"Innovations" Case Studies: Mini Trash Bins

Case Studies

San Jose Recycle at Work Program

Program Description

Prior to June 1997, the City of San Jose’s general services department provided recycling collection service to approximately 4,000 city employees in more than 50 city facilities. Employees source-separated materials into seven categories. Service frequencies varied by location from once per week to once every three weeks. As of May 1997, the recycling rate was approximately 20 percent.

Staff from the city’s general services department and environmental services department decided to improve the recycling system. In 1996 the city released a request for proposals for recycling collection service and devised a new indoor trash and recycling collection system. The San Jose Conservation Corps (SJCC) won the bid to provide recycling services.

Under the new program, which began in May 1997, the city provides recycling service to approximately 8,000 city employees in 72 facilities located throughout the city’s 173 square miles. These facilities range in size from small community centers to the San Jose International Airport. The following buildings participate in the program: city hall, buildings located in the civic center complex adjacent to city hall, the police administration building, the Martin Luther King Main Library, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, all community/senior centers, and branch libraries.

Materials collected are newspaper, white and mixed paper, cardboard, computer paper, and mixed bottles and cans. Service frequencies vary by location from once per week to once every three weeks.

The heart of the new program is replacing employees’ deskside 5-gallon trash cans with a 3.5-quart mini can (manufactured by Kaeser and Blair Inc.). The mini can is designed to discourage the disposal of paper. All employees are required to empty their own mini cans into centralized 23-gallon trash cans, just as they empty their own recyclables into centralized recycling containers. There is one centralized 23-gallon trash can for every 10 to 15 employees. The centralized containers are typically located along a central corridor or in a copy room area.

Under the new program, sorting recyclables was simplified to just four categories: white paper, mixed paper (including newspaper and paperboard), mixed containers (bottles, cans, and plastics), and corrugated cardboard. Libraries have so much newspaper that they separate that too.

To encourage recycling, employees have a choice of three sizes of deskside recycling containers for their mixed paper and their white paper. Employees typically bring their discarded glass and plastic bottles and cans to centralized recycling bins, which are Rubbermaid SlimJim plastic containers in either 16- or 23-gallon size.

The picture below shows a City of San Jose employee emptying paper into centralized recycling containers.

Custodians pick up from central locations once or twice a day. Custodians use carts with three sections to collect all recyclables. They use a 55-gallon trash can to collect trash. They transfer both trash and recyclables from inside the buildings to outside storage containers, which the trash collection and recycling contractors provide.

The SJCC provides 96-gallon carts for recyclables at all locations. Refuse storage is usually in 1-cubic-yard to 6-cubic-yard front-loader bins with some very small facilities getting residential-style service (garbage carts and stacking bins).

Custodians no longer provide desk-to-desk trash service. This change required working with the custodial staff to provide the additional recycling service. However, providing recycling service does not require additional custodial time due to eliminating the time-consuming task of emptying each employee’s trash.

The SJCC collects recyclables with varying frequencies, from once per week to once every three weeks depending on the generation rate of the site. The corps subcontracts with two of the solid waste and recycling companies franchised by San Jose for commercial service.

One subcontractor collects cardboard using a front-loader at locations that generate a significant amount of cardboard. The second hauls cardboard in roll-off compactors from the airport. GreenTeam of San Jose collects trash under contract with the city. The environmental services department manages these contracts.

The city has been able to reduce trash service by 50 percent at its two largest administrative facilities-city hall and the police department’s headquarters. Trash service was reduced by 60 cubic yards per week, saving $11,000 a year on trash collection at these locations alone. In a 12-month period, 540 tons of materials were recycled, and the average monthly growth rate is 6.3 percent. Since the program began, more than 1,200 tons of materials have been recycled.

To make this program a success, the city developed a comprehensive outreach and education program. Also essential to its success has been support at the highest levels of city government. The program began with support from the city council. The city manager’s office conveyed information about the program to all members through a memo distributed with paychecks. Council members were among the first to try out the new program, and recycling receptacles are now present in all council offices including the council chambers and dais.

The city held more than 100 training sessions to explain the program, answer questions, and recruit department area recycling coordinators. Coordinators in each building serve as one point of contact and can help decide where to put centralized containers (in conjunction with custodians). At introductory meetings, a city staff person gave employees a choice of recycling boxes. Directly after the presentation, she would go to each desk exchanging the trash can for a mini bin. That’s when the program would start.

In addition, articles in the employee newsletter CityLine kept all employees up to date on the new program and its successes. Displays in the city hall lobby showcased old and new containers. A local television station captured the unique program on an evening news segment. To reinforce the recycling ethic, outreach continues through daily interaction of program staff with employees.

During Earth Week 1998, the city distributed reusable commuter mugs to all city employees and provided free coffee at the cafeteria to those using their new mug. Currently coffee is offered to all employees at 50 percent off the regular price if they use their mug. To date, more than 12,415 cups of coffee have been served.

Recently, a cubicle placard was designed as a quick reference guide explaining what materials should be placed in the deskside containers for mixed and white paper, both to increase diversion and reduce contamination.

To recognize the efforts of the program and raise awareness about materials saved from the landfill, staff members plan to hold a recycling area coordinators’ recognition lunch and distribute an imprinted candy with a recycling message. During the 1999 Earth Day event, city employees received a cloth napkin imprinted with the Recycle@Work logo for use in place of disposable napkins.

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Costs, Economics, and Benefits

One full-time staff member currently manages the program. This person oversees trash and recycling programs at all 72 city buildings. A staff person from the city’s general services department also provides program support by collecting materials from the few leased buildings, distributing supplies as needed, and maintaining the supplies inventory.

Ongoing non-personnel costs are $60,899 per year. Most of this money pays for supplies and any hauler costs. Currently the city has a no-cost agreement with the San Jose Conservation Corps (SJCC) to collect recyclable materials from city buildings. In turn, the SJCC retains any sales revenue. The city expects to provide some regular compensation for collection in order to be sure that service quality continues to improve. Approximately $25,000 a year is available for advertising and printing brochures and posters and for other promotional campaigns.

Initial start-up costs were approximately $45,000. These costs covered deskside recycling containers, the mini trash bins, carts for custodians, and promotional materials. Of the $45,000 initial amount, $3,660 was spent on special containers for the convention center (see Table 1 below.)

General service staff reports custodial costs have remained constant after the new program took effect. The time saved in emptying trash containers at each desk is now spent moving recyclable materials from the centralized collection areas to the 96-gallon carts for storing recyclables.

The city has reduced garbage service by 50 percent at its two largest administrative facilities-city hall and the police department’s headquarters. Garbage service decreased from 60 cubic yards per week to 30 cubic yards per week, saving $11,000 a year on garbage collection at these locations alone.

Overall the city’s savings are more modest than would otherwise be expected because collection fees are very favorable and the city pays no charge for disposing of city wastes.

Funding for the mini bin program comes from the Integrated Waste Management Fund, an enterprise type fund that receives money from various sources including IWMA fees levied on commercial generators and city facilities for waste generation.

Table 1: City of San Jose Start-Up Costs

Ontario Government Max Green Mini Bin Program

Overview

In 1991 the Ontario Government introduced the Green Workplace Program (GWP) to its government offices. This program set waste reduction targets of 35 percent by 1992 and 50 percent by 1995. After reaching these goals well before the target dates, the government established the Maximum Green Program (Max Green) in 1992 to reduce waste further. Max Green introduced some major new elements:

• Accepting all grades of office paper mixed together.
• Replacing individual trash cans with small desktop receptacles and a large centralized trash bin.
• Where possible, establishing food discard collection.

The three Ontario government buildings that piloted the program in 1993 saw total diversion rates of 80 to 88 percent. By 1998, Max Green was in place in 52 Ontario government buildings involving approximately 24,000 employees. The program has reduced waste in these buildings 75 to 95 percent and saved nearly $1 million on annual waste disposal costs. Potential savings are even higher on renegotiated custodial contracts.

Program Characteristics

The Max Green program has three main elements:

• All paper types are accepted, including glossy paper and kraft envelopes. This eliminates confusion about what is accepted and encourages employees to recycle all their paper. Directors at GWP have found that in Toronto, revenue from higher paper tonnage and savings in disposal costs more than make up for revenue lost by not supplying only high-quality office paper. (They have found that accepting all types of paper increases participation and fiber recovery as compared to sorting and accepting only certain grades of paper.)
• Tenants receive new tools to deal with their office waste. Deskside trash cans are removed and replaced by desktop mini trash containers. Employees themselves empty these containers into central trash bins. Custodial workers no longer go desk-to-desk emptying trash cans. Employees become responsible for deciding whether to put their trash into the recycling or trash bin.
• Communications, education, and training are extremely important to the success of the program. Well-informed tenants, building management, and service contractors make for a successful Max Green program.

Employees empty their trash cans as needed into larger central containers. Some employees in Ontario empty their mini trash cans less than once a week. The picture below shows centralized containers for recyclables and trash in Ontario's Max Green Program.

Although the GWP diverts mostly office paper, employees can also place their discarded glass and plastic bottles, metal food cans, polystyrene, and newspaper in centralized recycling containers. Employees have a desktop paper recycling container, which they empty into a centralized paper recycling bin. Individual paper containers are bigger than the mini trash cans. This encourages paper recycling and allows employees to store paper for a while before bringing it to the central collection bin. Recycling paper is easier than throwing it away.

Custodial workers pick up trash and recyclables from the central containers as opposed to emptying containers at each employee’s desk. Max Green staffers produce posters and pamphlets informing office workers about the program. They make presentations, answer questions, and train a “green team” in each building to answer questions and troubleshoot.

In Canada, Max Green has been adapted successfully by banks, electrical engineering companies, and universities as well as the Canadian Federal Government and other local government bodies.

Costs, Economics, and Benefits

In Ontario, the payback period on equipment through savings in trash costs was less than one year.

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Last updated: October 26, 2007