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:
School name and grade: / NorthHigh SchoolToday’s date: / 3-18-2010
Audit date: / 2-18-2010
Audit participants: / Andre Xiong, HennepinCounty Environmental Services
Les Boudrot, HeadBuilding Engineer
ANALYSIS OF WASTE GENERATION AT YOUR SITE
District cost of trash and recycling disposal for your site in February, 20106:
Trash, actual / Mixed Recycling / Trash,had you not recycled
Monthly haul charge $1.90/yd / $1,140 / $46 / $1,140
Processing fee rate $/ton / $40 / $30 / $40
Processing fee based on weight / $198 / $3 / $210
MN State tax 17% / $33.66 / exempt / $35.63
Hennepin Co. tax 14.5% / $28.71 / exempt / $30.39
Total Cost / $1,400 / $49 / $1,416
In February alone, your school diverted 580lb of waste towards recycling; saving the district $15in disposal fees that would have incurred from adding thatweight 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:
Youwere notrecycling 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:
Recycling and waste reduction practices:
Youwere notstacking trays prior to disposal.
Trays, despite how little they weigh, take up massive volume and fill up trash bags quickly, requiring them to be changed out frequently. Stacking trays to be disposed of separately will allow much more room in the trash 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 the trash dumpster(s).
You were not collecting liquid waste in a separate container.
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.
MPS Goes Green signage were observed.
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 not using custom-made educational materials in addition to MPS signage.
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.
Somesurveyed 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 rarelyused correct color coding to promote sorting.
Many class rooms had custom made red boxes to collect (paper) recycling. It is very important that your building comply with the MPS recycling color scheme (blue = mixed recycling, green = organics recycling, red/gray = trash). These colors promote recycling and proper sorting. If you need additional recycling containers in the correct colors, contact your Plant Operations supervisor. Make sure to 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.
Congratulations on increasing recycling efforts throughout your school building. Classrooms generate large amounts of paper waste. Managing paper through the recycling process is less expensive and more energy efficient than throwing it away. Additionally, making new paper from recycled paper uses a lot less energy and water than making new paper from trees.
You rarelyprovided both trash and recycling containers at the same location (in classrooms).
Due to the large amount of recyclable material generated at a typical school building, placing recycling containers wherever there are trash containers is an easy way to ensure that the right items go in the right bins. Even if there is a recycling container in the same room or close by, individuals are likely to toss their recyclables in the trash if the recycling container is not next to the trash. Making recycling convenient is important to increasing recycling rates. The waste hauler’s single stream, no-sort recycling makes it even easier and requires only one container for all recycling.
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.
Contamination assessment:
Number of sampled bags of trash: 2
Sample 1 hadminimalcontamination (paper and plastic bottles).
Sample 2 had excessivecontamination (paper and plastic bottles).
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: 1
The available sample hadexcessive contamination (candy wrappers).
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. If you would like clarification on whether or not certain items are recyclable, please contact me.
Exterior dumpsters:
Not 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. Labels are provided by Allied Waste; notify your Plant Operations Supervisor to obtain labels for those dumpsters which do not have one.
Were waste correctly disposed of in their corresponding dumpster?
*not sufficient data, dumpsters were empty*
Note: Disposing of your waste streams in the proper dumpsters is the crucial final step your waste takes before it leaves your school property. If you end up putting sorted materials (mixed recycling and/or organics) in the trash dumpster, or contaminate sorted materials with trash, it undermines the entire recycling effort and can be very discouraging for all of the staff, students, and parents who participate in the recycling program.
Your dumpsters were effectively arranged to best encourage recycling.
Your school has made it convenient to dispose of recyclables by placing the recycling dumpsters closer or at least next to the trash dumpsters, 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 [five at 6yd3 each,each picked up 5x weekly ]are alltypicallyfullat pick-up.
Congratulations for choosing an appropriately sized trash dumpster. Keep in mind there should be a decrease in trash as a result of the district’s revitalized recycling program. As recycling improves at your school, make note of reduced trash production and request a smaller dumpster as necessary. Many MPS schools experience significant trash reduction through organics recycling. Please consider it for your site and contact your Plant Operations supervisor on how to get started.
Your mixed recycling dumpster [ 6yd3, picked up 1x weekly ]is typically _____at pick-up.
*inconsistent data*
Waste hauler information states there is only 1 recycling dumpster; two recycling dumpsters were observed on site.
Summary of Recommendations
-Incorporating organics recycling will significantly reduce trash by diverting food waste (including the countless
milk cartons and now compostable trays) into its own dumpster to be converted into compost rather than
buried or incinerated as trash.
-Improve recycling—nearly 100% of your total waste is trash, a fair amount of that has to be recyclables.
-Replace the makeshift red recycling boxes with MPS provided blue containers.
-Require students to stack trays to dispose of separately from main trash containers.
-Provide a bucket in cafeteria to divert liquid waste from trash—dispose of in sink instead.
-Label all dumpsters.
-Establish a school-wide set-up that best promotes recycling in classrooms:
-Post up signs/posters by containers to differentiate recycling from trash.
-Position trash and recycling containers together to promote sorting.
-Place containers in prominent locations, such as by doors or teachers’ desks, rather than scattered
around.
-Limit the amount of containers in class rooms—one recycling and one trash should suffice.
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 GreenCorpsSchool Waste Prevention Specialist
HennepinCounty Dept. of Environmental Services
417 N. 5th Street, Minneapolis, MN55401
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 byCalifornia 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:
- Audits were scheduled for 1 hour and included:
- Interview with head building engineer 2. Interior walkthrough
- Contamination assessment 4. Exterior walkthrough
- Audits were conducted by Hennepin County Environmental Services’ GreenCorps member; alongside an Allied Waste representative and the Plant Ops supervisor for that site.
- Questions during audit were answered based on head engineers’ observations and perceptions.
- Walk-through portion of audit consisted of observing (as needed):
2 hallways (or other common areas)
3 classrooms
1 bathroom
Cafeteria
Dumpsters
- 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.