Lessons Learned From the Pilot Districts

During the course of the project, several important lessons were learned that should guide the initiation of waste reductions programs in school districts and other institutions statewide. Eight of the lessons learned from the project are discussed below.

Lesson 1: It is important to understand the business of schools.

Fundamental to working successfully with school districts is the recognition that schools are in the business of education, not waste management. As such, school administrators are not routinely focused on, nor necessarily interested in, the business of waste management. On the other hand, school districts are essentially business enterprises that provide an educational service; and as with their business counterparts, waste management is an overhead function of the core activity. Therefore, it is critical when marketing waste reduction strategies for school districts to demonstrate how school districts, by embracing the resource conservation philosophy and supporting a comprehensive waste management program, can be more efficient educational "businesses."

Schools are under no legal mandate to engage in waste reduction or recycling programs. School administrators typically view waste collection service as another utility service for which the district pays a monthly fee and over which it has little or no control. However, California’s current energy challenge has been a reminder that the efficient use and management of utilities can have a significant impact on the financial health of the organization.

School districts, like business enterprises, public or private, have an inherent interest in improving the efficiency of the business functions of the district so that the core business of educating students is not distracted or disrupted by poor service support or diversion of scarce resources. Money saved or expenditures avoided by reducing and recycling waste will increase the funds available for the district’s core educational programs.

The approach of the project was to focus on the business of schools rather than the classroom or education component of schools. The project also focused on school districts rather than individual schools, with an objective of institutionalizing waste reduction practices in schools by the adoption of policy and administrative procedures at the district level that will impact multiple schools. The project focused on working with policy makers and administrators to demonstrate that activities related to waste reduction constitute good business practices and should be a routine element of the business of managing the district.

Overall responsibility for policy, academic, and financial performance of a school district lies with the elected Boards of Trustees. Management of school districts consists of two components: (1) Superintendents, principals, and teachers, or "certificated" personnel, are responsible for and focused primarily on the academic performance of students. (2) Responsibility for the business of schools rests with "classified" personnel, typically headed by a chief business official (CBO). The CBO is typically of deputy superintendent rank. This person’s subordinates are typically the heads of the administrative, purchasing, food service, maintenance, operations, grounds, custodial services, business services, and transportation departments. It is the objective of the CBO and the CBO’s management team to efficiently prepare and manage the budget and provide all the support services necessary to achieve the educational goals of the district.

School districts consist of the same business organizational units (e.g., administrative services, transportation, maintenance, personnel, accounting) as most other institutions and business enterprises. In this respect, the lessons learned in the pilot school districts will be transferable to other institutional settings and the broader non-residential sector.

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Lesson 2: School officials are fully challenged to perform the duties of the education mission of schools; waste management issues are, at best, a distraction.

Over the past several years, pressure has mounted for public schools to improve student performance. An abundance of reform proposals have become formal mandates that challenge administrators and teachers to stay abreast of the changes, improve performance, meet deadlines and achieve results.

It is apparent from the project experience that waste management issues are at best a distraction from the education focus of school district administrations. It will be a challenge for the CIWMB and local jurisdictions to make a compelling case for the investment of time and resources for the benefits of waste management.

However, the assessment activities of the project were well received in the pilot districts. Several of the districts have already begun implementing the assessment report recommendations. It is reasonable to expect that the methodology employed by the project team will be accepted and effective in other school districts and institutions statewide. The combination of methodology, resource tools, and focused support of local jurisdictions and the CIWMB will greatly increase the likelihood of diversion performance in schools.

Lesson 3: School board and management policy provide the foundation for the institutionalization of waste reduction programs.

The CIWMB has developed model strategies for initiating and implementing waste reduction programs in virtually every segment of the waste generation community, including school districts. The question has become how best to gain access to decision-makers and convince them of the value of these resources relative to their enterprises. Consequently, the issue for the CIWMB in schools is no longer what wastes to recycle, or how to reduce or recycle waste, but rather, how to reach decision-makers and motivate them to initiate and sustain waste reduction programs over time.

With some notable exceptions, most of the school waste reduction initiatives of the CIWMB and local jurisdictions in the past have focused on implementing recycling programs in individual schools, businesses, and institutions. This strategy relies on motivated individuals-typically managers, supervisors, and individual employees taking a personal interest in and responsibility for initiating projects, energizing others to participate, obtaining the required resources and technical assistance, and managing the process. These individuals and groups are motivated not by personal reward, but by the idea that such efforts are "the right thing to do for the environment" and contribute in a valuable way to the students’ education.

Unfortunately, when the individuals who are committed to the projects are promoted or transferred, or graduate, the programs and projects begin to atrophy and eventually disappear. The efforts fail largely because they are not institutionalized by policy and operating procedures of the school district or institution. Without the official, formal recognition and support of management, the programs are not integrated into the culture or business practices of the organization and cannot be sustained.

To underscore the importance of formal policy, communication, and performance evaluation, a model waste reduction resolution, an environmentally preferable purchasing policy, and a sample letter to vendors were included in the assessment report for each pilot district (18). As a result of the project activities, two of the pilot districts are pursuing implementation of such district-wide policies.

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Lesson 4: Local jurisdictions are a key component to school district waste reduction program success.

Local jurisdictions are the CIWMB’s best link to school districts and other institutions. Local jurisdictions have the responsibility for meeting Integrated Waste Management Act (IWMA) mandates. As such, they have a self interest in school district participation in community waste reduction programs as an important element in meeting the IWMA diversion mandates. Given proximity and motivation, local jurisdictions are in the best position to provide hands-on technical and other forms of support to school districts.

During the course of the project, it became apparent that not all local jurisdictions are adequately equipped to play this important role. In every case, the local jurisdiction personnel were enthusiastic about working with school districts, but several had not done so due to conflicting workload priorities, inadequate understanding of how to approach or market services to school districts, or uncertainties about the network of information and resources available.

The project experience is instructive. As a result of the approach taken by the project team to include local recycling coordinators in the assessment activities, several of the coordinators were able to establish important contacts in the pilot districts with which to continue implementation of assessment recommendations. For example, the Visalia recycling coordinator has successfully initiated a partnership with the district to implement several of the project team recommendations, and the City of Long Beach is planning a pilot curbside collection program at selected schools as a result of the project’s waste assessment recommendations.

Lesson 5: The CIWMB provides a wealth of waste reduction resources to local jurisdictions and school districts.

The Office of Local Assistance has the lead role in monitoring and assisting local jurisdictions in implementing waste reduction programs to meet IWMA mandates. Other CIWMB program areas also have programs or activities directly related to school districts. There are programs for introducing environmental education that include classroom recycling, school gardens, and on-site composting. Other programs within the CIWMB offer grants and loans to schools for a variety of purposes. Finally there are specialty programs such as used oil, tires, organics, and green school building that engage schools at one level or another.

The CIWMB has sufficient information resources to provide valuable support to local jurisdictions, school districts, and other institutions. The challenge is to compile and keep this information current and in easily accessible, useful formats for use by CIWMB staff, school districts, local jurisdictions, and other stakeholders. The project met this challenge by designing the School Waste Reduction web site to provide tools, resources, and links related to school waste reduction and recycling.

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Lesson 6: Identifying cost effective opportunities for waste reduction and recycling does not require extensive analysis of the waste stream but rather a review of the statewide waste characterization data. However, design of effective and sustainable programs does require careful and thorough analysis.

The statewide waste characterization data for educational services and other business sectors of the waste stream compiled by the CIWMB and available on its web site (19) is sufficient to identify primary opportunities for waste reduction programs in school districts. A combination of interviews with school district management and department heads and "walk-around" tours of facilities and school sites is adequate to identify waste reduction and recycling opportunities in a particular organizational setting.

Once the primary opportunities for waste reduction are understood, designing a sustainable waste reduction and recycling program requires considerably more time and analysis. Factors such as district policy, training, and performance monitoring must be considered, as well as equipment needs, source separation methods, collection, storage, transportation, available processing facilities, and other logistical factors. Fortunately, school districts and businesses can obtain considerable assistance, including free consultation from waste haulers, local jurisdictions, and
the Office of Local Assistance, making the analysis and design of a program easier.

Lesson 7: School district management is more likely to implement waste reduction programs that are inexpensive and convenient.

The comment by a pilot school district director during a waste assessment interview that waste reduction programs in schools must be "cheap, easy and convenient" epitomizes reality for school districts and expresses an important lesson for those who work with the districts. This lesson is also applicable in other institutional settings. As stated previously, school districts are essentially business enterprises that provide an educational service. Waste management is an overhead activity that supports the core business. As such, administrators and business managers are not routinely focused on, nor necessarily interested in, the business of waste management.

Local jurisdictions and CIWMB staff should be mindful of the relative importance of waste reduction programs in the overall scheme of school administration. Initial waste reduction programs recommended to school districts by local jurisdictions and others should be modest and easy to implement and provide relatively important benefits to the school district at little or no cost. Modest success will enhance a feeling of goodwill and confidence on the part of the school district and open the door for further development in the future. "Too much too soon" will provide a disincentive for continued participation.

The recommendations included in the assessment reports (20) are presented in order of least cost and effort to implement. As a result, several of the pilot districts have already begun working with their respective local jurisdictions to implement report recommendations.

Lesson 8: Waste management service providers are an important resource to school districts, other institutions, and businesses.

Waste management service providers, including recyclers (21), waste haulers, transfer stations, and composting and materials recovery facilities (MRF) play a critical role in providing school districts the means by which to implement waste reduction strategies. In fact, the waste hauler is typically the primary source of solid waste management and recycling information to the pilot school districts, and perhaps the community at large. As previously stated, with one exception, waste haulers in this study provide recycling bins and collection at no additional cost over the waste collection and disposal service. School districts should be encouraged to evaluate waste service contracts to ascertain whether recycling services can be improved or enhanced.

The waste assessments revealed that the infrastructure available in a community or region is also a critical element in designing effective waste reduction programs. For example, it is of little benefit to recommend a food waste composting strategy to a school district if there is no food waste composting facility available in the region. It would likewise be of no help to the school district to recommend that the district recycle its polystyrene food trays when there is no facility which recycles the trays.

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Last updated: September 18, 2008

School District Waste Reduction http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Schools/WasteReduce/
Contact: k12edu@ciwmb.ca.gov (916) 341-6199