Waste Assessment Report: Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD)

Long Beach Unified School District

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• School District Information
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Waste Assessment Findings
• Analysis and Recommendations
• Appendices

Executive Summary

The Integrated Waste Management Act (IWMA) requires every California city and county to divert 50 percent of its waste from landfills. School districts can play an important role in their communities in achieving this mandate.

The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), located in Los Angeles County, California, serves Long Beach, Signal Hill, most of Lakewood, Santa Catalina Island and a portion of unincorporated Los Angeles County. The LBUSD consists of 62 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 9 high schools. It also operates 12 child development centers and has 15 facilities for central services. In addition to the school facilities, the LBUSD operations include food service, administration, operations and maintenance, transportation, and facilities.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) staff conducted a waste assessment of LBUSD operations to identify current waste management practices and recommend cost-effective waste management strategies the LBUSD can implement to reduce its solid waste generation and potentially save money. The information contained in this waste assessment report is based on interviews and a walk-through of LBUSD facilities conducted December 11-13, 2000.

"Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" is a resource conservation philosophy promoting reduction in solid waste generation through changes in the manner materials are purchased, used and discarded. There are several components to implementing this philosophy:

• Reduce-Waste Prevention
• Reuse
• Recycling
• Procurement Practices
• Composting/Vermicomposting
• Construction and Demolition Debris and "Green" Building Design

District Waste Information

• Annually, the LBUSD generates approximately 24,481,682 pounds of material of which approximately 15,894,980 pounds are disposed of, and 8,586,702 pounds are diverted through waste prevention and recycling.
• The LBUSD Transportation Department hauls the District’s solid waste to a transfer station in North Long Beach or to the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF), a transformation facility that uses refuse-derived fuel for conversion to electricity via incineration and steam generation.
• Approximately 11,920,600 pounds (75 percent) of waste are incinerated and 3,974,380 pounds are landfilled annually.
• The LBUSD operated recycling program yields approximately 8,586,702 pounds of material (grass clippings, cardboard, paper and metal); in addition, there are other recycling programs at individual school sites.
• The solid waste consists mostly of green waste (27.3 percent), followed by food waste (20.3 percent), paper (17.6 percent), aluminum, glass, plastic and tin (13.7 percent), and other materials.

Summary of Key Recommendations

A complete review of the current LBUSD waste reduction practices and opportunities for waste reduction and savings is contained in the LBUSD Appendices. Based on the assessment results, the following recommendations are provided to the LBUSD for immediate consideration.

• Adopt a district-wide waste reduction policy.
• Participate in the city curbside pickup program.
• Establish a district-wide procurement policy.
• Adopt waste reduction strategies.
• Formalize and improve the district-wide recycling program.
• Consider "green building" architecture for new school construction.

Estimated Savings

It is estimated that the LBUSD will save more than $310,000 per year if the recommendations of this report are implemented. There are minimal costs associated with these recommendations (e.g., stacking food service trays to conserve disposal volume, implementing double-sided copy policy); however, it is believed that the estimated savings would cover such costs.

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Introduction

The Integrated Waste Management Act requires every California city and county to divert 50 percent of its waste from landfills. School districts are important to the achievement of this mandate for several reasons:

• It is estimated that school districts contribute approximately 764,000 tons to the total volume of solid waste in California.
• In some medium-sized and smaller communities, schools contribute as much as 15 percent of the wastes generated in the community.
• Visible and active waste prevention and recycling programs in schools provide excellent role models that support environmental curricula in the classroom.
• To the extent that environmental education is part of classroom curricula, students will carry resource conservation lessons into adulthood.
• School districts are an integral part of every community, and are important participants in civic leadership.
• The majority of the state’s population is involved with schools in some way-as students, parents, professionals or volunteers. Schools serve as positive role models for environmental stewardship.

Staff of the CIWMB, Office of Local Assistance (OLA), and a consulting firm conducted a waste assessment of LBUSD operations on December 11-13, 2000. The assessment consisted of interviews of LBUSD personnel and a guided walk-through of LBUSD facilities. Staff of the cities of Long Beach and Lakewood also participated in the assessment. The objective of the assessment was to identify current waste management practices and develop recommendations for cost-effective strategies the LBUSD can implement to reduce the generation of solid waste and potentially save money. The results of the waste assessment are discussed in this report.

School District Information

The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) serves Long Beach, Signal Hill, most of Lakewood, Santa Catalina Island, and some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. LBUSD is located in Los Angeles County, California, and consists of 62 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 9 high schools. It also operates 12 child development centers and has 15 facilities for central services. The LBUSD’s 7,956 certificated and classified staff serves over 89,000 students. In addition to the school facilities, the LBUSD operations include food service, administration, operations and maintenance, and transportation facilities.

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

"Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" is a resource conservation philosophy promoting reduction in solid waste generation through changes in the way materials are purchased, used and discarded. This section summarizes how this approach applies to the waste management system within a typical school district.

Reduce-Waste Prevention

Very often, managers look to recycling first when pursuing waste reduction. Recycling can divert large volumes of material from the waste stream and reduce disposal costs. However, preventing waste from occurring (also called source reduction) is an even more important part of a waste management program, reducing both waste and cost.

Everything that goes into the trash bin is something that was purchased. Throwing the item in the trash bin adds the cost of disposal to the original price of the item. Whatever can be diverted from the trash bin by waste prevention, reuse or recycling will result in disposal cost savings.

Waste prevention strategies include:

• Copying on both sides of a sheet of paper (double-sided copying).
• Ordering bulk supplies to reduce excess packaging.
• Grasscycling.
• Xeriscaping.

Reuse

Reusing materials can save money and contribute to resource conservation. Material exchange centers serve as clearinghouses for new and used material, supplies and equipment. These materials are available at little or no cost to institutions such as school districts.

Reuse strategies include:

• Using reusable rather than disposable food serving trays and eating utensils.
• Reusing packing boxes or sending them back to the vendor/manufacturer.
• Donating excess and leftover food to food banks and food rescue programs.
• Donating used items to local charities or other nonprofit organizations.
• Participating in local and global book exchanges.
• Securing or exchanging materials through material exchange centers such as KidMAX and CalMAX.
• Utilizing federal, state, and local surplus programs.

Recycling

A recycling program is more than collecting beverage containers such as aluminum cans, glass, and some plastic containers. White paper, mixed paper, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, tin cans, and scrap metal all have recycle value as well. Every municipality and region has a different waste management infrastructure, so it is important for school districts to work closely with the local jurisdiction solid waste management and recycling coordinator and waste haulers to maximize opportunities to recover recyclables from the waste stream.

There are five essential elements to a good recycling program:

1. A written district-wide waste reduction policy.
2. Guidelines, education and training for students, teachers, administrators, custodians, and staff within each
   district department.
3. Review and negotiation of recycling and disposal contracts, taking into account the variety of materials, collection schedules, cost/revenue, training, education, resources (e.g., storage containers), and degree of contaminants, etc.
4. A reliable collection system consisting of a sufficient number of strategically placed, well-labeled collection containers.
5. Monitoring and evaluation of program compliance and performance.

Procurement Practices

Collecting recyclable material and reusing material are only part of the resource conservation process. For recycling to work in the marketplace, it is equally important to "close the loop" by purchasing products that contain postconsumer recycled-content material. Consumer demand for goods manufactured with recycled content will ensure a market for the materials collected in recycling programs.

School districts can increase demand for recycled content products, lower costs of materials, and increase purchasing power by participating in purchasing cooperatives. Many school districts already participate in purchasing cooperatives, purchasing a variety of products and services from insurance to school supplies and food. Cooperatives increase the purchasing power of a single district. By participating in cooperatives, school districts can expect to negotiate prices that are more competitive, reduce packaging, and secure a greater supply and variety of recycled content products.

Composting/Vermicomposting

Organic waste includes "green waste" (e.g., grass clippings and tree and shrub clippings) and food waste. Using the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle approach, a school district should first consider ways of reducing organic waste by examining the sources. To reduce green waste, for example, a district should select landscaping plants that do not require frequent trimming (xeriscaping) and leave grass clippings in place (grasscycling) whenever possible. Vermicomposting of food scraps on school sites is an excellent student educational activity. Additionally, leftover food should be reused or donated whenever feasible. Finally, organic waste can be collected separately and composted either off or onsite. Many municipalities recycle green waste by using it as mulch and compost for landscaping in city parks and median strips and for community beautification projects.

Construction and Demolition Debris and "Green" Building Design

School districts throughout California are engaged in major school renovations and new school building projects. These projects present excellent opportunities to divert construction and demolition debris (C&D) into other uses. Concrete and asphalt waste can be used as road base; wood materials can be reused or used as raw material for the manufacture of particleboard or mulch or as a bulking agent in the composting process. Additionally, reinforcement bar (re-bar), dry wall, carpet, and asphalt roofing shingles can be recycled.

Specifying the reuse and recycling of demolition debris in construction contracts can accomplish the diversion of C&D waste. Districts should partner with the local solid waste management and recycling coordinator and local waste haulers for assistance in developing the most resource-efficient approach.

For school districts engaged in new construction, there are several ways green building design principles can be used to increase student performance, increase the use of recycled content products, reduce green waste with proper landscaping plans, and reduce energy costs. Architects and contractors knowledgeable and experienced in green building design should be selected for new school construction projects.

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Waste Assessment Findings

Waste Generation

The total amount of waste generated equals the amount of material disposed of plus the amount of material diverted from disposal (i.e., reduced, reused, and recycled). Annually, the LBUSD generates approximately 24,481,682 pounds of waste material, of which approximately 15,894,980 pounds are disposed of, and 8,586,702 pounds are diverted from disposal through waste prevention and recycling efforts. Figure 1 below illustrates the estimated composition of LBUSD’s solid waste stream. These data, combined with information collected from the waste assessment walk-though, enabled the waste assessment team to identify the largest components of the LBUSD waste stream to target for potential waste reduction program development.

Figure 1: Estimated Waste Composition for the Long Beach Unified School District

Disposal

LBUSD hauls its own waste, utilizing two trucks and two full-time drivers. Two routes (North and South) are serviced daily by the LBUSD Transportation Department. According to the LBUSD Transportation Department, one out of every four loads of waste picked up is transported to Bel Art, a transfer station in North Long Beach. From there, it is transported by packer truck to local landfills. The remaining tonnage, constituting 75 percent of the LBUSD's waste, goes to the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) located in the Long Beach Harbor area. The SERRF is a transformation facility that uses refuse-derived fuel for conversion to electricity via incineration and steam generation. In summary, approximately 11,920,600 pounds of waste are incinerated and 3,974,380 pounds are landfilled annually.

Recycling

LBUSD currently participates in some cardboard, paper, and scrap metal recycling. These recycling programs are offered primarily at the LBUSD’s administrative and purchasing departments. The paper and cardboard recycling service is provided by Dalton Enterprises, Inc. at no cost to the LBUSD, and metal recycling service is provided at no fee by another private vendor. This program yields over 200,000 pounds of materials annually (see Table 1 below).

Table 1: Long Beach Unified School District Recycling Programs

These figures do not represent the total recycling picture. In addition to these LBUSD-sponsored programs, some school sites operate their own recycling programs. At least three different recycling vendors have collection programs with LBUSD schools.

Reduce and Reuse

There are a number of reduce and reuse activities in which LBUSD participates (e.g., food redistribution, pallet reuse, double-sided copies, grasscycling). However, only the grasscycling activities were quantifiable. It is estimated that approximately 8,385,300 pounds of grass clippings were diverted from landfill disposal through grasscycling activity.

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Last updated: September 18, 2008