"Innovations" Case Studies: Community Cleanups

Program Characteristics

• Introduction
• Curbside Collection Programs
• Drop-off Facilities

Introduction

Community cleanup programs are organized to collect materials that are not easily placed in garbage or recycling containers. Typically, cleanup programs address the following “bulky goods,” depending on what materials are routinely collected by local recycling programs:

• White goods (for example, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, washers, dryers).
• Brown goods (for example, computers, CRT monitors, printers, fax machines, television sets, radios, microwave ovens, telephones, and other small appliances).
• Wood (for example, chairs, tables, cabinets, bookcases, bureaus, armoires, desks, and large green waste items such as prunings and stumps).
• Used building materials (for example, lumber, bricks, doors, windows).
• Upholstered furniture (for example, couches, chairs).
• Mattresses and frames.
• Carpets and padding.
• Hardware (for example, plumbing fixtures and parts, and electrical supplies).
• Housewares (for example, windows, lamps, dishes).
• Toys and sporting goods (including bicycles).
• Garden equipment and supplies.
• Auto parts.
• Paper (for example, large boxes, magazines and books).
• Textiles (for example, clothes, towels, linens, blankets).

Most communities provide some type of cleanup service as part of their regular garbage and recycling collection system. Usually these are curbside collection services or special events one to four times per year. (The materials are either collected at curbside and/or dropped off at a central location). Increasingly, communities are seeking to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much of the materials collected by these programs as possible.

Curbside Collection Programs

There are generally two types of curbside collection services: on-call service and special events.

On Call Service

Communities collect bulky goods within one to seven days of a call for such service. Some communities provide this service free for the first two to three items, charging a fee for additional items or additional collections. This service is often very popular because the timeliness of response is important. Often residents are involved with a cleanup, redecorating, or remodeling project. Or they may be moving, so they do not want a long wait to dispose of an item.

In the past, thrift stores and charities such as Goodwill Industries and Salvation Army also provided pickup service. However, in many communities, it is no longer economic for these thrift stores or charities to provide this service by themselves. Some communities are now contracting with these charities (either directly or through their waste hauler) to help with these services.

In San Francisco, Calif., the city established a new on-call program. A limit of five bulky items may be collected. However, “reasonable” amounts of the following materials are accepted for recycling:

• Properly prepared scrap metal.
• Yard waste in paper bags, cardboard boxes, or tied in bundles less than four feet long-no plastic bags.
• Motor oil in a plastic jug with a screw-top lid.
• Oil filters drained and placed in a sealed, leak-proof plastic bag.
• Lumber, carpet, or similar items tied in bundles no more than four feet long.
• Broken appliances with refrigerator doors removed for safety.
• Scrap metal items placed in boxes or tied in bundles less than four feet long, with a maximum of 60 pounds per item or bundle.

This program is not for trash, items that fit inside a garbage can, items collected in the curbside recycling program, or items that could be donated to charity. The program brochure refers residents to the phone book listings for thrift shops or requests that they call the city for a “Residential Reuse and Recycling Directory.” Residents can also visit the City of San Francisco web site for more information.

Residents must call ahead to schedule an appointment for pickup. Their garbage account is then verified as active. Residents then tell customer service staff exactly what items are to be collected. Each household is allowed two collections each year. Residents are asked to group materials by type and place them at the curb by 6 a.m.

The promotional brochure stresses that residents are held accountable for all materials set out at their address, regardless of who set them there. Program limits are to be strictly enforced. Citations will be issued and fees will be charged if program rules are not followed.

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Special Event Cleanups

Communities collect once to four times each year, often as a spring and/or fall cleanup. Sometimes these events coincide with other recycling campaigns and community events (see below).

Curbside collection special events have the potential of mixing materials together so that they cannot be reused or recycled. Special efforts could be made to target different materials on different days to address this concern (for example, one day for electronics pickups, another day for furniture).

Charities and reuse businesses have also been asked to help address this concern.

In Fremont, Calif., the waste hauler gives bulky goods collection route maps to CURA, a nonprofit organization. CURA staff precedes the waste hauler’s truck to collect anything of value that can be reused or recycled.

Similarly, Urban Ore has for years provided curbside pickup of bulky goods throughout Berkeley. The organization coordinates with the city on bulky goods pickup days.

Berkeley’s neighborhood cleanup is organized as ten events in different neighborhoods each week. The city provides:

• A coupon for one free load of compostables to be delivered to the transfer station.
• Friday collection of reusable and repairable items (collected for East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse) and mattresses and sofas (collected for Total Recycling Systems).
• Saturday collection of up to 4 cubic yards of plant debris and unpainted wood and up to 4 cubic yards of mixed trash.

There is a $25 charge for setouts above the 4 cubic yard limit. The city scheduled this cleanup in the university housing area to coincide with student move-out week and made special arrangements with Goodwill to obtain reusable items. The city also provided extra cardboard collection services for the student move-out and coordinated publicity for the event with the university. The university also did a book exchange.

Emeryville, Calif., also uses East Bay Depot to collect all reusables during its bulky waste cleanup days. East Bay Depot services are generally paid for by grant funding (for example, Alameda County Waste Management Authority).

Drop-Off Facilities

Charities and Thrift Stores

Many communities contain a wide variety of thrift stores, charities, and salvage businesses that serve the community. These businesses usually accept materials from the public whenever they are open. This is an invaluable service that keeps valuable materials out of the landfills and helps communities meet the goals of the Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989 as amended [IWMA]). Communities are increasingly seeking out these locations to promote them and partner with them in reuse programs.

The City of Vacaville, Calif., has a program called “Give Winter Garb a 2nd Chance.” For several years, the Asian Pacific Islander Club at Wood High sponsored an on-campus coat drive. In 1998, the city became involved and expanded drop-off locations in town. The city also arranged for a dry cleaner to donate cleaning services. That year, the program collected about 600 coats and jackets and distributed them through the local Christmas Wish program and to holiday parties at the city’s three neighborhood centers.

In 1999, the program was refined and again expanded. Four dry cleaners participated, both as drop-off locations and to provide cleaning and laundering services. Ads appeared in the local newspaper and at the 16-screen theater, both of which donated their services. Local students passed out flyers at shopping centers on Thanksgiving weekend. Vacaville Sanitary Service collected labeled bags for one week on their regular routes. California Medical Facility also contributed laundering services.

The city collected coats, jackets, sweaters, blankets, and other items. The students sorted and categorized all the items. Again distribution took place through the Christmas Wish program and the neighborhood centers. The advertising and work with the students stressed reuse as well as giving to those in need. With business donations, the city will be awarding an environmental scholarship of $250 to one of the participating students.

The Give Winter Garb a 2nd Chance program collected more than 5,000 items. The leftover clothing after the distribution in Vacaville went to the nearby town of Dixon and to Mission Solano, which distributes food and clothing throughout Solano County.

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Solid Waste Facilities

Transfer stations, material recovery facilities (MRFs), and landfills all provide opportunities for bulky goods to be recovered instead of burying them. The public is particularly supportive of these programs if they can avoid paying tipping fees when they donate bulky goods for reuse or recycling.

A good example of this is the Last Chance Mercantile in Marina, Calif. The Last Chance Mercantile is a place where reusable materials get their last chance before ending up in the Monterey Regional Landfill.

Constructed together with a major MRF in 1996, the Last Chance Mercantile includes a room for processing materials for resale; indoor space for displaying items such as books, clothing, sporting goods, household items, and furniture; office space for the store manager; and restrooms. Building materials, plumbing fixtures (for example, tubs and sinks), patio furniture, and other items not affected by the weather are displayed outside. (See related model study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board in this series titled “Last Chance Mercantile: A Model for Local Government Recycling and Waste Reduction.”)

Other Drop-Off Sites/Reuse Centers

The City of West Sacramento, Calif., conducts a drop-off program that has obtained remarkable results. In three of the last four years of its beautification week program, West Sacramento diverted more than 60 percent of the materials collected for reuse or recycling. The program recycles yard waste, concrete, tires, mattresses, metals, and cardboard. An appliance repair company takes any usable appliances, and the rest are recycled. They set out for swapping any other usable items.

Thurston County, Wash., has held community recycle days biannually since 1992. At these events, they accept tires, appliances, scrap metal, bicycles, lawnmowers, and flowerpots, but no mixed waste. Some items are free to recycle; others carry a nominal fee. The county charges $1 per tire, and a tire recycling firm collects the tires to use for retreads or to make chips for fuel. They charge $5 for each washer, dryer, stove, and water heater, which are recycled as scrap metal.

The $10 charge for each refrigerator does not cover the actual cost of recycling this item (about $30) due to the costs involved with draining and reclaiming the coolant. The $5 fees for the other white goods help cover that cost difference. Other items are taken for free. Scrap metal gets recycled, although some people will take resuable/repairable items (including bicycles). One individual takes lawnmowers to repair and resell. His wife has a nursery and uses the flowerpots.

The Thurston County program also has a Goodwill trailer to accept reusable household items. They recently started accepting non-recyclable glass, which is used by a man who makes colorful “glasscrete” products. At the spring 2000 event, a company will be present to accept some computers and electronics.

To make the recycling day events as accessible as possible to all county residents, two events are scheduled (one in the north part of county and another in the south). One event is held at the county fairgrounds; the other, in a more rural part of the county.

The ReUse Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., will allow residents to request items to be saved for them. If someone stops by and the store does not have what they are looking for, the store puts their name and number on a “wish list” and they call if it comes in.

Dormitory Moveouts

If there is a college or university in a community with substantial student housing, large quantities of bulky goods are generated at both the beginning and the end of the semester. Typically there is a six to tenfold increase in disposal at the end of the school year, but in the past this material did not get reused or recycled.

That trend is changing. Increasingly, colleges are providing extra capacity for their recycling containers and collection system at the beginning and end of the school year. At the beginning of the school year, this is targeted to the large amounts of corrugated boxes that are generated.

At the end of the semester, there is a much wider range of bulky goods and recyclable materials, including bookshelves, mattresses, couches, chairs, tables, bicycles, books, beds, school supplies, and used building materials (for example, lumber, cinder blocks, and bricks). These are generally items that students may not want to take home at the end of the school year.

The University of California at San Diego (UCSD) increases collection schedules for recycling and trash during move-outs. They make sure that all collection containers are empty at the beginning of the week. The university recycling program works with the resident assistants to encourage students to recycle and donate items instead of throwing them away.

Dormitory residents see posters in the halls about reusing and recycling bulky items, and they receive flyers with the message “DONATE IT!” Most of the housing areas designate a location in a lounge or laundry area for materials to be donated. Every housing area picks a different charity to help. The rule is: if you can reuse it, donate it.

Unfortunately, bulky items show up everywhere. Most of the time the university recycling crews pull them out of waste rolloff containers and put them aside for reuse. Recycling tonnages increase about 30 percent during move-outs.

Last year UCSD offered an organized “yard sale” for students to sell their unwanted items before the campus move-outs. Anything not sold was donated to a local teen shelter. The university set out donation boxes for non-perishable food items, and they designated special locations to dispose of unwanted household hazardous wastes. The university recycling program promoted the event and reserved parking lots for this purpose. Unfortunately, not many students participated this first year. They hope to do better in the future.

In Gainesville, Florida, the City of Gainesville conducted a community cleanup and giveaway program at the end of the school year. They collected furniture and household items from students and the community-at-large using charities and city and county staff.

The items were stored in a livestock pavilion on the University of Florida campus. They advertised the giveaway for 9 a.m., but people began lining up as early as 6 a.m. They collected more than 21 tons of materials that were all reused or recycled. It was a huge success and received great publicity.

Another year, Gainesville provided the furniture and household items to the Salvation Army for them to distribute. Also, the Alachua County Rural Collection Centers for Solid Waste and Recycling allow residents to drop off bulky items for either disposal or to become part of a “swap shop.” These items are set under a canopy and the public can take whatever they like.

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Community Exchanges

The City of Seattle, Wash., established a community exchange. Residents are encouraged to bring their reusable or repairable items to give away at a neighborhood site organized by the city. Residents may also find items they want and take those away for free. The city staffs the exchange with volunteers as much as possible.

Acceptable items include:

• Reusable furniture (for example, sofas, chairs, tables, bookcases).
• Working household appliances and electronics (for example, vacuums, TVs, radios, and stereo equipment).
• Reusable construction materials.
• Reusable housewares (for example, plates, kitchenware, decorations).
• Clothing and textiles (clean and dry).

Items not accepted are:

• Yard waste, food waste, recyclable glass, cans, or paper.
• Tires, car batteries, or concrete.
• Paints, oils, or solvents.
• Pressurized cylinders.

Residents must bring their notice of the event flyer as a “pass” and a proof of residency to participate; but they can participate only on the designated days. Residents are also provided the opportunity to dispose of larger unwanted items that may not be reusable or recyclable at these locations. The city contracts with King County Conservation Corps to fill dumpsters and haul away waste that is also brought to these sites.

These exchanges replaced the city’s previous program, in which residents placed bulky wastes on the curb to be picked up on a certain day. Problems occurred when people from inside and outside the city came and illegally dumped trash on residents’ lawns. The city is much happier with the new system.

Habitat ReStores

More than 50 Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the United States and Canada have established ReStores, including five in Southern California. Another one is planned for the Sacramento area soon.

A ReStore is a thrift shop that recycles quality surplus, new, and used building materials at a fraction of retail prices. Many people wish to donate used items to Habitat, but Habitat can’t accept anything for Habitat Homes that isn’t brand new. ReStores were established to sell these items to help fund the construction of Habitat houses in the community. ReStores also give others in the area a way to improve their homes at a reduced cost.

All materials sold by Habitat ReStores are donated for that purpose, often from contractors with excess supplies. Items also come from demolition crews salvaging reusable materials or from the general public. ReStores give contractors and rental managers a way to cut their costs when renovating or demolishing buildings while recycling for a great cause.

The North Hollywood ReStore is also developing a tool “library” where people can “check out” the tools they need to do their work.

ReStores are good examples of the types of thrift stores for used building materials now appearing throughout the state. Communities could work to promote these operations and encourage contractors and homeowners to use them rather than disposing of these materials.

Habitat ReStores are currently located in California in the following communities:

• Tijuana/San Diego (Lemon Grove)
• San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valley (North Hollywood)
• Ventura County (Oxnard)
• Riverside (San Bernardino)
• Orange County (Santa Ana)

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Last updated: December 28, 2007