Title
Recommendation to Support City Efforts to Attain a Zero Waste Goal by Approving Update to Zero Waste Implementation Plan and Authorizing the Acting City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a Contract Not to Exceed $300,000, including Contingency, to Conduct Targeted Technical Assistance to Commercial Businesses and Multi-Family Properties; and
Adoption of Resolution Amending the Integrated Waste Fund and Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2018-19. (Public Works 274)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Elizabeth D. Warmerdam, Acting City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Support City Efforts to Attain a Zero Waste Goal by Approving Update to Zero Waste Implementation Plan and Authorizing the Acting City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a Contract Not to Exceed $300,000, including Contingency, to Conduct Targeted Technical Assistance to Commercial Businesses and Multi-Family Properties; and Adoption of Resolution Amending the Integrated Waste Fund and Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2018-19
BACKGROUND
In 2008, the City Council approved the Local Action Plan for Climate Protection (Climate Plan) and established a greenhouse gas reduction goal of 25% below the City’s 2005 baseline level. The Climate Plan recommended future adoption of a Zero Waste Implementation Plan (ZWIP), as its implementation could help eliminate an estimated 44,425 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2010, City Council adopted a ZWIP and set a goal of achieving zero waste, or 89% diversion, from landfill by 2020. The 89% diversion goal derives from a per capita disposal rate, or the amount of waste disposed in pounds into the landfill by person per day (PPD). PPD is calculated by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). If Alameda were to reach 1.2 pounds PPD, then the City will have achieved the 89% per capita diversion.
In the fall of 2017, City staff initiated a process to develop a ZWIP Update (see Exhibit 1). The timing of the update serves to ensure a) the City has time to change course depending on whether it is on/off track to its 2020 goal, and b) the ZWIP Update contributes to an on-time, on-track adoption of a new climate plan by addressing recycling and composting strategies to support further greenhouse gas reductions.
Public Works engaged R3 Consulting Group (R3), one of the area’s premier waste and recycling consultants, to assess the City’s progress in implementing the ZWIP, and, where advisable, recommend changes to existing strategies. To invite community input, the City and Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda (CASA) co-conducted three public workshops between October 5, 2017 and March 1, 2018. The second and third workshops presented to the community ZWIP achievements to-date, and invited discussion and comments on the proposed ZWIP Update and additional actions to increase waste diversion. Staff received 190 comments over the course of the ZWIP Update’s development. A summary of this input is included in Appendix D of the ZWIP Update.
The ZWIP Update finds that Alameda has made steady progress in implementing the ZWIP and “is at the forefront of cities in Alameda County [and nationally] in reducing landfill disposal.” Alameda maintains a diversion rate of 79%, or about 2.3 pounds PPD, down from 3 pounds PPD in 2011. This is one of the lowest PPD rates in the country. This success came from a variety of policies and programs outlined in the original ZWIP and detailed in pages 9-16 of the ZWIP Update. This success is driven largely by a very high diversion rate in our single-family residential sector.
By 2020, Alameda is projected to have a diversion rate of 83%, or 1.9 pounds PPD. While that would be a notable achievement, 83% is also below the 89% target set by the original ZWIP. To reach the 89% target, Alameda’s multi-family, industrial, and commercial sectors will have to recycle and compost closer to the rates occurring in the singe family sector. As the table below shows, there is a substantial gap between those sectors.
The commercial and multi-family sectors have been a focus for the last several years. Alameda opted into both phases of Stopwaste’s mandatory recycling ordinance and reusable bag ordinance. In both, Stopwaste conducted outreach to affected businesses. However, that outreach has declined recently and, in Fiscal Year 2016-17, Stopwaste only conducted 11 site visits for technical assistance in Alameda. For the City to achieve its zero waste goal, much more is required.
DISCUSSION
Staff is recommending the City Council take two actions tonight:
Approve the ZWIP Plan Update
The ZWIP Update identifies five key strategies for achieving the zero waste goal. The policies and programs that flow from these strategies will require future City Council approval. As such, approval of the ZWIP Update tonight is not formal approval of every strategy, project, or program mentioned in the update. Approval of the ZWIP Update is a way of focusing resources on projects and programs consistent with the approved strategies. The five strategies are:
1) Support Zero Waste Culture in Alameda. This strategy enhances and celebrates Alameda’s growing zero waste culture through several actions that recognize the shared responsibility for each individual to reduce and divert waste from the landfill. ZWIP Update pages 29-32.
2) Conduct Targeted Technical Assistance with Commercial and Multi-Family Sectors. Alameda’s commercial and multi-family waste generators have the greatest opportunity to reduce waste sent to landfill and help them to achieve higher levels of waste diversion that could significantly reduce Alameda’s landfill disposal. ZWIP Update pages 33-34.
3) Create a Food Recovery Program and Enhance Organics Management. Food waste and other organic materials represent over 20% of waste sent to landfill and increasingly strict state requirements regarding its disposal make this strategy important for Alameda’s zero waste achievement. ZWIP Update pages 35-38.
4) Update Alameda’s Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Ordinance and Conduct Outreach. Building projects produce large amounts of waste that often end up in a landfill despite its potential to be reused or recycled, underscoring the need to increase materials recovery. ZWIP Update pages 39-42.
5) Expand High Diversion Franchise Agreement. ACI is a strong partner in achieving its zero waste goal, and as such updating the franchise agreement to support zero waste initiatives and build on that partnership will be important moving forward. ZWIP Update pages 43-46.
Second, the ZWIP Update proposes to adopt a new date of 2022 by which to achieve the City’s zero waste goal. Our consultant, CASA, and City staff believe this is a realistic but ambitious target to meet, and once met, will keep the City among the national leaders in diversion. Adoption of this 2022 goal does not preclude the City from exploring ideas that might help meet the goal sooner.
Approve up to $300,000 in technical assistance to the business/multi-family sectors
If the City is to meet its zero waste goals, the rate of recycling and composting of businesses and multi-family properties must improve significantly. The most cost effective, sustainable strategy for achieving this is more technical assistance, especially as it is complemented by Stopwaste’s current enforcement of the mandatory commercial recycling ordinance (in Fiscal Year 2016-17, Stopwaste conducted inspections at about 400 properties in Alameda). As shown in Exhibit 2’s draft scope of work, a contractor who specializes in this type of technical assistance and commits to measurable results would be deployed after a competitive procurement. The technical assistance is likely to be ongoing, repeated, and focusing on the approximately 600 businesses and multi-family properties that generate 80% of the landfilled material in the multi-family, commercial, and industrial sectors.
Staff proposes to fund this work through the positive balancing account ($1.4 million) with Alameda County Industries (ACI) that was identified as part of the June 5, 2018 setting of integrated waste rates <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3512185&GUID=E86DD88A-4B81-4E3C-B94C-4B827B6382F0>. This amount is sufficient to engage in a comprehensive technical assistance effort-probably one of the most significant in Alameda County-while conserving enough funds from the positive balancing account to address the volatility created by China’s National Sword policy, which is increasing ACI’s expense in sorting mixed paper and decreasing its revenue.
Alternatives
Should the City Council decide not to fund technical assistance to commercial and multi-family properties, the City Council may consider whether to find substitutes to provide this type of technical assistance, such as volunteers, interns, or others. Staff believe it would be difficult for these substitutes to show significant, measurable results in the commercial and multi-family sector. Yet, there may be targeted ways in which volunteers, interns, or others augment the work and expertise of a technical assistance provider. There also may be ways of adjusting integrated waste rates to incentivize composting and recycling and penalizing landfilling, but those types of adjustments, unless carefully crafted, may conflict with Proposition 218 requirements and may be less effective in driving behavior change than technical assistance. Or the City Council could deploy resources away from technical assistance and into other areas, such as greater enforcement. Fines are useful short-term tools for compliance, and perhaps the time is right to invest in greater enforcement. However, staff does not recommend a focus on greater enforcement until the commercial and multi-family sectors have been involved in a persistent, comprehensive technical assistance effort.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
If all strategies, policies, and programs proposed by the ZWIP Update were implemented, this would require increased funding equivalent to an across-the-board 4% increase in integrated waste rates. There are no rate increases associated with approval of tonight’s item. Any rate increases would have to be considered and approved in future annual rate hearings by the City Council. Executing the first year of technical assistance to the commercial and multi-family sectors will cost no more than $300,000. Staff recommends the City Council amend the Fiscal Year 2018-19 Operating Budget by increasing recycling fees revenue and appropriations for contract services by $300,000 each in the Integrated Waste Fund (Fund 274). As payments under the contract are made, reimbursements of equal value from ACI’s balancing account will be credited to the City’s Integrated Waste Fund (Fund 274) revenue account.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the City of Alameda Local Action Plan for Climate Protection (2008) and the Zero Waste Implementation Plan (2010).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
In accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this project is categorically exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15308, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment. The Zero Waste Implementation Plan is intended to guide the City in the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, thus protecting the environment.
RECOMMENDATION
Support City efforts to attain a zero waste goal by approving update to Zero Waste Implementation Plan and authorizing the acting city manager to negotiate and execute a contract not to exceed $300,000, including contingency, to conduct targeted technical assistance to commercial businesses and multi-family properties; and adopt a resolution amending the Integrated Waste Fund and operating budget for Fiscal Year 2018-19.
Respectfully submitted,
Liam Garland, Public Works Director
By,
Liz Acord, Public Works Coordinator
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Update
2. Draft Scope of Work