innovations and best practices.19

Some military bases that are implementing aggressive waste diversion programs are:  Fort Carson, CO  Fort Campbell, SC  Fort Hood, TX  Fort Bliss, TX

Measuring Waste Diversion On its surface, the measurement of waste diversion appears quite simple. However, there are many parts and players in the diversion measurement process that are complex, painfully slow, and all too often inaccurate. The good news is that new technology innovations and automation are already being used to accurately measure waste diversion, cost savings and GHG carbon footprint.

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Simple Waste Diversion Math Recycling Diversion Rate = Recycled Waste / (Solid Waste + Recycled Waste)

Example: 50 Tons Recycled Waste / (50 Tons Recycled Waste + 110 Tons Solid Waste) = 31% Recycling Diversion Rate.

Accuracy of Reporting is Key Obtaining highly accurate weight information from multiple trucks, routes, drivers, landfills and municipal recycling facilities for reporting is very important, but can be challenging if the right processes and tools are not in place. And can be complicated even further by defined municipal boundaries and jurisdictions served by a single or multiple haulers.

CalRecycle Disposal Reporting System (DRS)20 CalRecycle was required to develop a system to track jurisdiction of waste origin using periodic surveys because the disposal-based measurement system is heavily dependent on accurate disposal/waste data. CalRecycle set minimum standards for origin surveys – one week per quarter – to allow local flexibility. The Disposal Reporting System has given jurisdictions a better understanding of their waste flow and disposal data, but with difficult issues:  Complex boundaries make it difficult to identify the jurisdiction of waste origin.  Reliance on vehicle drivers for jurisdiction information and origin of waste.  Accuracy of one-week-per-quarter waste origin survey.  Lack of scales at some landfills for reporting landfill tip weights.  Lack of enforcement mechanisms to assist jurisdictions in resolving issues due to misinformation and untimely information.  Data analyses show that waste hauler drivers may not know the jurisdiction of origin for hauling routes that cross and serve multiple jurisdictions.

A very simplified approach to measuring waste diversion would look something like this: 1) Using waste diversion best practices, issue three carts/bins to every customer (residential and commercial); a solid waste bin, a recycling bin and an organics/composting Bin. 2) Set up pick-up routes to service a single waste material. The easiest way to accomplish this is with separate trucks for separate waste material routes – solid waste, recycling, and composting/organics. 3) Keep routes within defined jurisdictions/boundaries. 4) When the truck is full, drive to either a landfill or municipal recycling facility. Weigh and tip the load. 5) Take a receipt from the weigh station and return all weights for all routes to the operation/administration offices. 6) Create spreadsheets for entering entire routes, waste types and weight information. 7) Filter data, calculate and report diversion rates. 8) With diversion rates and waste data, calculate equivalent carbon footprint.

This 8-step simplified example will provide an overall diversion and data for tracking reduction and greenhouse gases and is a viable approach verses doing nothing. However, as discussed in the CalRecycle example, the real process is not simple as it appears, and is really quite slow to produce any valuable reporting. Furthermore, only high level performance metrics can be calculated and traced.

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These metrics (if they are even accurate), will not provide enough information for examining the recycling efforts and habits of each customer, building, shopping mall, district, region, and so on.

3. The Waste Diversion Solution – Waste Measurement Automation On-board truck scales with service location detection and waste data reporting software are available today:  On-board truck scales – weigh-in-motion front-end loaders (FELs), rear loaders, side loaders, weigh-in-motion cart tippers, Curotto Cans, roll-offs  Service pick-up location capabilities (GPS or RFID)  Automatically weigh every bin  Detect waste/service type  GPS location – service, customer and truck record truck, route and driver  Detect regions, zones and municipal boundaries  Time/date stamp of every pick-up  See Appendix A for an expanded list of load data records

These same on-board scales will alert drivers when their trucks are full to achieve complete vehicle efficiency; without over/under loading. (more about on-board scales in Chapter 4.)

Software Automation is the Key Software is crucial to managing the goldmine of waste weight data records and providing waste diversion reports at any time, and at any level. For example, if a city is using five trucks, each with two routes per day, five days per week, and 500 customers per route, then the operations team will receive 25,000 data records each week. And these data records contain all of the location, waste and customer information described in the Figure 4. Multiple Services for Multiple Customers previous paragraph. Load management analytic software not only provides simplified reports, but also triggers alarms that require management attention. All automatic, and all available today.

Ideal Load Management Software  Simple to integrate with on-board scale sensors  Automatically identify each load with GPS location or RFID tag – with no driver intervention  Back-office mapping for tracking routes and identifying cart/bin load status  Provide data records that identify every load, service and account uniquely  Automatically filter and analyze data for on-demand reporting such as diversion of commodities for trucks, routes, cities, and even individual customers

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 Simple administration for setting warnings and alarms concerning loads that could severely affect diversion and GHG emission goals  Ability to backup all data and secured 24x7

Locating Waste Carts / Bins / Dumpsters The most widespread technology in use today are GPS devices for determining the latitude/longitude of any waste cart/bin/dumpster. This technology is accurate within a few feet and assists the software for matching the cart load with the customer account without any driver intervention.

RFID is taking root in the waste and recycling industry because it can uniquely pinpoint each waste container with a unique address ID. This is especially important for residential pickups where carts can be lined up side-to-side and represent multiple customers/residences (see Figure 4). A load record from an on-board scale system can be compared to a photo taken by a Once this load data record is uploaded to the back digital camera. The LOAD is the key piece of office software, office dispatchers and managers scale data as the digital IMAGE is the key can track routes, identify loads, and verify any camera output. Along with the LOAD is a service right from a map (see Figure 5). No whole record of meta-data that provides searching through thousands of data records. This information about the load location, time- location capability is crucial for accurate diversion stamp, customer, and so on. Just as a digital waste programs. Without it, excessive photo contains a record with meta-data cart/bin/dumpster weights cannot be pinpointed describing the location, time-stamp, camera, and managed at the customer level. This on-map owner, and so on. See Appendix A for an reporting capability is also very useful for calls example of a load record. from customers concerning non-service, as the data map-record can confirm service and report non-service issues like locked gates, no cart, and so on.

Figure 5. Mapping of Service Locations

Waste Diversion Charts With load management software and on-board scales, diversion can be tracked at any point in time, and does not rely on the slow and unreliable manual processes described earlier.

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Here are two charts that are common (template) reports provided by analytic and reporting software. These charts can be generated on demand. This first chart (Figure 6) displays the actual load data reported monthly separated by waste, recycling and organics. The second report (Figure 7) simply uses the same data to chart the diversion rate (as we defined earlier).

This city example is on a good track regarding their diversion rate and will make for interesting reports at sustainability review meetings. But there’s more to the software than producing these initial charts. The data is all available to be mined for deeper, detailed information that can allow operations to significantly improve the diversion rate just reviewed.

City Municipal Waste (pounds) FY12 thru FY14 2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

- 1-Oct-12 1-Jan-13 1-Apr-13 1-Jul-13 1-Oct-13 1-Jan-14 1-Apr-14 1-Jul-14

Refuse Recycling Organics/ Compost

Figure 6. City Municipal Waste (Total Waste)

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City Diversion Rate - FY12 thru FY14 (Recyled+Organics) / Total Waste 40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10% 1-Oct-12 1-Jan-13 1-Apr-13 1-Jul-13 1-Oct-13 1-Jan-14 1-Apr-14 1-Jul-14

Diversion Rate

Figure 7. City Diversion Rate Chart

Deep Mining of Data These charts and metrics are critical when waste and recycling diversion is integrated into a municipality, university or military base environmental sustainability program. And the timeliness, accuracy and integrity are maintained using proven on-board scales and load data management software automation.

Studying the detailed data and identifying key issues and opportunities for improvement are very important features that should be integrated into the software platform – for “drilling deeper” into the data mine.

One of the most rudimentary methods, but not fully automated, is to export the load record database into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. The data is then available for filtering key statistics like over/under loaded trucks, high density accounts that are contributing too much waste to the landfill and profitable customers who are sorting correctly and are diverting a major portion of their waste to recycling/composting, and so on. However, this is a highly manual process and requires trained personnel to drill down into thousands of data records to produce the necessary reports.

Simple-to-Use Actionable Data Analytics Data analytic software analyzes the waste load database and provides standard charts - such as diversion rates - and out-of-range density loads. These out-of-range conditions are set with simple administrative features. At a glance, those charged with improving sustainability metrics can determine what action(s) need to be taken.

This following chart (see Figure 8) shows the main software dashboard for a city that is tracking waste hauled to municipal landfills and recycling and organic loads hauled to MRFs. The color of the tiles tell the user where there are no issues (GREEN), some warnings that might need to be studied (YELLOW), and key alerts (RED) that most likely require immediate attention.

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This particular example indicates there are 79 services/loads that have exceeded some threshold that had been set by the waste dashboard administrator.

Figure 8. Main Management Dashboard

Each layer of the report provides more information. This next layer (see Figure 9) breaks the service types into refuse, recycling and composting/organics – all of which was set up at an adminstrative level. The RED tiles indicate there are some alerts pending with refuse and recycling. Note, that the software is very flexible. There could also be services added for compacted waste, glass, cardboard, and so on.

Clicking to the next layer down (see Figure 10), the dashboard splits out all the refuse services into individual tiles and reports. The 4-yard refuse will be used for the remainder of this example and software walk-through. As noted, in the dashboard screen, there are 14 x 4Yd service pickups that have exceeded some alarm level. Figure 9. Dashboard >> Service Types Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion Page 14

Figure 10. Dashboard >> Service Types >> Refuse Drilling down one more level (see Figure 11) provides immense detail in a simple chart and table. This chart shows there are 14 customers with 4-yard FEL bins that have exceeded their contracted weight per cubic yard. This is shown by the purple line graphed across the chart. The blue bars represent the number of pick-ups for each customer load/service. Pay particular attention to any customer above 160lbs/yards3. This is the shaded red area in Figure 11 and indicates customer average load densities above the contracted weight of 160lbs/yd3.

Figure 11. Customer Pickup Report

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Kirkland Metro Grill was circled above to point out the very high average load density. By clicking on any customer, the software will automatically drill down further to provide all of the detailed load weights for the customer (see Figure 12); in this example Kirkland Metro Grill. This customer is most likely unprofitable for the hauler and is contributing excessive GHG levels against the city. Looking at the very high density of the loads shown in Figure 12 it is likely they are dumping food scraps or other contaminates into the waste refuse stream.

With automated load management software, any customer can be examined for more detail without wasting administrative resources and fumbling with Excel tables. Figure 12. Average Load Density per Customer

4. On-board Truck Scales Although much of this paper has focused on the simplicity of automatically collecting, analyzing and reporting of waste and diversion data, the data stream all starts with the load weight of each pick-up weighed with on-board truck scales. For front end loader (FEL) waste trucks, these scales should be part of the fork assembly so each load can be weighed individually, and weighed- in-motion. Eliminating the wait times found on some on-board weight systems.

Weigh-in-motion scales allow drivers Figure 13. FEL with LoadCell to simply pick up the cart and go – no stopping for the weight to settle. The load weight will be determined while the arms lift the bin for dumping. When complete, the same process is used as the arms are lowered to capture the empty bin weight. This load weight is automatically stored with the customer account, time stamped, and marked by GPS location without any driver intervention. Furthermore, these load records are available for transmission on-demand to the Figure 14. Rear Loader with Cart Tippers back-office operations team.

These same weigh-in-motion scales are just becoming available for rear loader waste trucks using cart tippers which are primarily used for residential load pickups.

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The accuracy (+/- 2% error) of the load data is critical. Some scales require calibrated often – even daily. There are scales on the market that can last for months without having to pull a truck from service for calibration.

On-board truck scales are found on the full variety of waste trucks: weigh-in-motion front-end loaders, side loaders, underbody rear loaders, weigh-in-motion cart tippers, Curotto Cans, roll-offs with underbody scales and compactors.

Here are the best-in-class requirements for a waste truck on-board scale.  Repeatable weights with less than 2% error rate.  Once a year recommended calibration (not weekly or daily).  Weigh-in-motion to reduce pick-up cycle time.  Unforgiving durability to withstand the rugged use and harsh climate environments.  Let the driver drive. Make certain that routes can be downloaded to an on-board computer for tracking customers and associated weighed loads.  GPS or RFID for detecting the location of a can and identifying each service/customer automatically with load management software.  Wireless communication for uploading load records from the truck to the back office load management software database.  Easy-to-read in-cab display to track the net weight. No more under loading, wasted labor, and wasted fuel.  Threshold detection to alert driver when the truck has met its maximum capacity. No more overloading fines.  Ability to “tag” pick-ups with problems like locked gate or no container.  Every load is measured and tracked separately. For service verification and for tracking the waste usage of any customer.

Summary On Earth Day, 1971, an enduring This paper has laid-out best practices for waste diversion from minute-long TV spot debuted. across municipalities, university campuses, and military bases. Viewers watched a Native While waste diversion is just one piece of the environmental American Indian paddle his canoe sustainability puzzle, it has a very large impact on the overall goals up a polluted and flotsam-filled for reduction of greenhouse gases. river, stream past belching smokestacks, come ashore a litter- Along with the benefits of GHC reduction, there are savings from strewn river bank and walk to the landfill tipping costs and less fuel for trips to the landfill; Increased edge of a highway, where the revenue from recycling and organics diverted to MRFs; and occupant of a passing car greater employment opportunities at recycling facilities vs. thoughtlessly tossed a bag of trash landfills. And let’s not forget the underlying improvements to our out the car window to burst open overall living environment. at the astonished visitor’s feet. When the camera moved upwards This final chart below provides a clear summary of the benefits of for a close-up, a single tear was using automated diversion measuring and reporting vs. the past seen rolling down the American standard operating procedures.21 Indian’s face as the narrator intoned: “People start pollution. People can stop it.”

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Table 1. Waste Diversion SOP vs Automation

Measuring Diversion – Automated Diversion Standard Operating Measurement and Reporting Procedure Collecting Data  Manual and open to error  Automated  Relies on drivers to obtain  On-board truck scales and retain weight tickets  Weight per customer and  Long cycle times for data weight per service gathering  Weight with meta-data  Labor intensive attached  Many handoffs in the chain  No driver intervention  Weight per load, per truck, per route, per region, per city, per customer, and so on Administrating  Manual data entry  Automatic data base the Data  Data collation backups  Researching missing data  Scanning of data tables for records from drivers possible missed loads  Many times data is left in  Automatic mapping of paper files and not backed routes to determine if any up route changes should be initiated Reporting the  Manual and labor intensive  Reports on demand; daily if Data  May receive reports necessary monthly but mostly  Provides automatic quarterly diversion charts at multiple  Diversion and GHG are the levels; city, region, route, only key reports available truck, neighborhood, and every customer  Provides automatic reporting on load density per customer to “weed-out” waste scofflaws

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Appendix A Load Record Sample Contents

Load Weight of load picked up. Pick Up Time Time load was picked up. GeoFence If this column is blank, then Geo Fence Algorithms were not used to determine the identity of the account. Customer & Customer identifier (frequently a number) and associated name. Customer Name Site & Site Name Single or Multiple Site locations can be set for each Customer. When defined, this field will show the Site where the Load was picked up. Load ID A numerical account number used for each individual Service pick-up. Load Name Customized Service Type Service Types are defined by Customer and help identify differences in Services that Customer desires to track. Useful grouping Services into smaller categories and groups and filtering.

For example: Service Type code might represent type and size of container + product type.

Quantity Number of loads serviced. Route Route driver is assigned to pick up designated loads. NVW – Net Total Net Vehicle Weigh of the Truck Vehicle Weight Product Materials to be picked and tracked by weight. The customers can download a Route to the Meter with a Product or a List of Products included. Truck & Truck Truck Number and associated name. Name Load Latitude Latitude Geo Coordinate where the Load was picked up. Load Longitude Longitude Geo Coordinate where the Load was picked up.

Events Indicates variances and issues while running the route. Events are defined by Customer and can be included in the down loads to the Meters where the operator can select an Event and Record it. Address Customer Billing Address

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About the Author

Alan Housley Vice President Marketing Creative Microsystems, Inc.

With a high technology background in Fortune 100 companies and venture backed startups, Alan has gained extensive experience in business/operations management, strategic planning, and rapid business growth. Twenty combined years at Hewlett Packard and Eastman Kodak provided Alan with world class business skills -- especially in the area of product marketing & management, go-to- market execution and strategic planning -- while delivering outstanding business results. After moving to the Seattle area, Alan has focused his skills on starting and growing smaller, high technology and e-commerce businesses – leading marketing, sales, product management/marketing, product development and operations.

Diverse businesses managed have ranged from enterprise computing and networking, to wireless mobile software & services, factory automation/control, professional and consumer based photography and imaging, high capacity document management & printing, and field customer technical support. Some of the vertical markets Alan has served include waste & recycling, health care, government, defense, manufacturing, energy & aerospace.

Alan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He also holds a Certificate of Product Management from the Association of International Product Marketing & Management. He is currently the Vice President of Marketing at Creative Microsystems, Inc. (LoadMan On-board Truck Scales).

Contact: Alan Housley [email protected] linkedin.com/in/alanhousley www.loadman.com

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References

1 US Census Bureau 2012 Census of Governments 2 The Grand Island Independent, 11/3/2014; Quoting a Joslyn Institute Recycling Study 3 City of Kirkland – Climate Protection Action Plan (April 2009) 4 www.epa.gov – Municipal Waste 5 Waste Management World – July 30, 2012 6 USEPA 2009 Fact and Figures - EPA530-R-10-012 - December 2010 7 National Waste and Recycling Association, Municipal Solid Waste Pocket Facts 8 www.epa.gov Waste Diversion 9 www.seattletimes.com, Associated Press – 9/23/14 10 File No. 021468, City and County of San Francisco – 10/1/02 11 www.sfenvironment.org/zero-waste - 9/2014 12 San Francisco Resolution No. 679‐02 13 www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/pdfs/rfp-swirp-appendix-b3.pdf 14 University of Washington Recycling & Solid Waste Annual Report FY13 15 American University, Washington D.C. – Zero Waste Policy April 2013 16 Meclenburg County – Best Practices for Local Government Solid Waste Recycling, Diversion from Landfill and Waste Reduction – December 2011 17 City of Kirkland – Climate Protection Action Plan (April 2009) 18 www.epa.gov – Municipal Waste 19 Net Zero Progress Report Net Zero Pilot Installation Initiative 2012 -- May 2013 20 http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/lgcentral/Library/SB2202Rpt/ExecSummary.htm 21 Snopes.com – Iron Eyes Cody

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Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion

Measuring and Improving Waste Diversion