1998 Trash Cutter Award Program Case Studies

Los Angeles County: Urban Waste Reduction

• Program Description
• Program Summary
• Contact

Program Description

Programs in the County of Los Angeles include everything from technical assistance to businesses, to yard waste and recycling programs to rubberized asphalt concrete, and everything in between. The city's Business Recycling Technical Assistance Program provides education and waste audits to local businesses, conducts surveys, and helps to implement recycling programs to reduce the commercial waste stream. The Countywide Yard Waste Program has concentrated on waste prevention, backyard composting, and public education to reduce the disposal of organic materials, and also includes the collection and recycling of Christmas trees. Residential curbside recycling services are available throughout the unincorporated area, with surveyed residents claiming an 80 percent participation rate in collection programs. The Public Works Department has taken the lead in developing uses for diverted tires, including rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC) and slurry, and the establishment of a technology center to promote the use of RAC. In addition, the county also implemented an education program for both elementary and secondary students to help ensure that recycling becomes a habit for future generations.

Program Summary

Business Recycling Technical Assistance Program

Los Angeles Department of Public Works has developed a comprehensive Business Recycling Technical Assistance Program (BRTAP) to promote recycling to the commercial and industrial sectors in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. This ambitious program addresses the size, geographic scope, and diversity of the county's business community. The program was launched in July 1994, and is continuing at least through June 1999. The program includes surveys to document existing awareness and to measure the program's effectiveness.

The county conducted roughly 200 on-site visits per month by highly trained consultants ("Master Recyclers") to help businesses initiate or expand waste reduction, recycling, and composting programs. The BRTAP helps explain AB 939 and its local implications to the business community. The BRTAP shows business owners and managers how diverting waste can help their businesses. The county has developed a variety of outreach materials, including 12 industry-specific recycling brochures, a general recycling brochure, a newsletter, a business interest survey card, and other promotional items. Commercial and industrial businesses generate approximately 50 percent of the unincorporated county's waste each year, and their cooperation is essential for the county to meet its waste diversion goals. From 1994 to 1996, trained Master Recyclers offered on-site evaluations to more than 1,000 businesses, and helped implement  new recycling programs at 204 of these businesses (20 percent). These new programs diverted roughly 17,500 cubic yards of trash per year from local landfills. Businesses cooperate and participate because they want to save money through recycling while playing a positive role in the community.

The county's initial BRTAP contract, completed in 1996, included extensive program development and research with prewave and postwave surveys to measure awareness and program effectiveness. It also included the development of outreach materials designed to have long-term results. Since the initial successful contract, the county has improved and expanded its business outreach efforts, beginning a second wave of on-site consultation visits in January 1998. Master Recyclers has conducted more than 860 site visits, and will reach 3,200 businesses (approximately 12.5 percent of the businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county) by the end of June 1999.

The county's current BRTAP has three primary goals: (1) increase waste diversion from local landfills and transformation facilities; (2) expand the size and scope of the Master Recycler program, with the target of reaching 3,200 businesses; and (3) increase public awareness about solid waste issues in all 25,000 businesses in the unincorporated county areas.

While all BRTAP program elements are directly aimed at these goals, they also indirectly help to develop markets for recycled materials and provide local jobs simply by increasing awareness about recycling and recycled products. All program materials are produced on recyclable materials and when possible, on materials made with recycled content. The county, as part of its general practices, highlights its use of business office supplies made of recycled products. Moreover, the Master Recycler advises businesses on procurement options and make referrals to appropriate recycling businesses during their on-site visits.

The Master Recycler program works with businesses in all 38 SIC code classifications in the unincorporated areas. Master Recycler outline options and recommendations (i.e., how to take an existing program to the next step in the waste reduction hierarchy) via a special checklist presented during each site visit. They also use follow-up phone calls as a tool to further educate businesses about the additional materials that could be diverted.

Countywide Yard Waste Program

Yard waste in Los Angeles County represents approximately 20 percent of residential waste generated countywide. To help meet State-mandated diversion goals, the program was designed to reduce the amount of yard waste generated by county residents and to divert as much of this yard waste as possible from landfills and  transformation facilities.  Established in 1991, the primary goal of the program is to maintain an ongoing, comprehensive effort for reducing yard waste at its source. The program provides residents with knowledge and skills in composting, worm composting, grass recycling, and water-wise gardening to actively participate in waste reduction.

The program targets all residents and governmental agencies in Los Angeles County and emphasizes activities that are effective in reducing the disposal of yard waste in the county's unincorporated areas and the 88 cities. Cost effectiveness is maximized by coordinating the efforts of the 89 jurisdictions in Los Angeles County in promoting, composting, grass recycling, and water-wise gardening. The department conducted 26 workshops for individual cities, which typically included advertising, promoting, planning, delivering materials, and presenting a lecture and demonstration. The department established these efforts as a service to local jurisdictions to consolidate regional efforts and unify the yard waste message that is presented to residents. In addition to the workshops, many cities have utilized written materials developed by the County for the Program, including lesson plans, newspaper advertisements, press releases, and brochures, to promote or conduct their own events or those cosponsored with the county.

The program operates the only network of permanent demonstration centers in Los Angeles County aimed at showcasing the benefits of composting, grass recycling, and water-wise gardening to residents. This ambitious and innovative effort has been well received by the public, as reflected by participation. Though residents may receive materials about managing yard waste through various media, there are not many places for them to actually observe the processes and benefits that are being advocated. Five Home Garden Learning Centers and eight Backyard Composting Centers are strategically located to provide residents with convenient opportunities to see composting, grass recycling, and water-wise gardening in action. The county will continue to improve the demonstration centers by adding new displays and amenities.

County Residential Recycling Program

Beginning in 1990, Los Angeles County instituted a single-family and duplex-residential curbside recycling program throughout unincorporated areas to help prolong landfill life.   In a county the size of Los Angeles, with 78 unincorporated communities covering an area of more than 2,700 square miles and a highly diverse population of more than nine million residents, developing messages and vehicles to deliver these messages that would reach all residents and have an impact was a challenge. The most far-reaching messages would focus on children, and the importance of preserving and improving the environment for their future. With that in mind, this award-winning program's theme--"Recycle Today for a Better Tomorrow" was developed and has been used in all materials throughout the program.

The program was expanded to include multifamily residences. Based on indications that these types of residences lacked recycling services, the county placed an emphasis on increasing participation from these residents. In order to effectively reach this audience, the county has worked with its consultants to develop a system of "Master Recyclers" (MR). The MRs are a team of individuals with educational experience in the areas of recycling and waste management and are trained to work with apartment and condominium managers to arrange for residential recycling. MRs work full-time, contacting managers of multifamily residents, and coordinating with 250 haulers countywide to establish new and or increased recycling services in multifamily residences.

Countywide Rubberized Asphalt Concrete and Rubberized Emulsion Aggregate Slurry Program

In Los Angeles County, approximately 10 million waste tires are generated annually. Waste tires pose a serious threat to public health and safety, as well as to the environment. The result is not only urban blight but significant costs to residents.

In the absence of acceptable markets, landfills have been the traditional method for waste tire disposal. Because the county is continually looking for new and innovative methods to use waste tires productively, conserve the natural resources, and preserve landfill capacity, the multimillion dollar countywide rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC) and rubberized emulsion aggregate slurry program (REAS) was implemented in 1992.

RAC is produced when crumb rubber is blended with asphalt and aggregate material. When used appropriately, RAC has many advantages. For example, it is cost-effective (a 2-inch thick RAC resurfacing project uses more than 2,000 waste tires per lane mile and can save as much as $22,000 per lane mile over conventional asphalt), conserves the natural resources and landfill capacity, provides excellent long lasting color contrast for striping and marking, is highly skid resistant, and extends the life of roads.

The department requires RAC on approximately 75 percent of its highway resurfacing projects. Since 1993, Public Works has applied RAC to more than 508 lane miles of roads, diverting more than 1.1 million waste tires from area landfills.

REAS is produced when crumb rubber is blended into asphalt emulsion at ambient temperature and used as a slurry to repair roadways. Although the cost of REAS is higher than for conventional slurry, the advantages include long lasting color contrast for striping and marking, and high skid-resistance.  REAS uses more than 78 waste tires per lane mile.

To ensure the success of the program and stimulate the market for waste tires in slurry seal projects, Public Works in conjunction with Petrochem  Marketing, Inc., developed specifications and testing criteria for the REAS material. Due to the successful use of REAS, these specifications and testing criteria have been incorporated into the 1998 supplement of the Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction, commonly referred to as the "Green Book." To date, more than 200 cities, counties, and agencies have adopted the Green Book as their standard.

Annual Countywide Christmas Tree Recycling Program

The county developed and conducted the Christmas tree recycling program in 1991. The program serves all residents of Los Angeles County and has been conducted in cooperation with the county sanitation districts of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Departments of Fire, Parks and Recreation, Beaches and Harbors, Home Depot, and K-Mart Stores. During the two weekends immediately after the Christmas holiday, drop-off sites are set up at various parks and other public and private locations throughout the county. Trees are then recycled at the drop-off sites or other locations as landscaping material, or at area landfills for use in their Green Waste Daily Cover Program and/or on-site mulching.

The program has shown a measurable reduction in disposed waste. On average, 11,100 trees have been recycled each year. Without the program, the trees would have been disposed of illegally or at area landfills.

The program is innovative in its public education campaign. An annual joint press conference coordinated by the County Fire Department and Department of Public Works is held to promote fire safety and the drop-off program.  At the conference, Christmas trees are chipped, and a tree is burned to demonstrate fire safety precautions. The two departments also work together to produce and distribute a fire safety information card in the shape of a Christmas tree bulb with recycling tips and recycling sites on the back cover.

Elementary School

Recognizing that children are powerful catalysts for change in households and can influence their entire family's behavior, Los Angeles County designed a portion of its AB 939 outreach campaign specifically for children. Through its Department of Public Works' contractor Rogers and Associates (R&A), the county developed an innovative, multi-faceted elementary school outreach effort to educate children about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling solid waste.

R&A branded the county's concept "The Environmental Defenders," four fictitious animated children committed to saving the planet, and integrated these characters into all aspects of the program. All program elements such as assembly shows, collateral materials, promotional giveaways and event displays, incorporate the Environmental Defender characters to establish a consistent brand identify to promote widespread recognition for the program. All materials encourage active learning and include specific follow-up activities and collateral materials for parents, teachers, and school principals.

The Environmental Defender school outreach effort has reached almost 300,000 students at nearly 600 schools, and thousands more through children's events and promotions. Before the end of the three-year contract period, the program is slated to reach more than 850,000 children in school outreach alone. The Environmental Defenders display has consistently been among the most popular booths at major events countywide.  

Through branding and use of a diversity of venues to deliver the message, the program has proven an outstanding success in the largest county in the state. As a model program, elements can be replicated in other jurisdictions regardless of size.

The Environmental Defenders program blends the best consumer marketing tactics with the most effective public education strategies to "sell" an environmental message specifically to kids and, by extension, to their families.

Secondary Schools

The Department of Public Works contracted with TreePeople, a local nonprofit corporation, to implement a two-year secondary schools student environmental education program called "Generation Earth" for students in grades 7-12. Using an array of educational elements both on and off campus to create multiple impressions, thereby reinforcing educational learning objectives, over 4,000,000 student contacts were made with the 650,000 targeted student population in the 600 plus secondary schools in the county.

Since the program was designed and began in 1997, over four million student contacts have been made countywide. Tens of thousands of middle and high school students have made voluntary pledges to reduce their waste and to tell other teens to do the same.

For Further Information, Contact:

Los Angeles County
900 South Fremont Ave.
Alhambra, CA 91803-1331
(626) 458-5167
www.888CleanLA.com