Contact Pacific Southwest Waste Program
Pacific Southwest, Region 9
Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations
Solid Waste Projects
Resource Conservation Fund
Waste Reduction, Reuse and Recycling
Waste Reduction, Reuse and Recycling,
Columbia University, New York, NY, FY06, $49,972
Collection and Critical Analysis of Recycling Data from EPA Region 9
Columbia University's Earth Engineering conducted in-depth study of recycling, composting, and disposal data flows in California, Nevada, and Hawaii (Arizona was unable to provide enough data to participate) and developed a website featuring this data. The state data was normalized using EPA's definition of municipal solid waste. EPA's definition differs from recycling definitions of various states because EPA does not include construction and demolition debris, alternative daily cover, auto body scrap, biosolids, waste-to-energy, household hazardous waste, or other materials included in some state recycling rate analysis. The project found that Region 9 states recycle over 37%, landfill just over 60%, send 2.5% to waste to energy facilities. Using primarily 2005 state and national data, the study found the following state recycling rates using EPA's recycling definition:
| California | 39.3% |
|---|---|
| Hawaii | 26% |
| Nevada | 20.6% |
Additional analysis found that composting green waste and food waste could have a significant impact on increasing Regional recycling rates.
Full Study (PDF) (27 pp, 253K): Detailed Examination of the Flows of Municipal Solid Waste Through Three EPA Region 9 States (CA, HI, and NV).
Contact: Timonie Hood. (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
Recycled Products Cooperative (RPC), Encinitas, California, FY2003, $25,000
Western Markets Recycled Paper Initiative
The Recycled Products Cooperative received a Region 9 EPA Resource Conservation Funds grant. They developed a self-sustaining, non-profit cooperative that provides a way for businesses, schools and public agencies to purchase recycled content paper at affordable prices. The Co-op, which began as a local program in Southern California, is now a nation-wide program and has successfully converted over 500 public agencies and companies to using recycled paper. As of June 2005, the RPC has sold over 300,000 cases of recycled paper. The environmental savings from this program have totaled over:
- 60,668 trees
- 17,702,050 gallons of water
- 10,363,710 kilowatt hours of electricity
- 151,329 pounds of air pollution prevented from entering our skies
For more information please see the RCCP website
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
Arizona Clean and Beautiful, Mesa, Arizona, FY2002, $22,500
"Hop To It" Student Recycling Program
Arizona Clean and Beautiful, a non-profit group working to preserve environmental quality in Arizona, implemented a program to develop student-led recycling programs in rural middle schools. The program replicated an award winning school recycling program in Williams, Arizona, to develop an entirely student-led recycling program. The "Hop To It" program established school recycling programs in five different communities of Arizona and involved seven different schools to recycle over 11,000 square yards of material weekly. An Educational/Training Materials booklet was compiled which gives a detailed description of how to successfully develop a school-recycling program.
For more information on Arizona Clean and Beautiful, please see their website
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
City of Tucson, Arizona, FY99, $47, 150.
Tucson Small Business Recycling Research and Pilot Project
The City of Tucson Environmental Services assisted small businesses to pilot blue barrel commingled single stream recycling and better understand the waste streams and the recycling potential of the targeted businesses. The project led the way for all 2,100 qualifying small businesses in Tucson to recycle with blue barrels when residential blue barrel collection began citywide. The project was divided into three separate phases. During phase one, 9.9 tons of material was recycled from 29 project businesses over 20 months. During phase two, 84.7 tons was recycled from 172 businesses over one year. With all 2,100 small business customers now able to recycle, about 1,032 tons per year (estimated) is being diverted from the waste stream. The diversion of this material contributed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an energy saving of 18,665 BTUs.
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
The Tides Center, San Francisco, CA FY2003. $40,000 Single Stream Recycling Research and Roundtable
This grant funded an analysis of single stream recycling programs in California in an effort to identify opportunities to improve this type of recycling collection. The program resulted in collectors and processors of recyclable material acknowledging the difficulties single stream recycling presents and working together to try to minimize these problems in order to increase the effectiveness of community recycling programs. Conservatree was able to bring together 174 of California's top recyclers and out-of-state manufacturers who supply single stream collection products. The Roundtable resulted in a much better understanding of the problems created by many single stream practices and their implications for the future of California's recycling programs, as well as enthusiasm for more cross-sector discussions.
For more information on the Roundtable and Conservatree
Contact: Adrienne Priselac, (priselac.adrienne@epa.gov), (415) 972-3285
Solano Recyclers, Inc., Encinitas, CA, FY00, $41,564. Sustainable Futures Project
The Sustainable Futures Project was created to assist San Diego businesses in reducing the amount of waste they were producing and to help them buy recycled content products. There were multiple objectives employed in the process of accomplishing this goal including: (1) conducting waste assessments for 30 businesses, (2) making waste assessment reports accessible over the web, and (3) training students at the higher education level to conduct comprehensive waste assessments in the public and private sectors. The waste assessment concluded that the cumulative projected waste diversion potential was 3,361.81 tons, which gave a projected one year cost savings potential of $538,803.71. In addition to completing a waste assessment for San Diego businesses, 220 community college students completed waste assessment training. This training prepared future professionals by exposing them to the fundamentals of waste reduction.
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Carson City, NV, FY03, $50,000 Clark County Commercial & Public Institution Recycling Project
Clark County/Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and accounts for 70% of the state's population and 72% of the state's total municipal solid waste disposal. The community lacked recycling information for commercial and public building, so the project focused on reviewing successful local government commercial recycling program models and conducting 25 waste assessments at commercial and public buildings. The project also developed and publicized commercial/public building recycling services, conducted outreach to promote recycling, and encouraged organizations to join WasteWise, a voluntary EPA recycling partnership program.
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282
Clark County Public Education Foundation, Las Vegas, NV, FY01, $59,932
Reuse Center for Public Schools: Innovation in Re-Use for Education
The Public Education Foundation established and operated a reuse warehouse to provide reusable computers and materials to public school teachers in Southern Nevada. The Clark County School District is one of the fastest growing school districts in the nation with nearly 300,000 students currently enrolled and 12,000 - 15,000 new students arriving each year. Many of our teachers spend over $1200 per year of their own income on the necessary materials to create innovative and engaging projects. This project established detailed donation tracking and record-keeping systems and distributed 72,940 computers and supplies weighing in excess of 247,762 pounds. Over 1,436 teachers benefited from these donations. The total value of the materials distributed was $396,000 and the program has become self-sustaining.
Contact: Timonie Hood, (hood.timonie@epa.gov), (415) 972-3282