1998 Trash Cutter Award Program Case Studies

City of Palo Alto: Organics Management

• Program Description
• Program Summary
• Costs
• Benefits
• Contact

Program Description

The largest organics management program in the City of Palo Alto is the composting facility, which opened in March 1977. Today this facility processes 17,000 tons of yard trimmings each year. The yard trimmings are received from city crews, franchise refuse collectors, gardeners, tree contractors, and residents.

Program Summary

With organic waste making up approximately 30 percent of the waste stream, the City of Palo Alto established a composting facility in 1997 that processes 17,000 tons of yard trimmings each year. The city in turn produces compost that is sold in bulk and bags. The bulk sale operation, which began in 1993, has sold nearly 60,000 cubic yards of compost, generating more than $252,000 for the City. The city also offers free backyard composting workshops taught by certified composters. In addition, compost give-a-way events are held five times a year to educate residents about composting and benefits of participating in the yard waste curbside collection program.

Demand for the product has grown steadily. In order to meet this growing demand, they are mixing horse stable bedding into the finished product to increase volume which recycles a new waste stream within the city as well as enhancing revenue.

The city's school outreach and education programs sponsor a variety of programs and resources for teachers, designed to support environmental educational curricula for elementary-age classes. As a part of this program, composting is discussed through videos, interactive computer programs, curriculum guides, reading materials, tours and presentation from the city's Wizard program.

Working in conjunction with Santa Clara County, Palo Alto started offering residents backyard composting workshops at no charge. Annually there are approximately 24 workshops with 450 participants from the City of Palo Alto. The workshops are taught by Certified Master Composters who are volunteers from the community. In exchange for their training, these volunteers contribute a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer time to the community, teaching the public about composting via workshops and information booths at special events.

At the end of the 1.5 hour workshop, residents receive a voucher for a reduced-cost compost bin; the Biostack Composter ($27.00), or the Seattle Composter ($15.00).  Residents purchase their bins at the Palo Alto Landfill where the compost bins are stored.  Approximately 600 compost bins have been sold.

Costs

The City produces a high quality compost at a low processing cost of $18.00 per ton, which is more than covered by landfill cost avoidance savings, sales revenue, and disposal charges.

Benefits

Curbside collection of yard trimmings increased the amount of green waste made available for composting by a factor of 30 percent. In addition, the program made it easier and cheaper for residents to compost. Yard trimmings are placed at the curb, using reusable garbage cans, 30-gallon Kraft paper bags, and cardboard boxes or tied bundles. Utilizing existing collection vehicles and having them make a second pass to collect only yard trimmings reduces collection cost.

Large amounts of finished compost were used in the process of partial landfill closure. By adding compost to the topsoil layer of final cover, significant expense was saved and it improved the cover's ability to grow an erosion preventing grass cover.

For Further Information Contact:

P.O. Box 10250
Palo Alto, CA  94303
(650) 329-2113