Waste Assessment Report: Visalia Unified School District (VUSD)

Visalia 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 Visalia Unified School District (VUSD) is located in the City of Visalia in Tulare County, California. VUSD consists of twenty-two elementary schools, four middle schools, four high schools and three special schools. In addition to the school sites, VUSD operations include one administration office, one operations office, one custodial grounds building and three centralized food service facilities.

California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) staff conducted a waste assessment of VUSD operations to identify current waste management practices and recommend cost-effective waste management strategies the school district 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 VUSD facilities conducted on November 14-16, 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 (C&D) Debris and "Green" Building Design

District Waste Information

• Annually, the VUSD generates approximately 7,842,159 pounds of waste, of which approximately 5,632,159 pounds are disposed of and 2,210,000 pounds are recycled.
• The City of Visalia Public Works Department provides the VUSD with refuse collection and disposal service at an annual disposal cost of $263,927, or approximately $94 per ton.
• In a recycling program for mixed recyclables provided by the city, VUSD recycles an estimated 2,210,000 pounds of cardboard, paper and beverage containers per year, a diversion rate of 28 percent.

Summary of Key Recommendations

A complete review of the VUSD’s current waste management practices and opportunities for waste reduction is contained in the VUSD Appendices.

The following recommendations are provided to the VUSD for immediate consideration.

• Adopt a district-wide waste reduction policy.
• Implement waste reduction strategies.
• Establish a procurement policy.
• Formalize the district-wide recycling program.
• Formalize the green waste management program.

Estimated Savings

It is estimated the VUSD will save up to $200,000 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 preserve disposal volume, implementing a 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 (IWMA) 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 waste 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’s Office of Local Assistance (OLA) and a consulting firm conducted a waste assessment of VUSD operations. Interviews of VUSD personnel and a guided walk-through of school district facilities were conducted on November 14-16, 2000. A representative from the City of Visalia also participated. The objective of the assessment was to identify current waste management practices and develop recommendations for cost-effective strategies the VUSD 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

VUSD is located in the City of Visalia in Tulare County, California and consists of 22 elementary schools, a newcomer language school, four middle schools, four high schools, one adult school, and a school that serves orthopedically-handicapped students. The VUSD’s 2,000 certificated and classified staff serves approximately 24,000 K-12 students and 10,000 adult school students. In addition to the school facilities, the VUSD operations include one administration office, an operations office, one custodial/grounds building, and a centralized food service facility. The VUSD’s 40 facilities cover over two million square feet.

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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 on-site. 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 plus the amount of material diverted from disposal (i.e., reduced, reused, and recycled). VUSD generates approximately 7,842,159 pounds of waste material. Based on the number of bins and collection frequency, approximately 5,632,159 pounds are disposed of and 2,210,000 pounds are recycled. However, during the November walk-through of several VUSD facilities and school sites, the waste assessment team observed that many "green" or recycled material bins were underutilized possibly by as much as 50 percent. Therefore, the 2,210,000 pounds of recycled material referred to above may be more representative of recycling capacity rather than of actual recycling achieved.

These data, combined with information collected from the waste assessment walk-though, enabled the waste assessment team to identify the largest components of the VUSD waste stream to target for potential waste reduction program development.

Figure 1: Estimated Waste Stream Composition for Visalia Unified School District

Disposal

The City of Visalia’s Public Works Department provides the VUSD with refuse collection and disposal service. This service includes 52 three-cubic-yard and 47 two-cubic-yard refuse containers serviced five times a week, with the exception of those at the Adult School and Sierra Vista sites, which are picked up three times per week, and those at the Stadium (Redwood), which are collected twice a week. VUSD is charged based on this service schedule (i.e., by the bin pull). The cost of this service is $263,927 annually. Additionally, some schools within the school district but located outside of the Visalia city limits are serviced by other local refuse companies.

Reduce and Reuse

VUSD also participates in a number of reduce and reuse activities, such as, double-sided copies, paper reuse (e.g., scratch pads), and grasscycling; however, none of these practices were readily quantifiable.

Recycling

VSUD currently participates in commingled recycling. Specifically, in addition to the 99 brown bins for regular trash, the city provides 28 green bins for recyclables (e.g., beverage containers, mixed paper, and cardboard). The green bin material is taken to the materials recovery facility (MRF) for further sorting while the brown bin trash is landfilled directly (e.g., food, green material, and other wet wastes). There have been some reports that occasionally, green bin material is taken to the landfill rather than to the MRF, perhaps due to contamination of the recyclables.

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Last updated: September 18, 2008