Recycling in Davis, California

Waste Management & Research (1984) 2, 293-302

RECYCLING IN DAVIS, CALIFORNIA R. Gertman* (Received 12 June 1984)

The waste collection and recycling programme at Davis, California, is described . The programme provides for separate collection of paper, glass, metal and garden waste, in addition to garbage collection ; the public may deliver used motor oil and sell clean waste aluminium to the recycling center ; garden waste and leaves are composted . Public relations activities are described . Although the recycling programme does not make money, but just covers the cost of operation, the environmental and social benefits are important . Key Words-Recycle, separate collection, paper, glass, aluminium, motor oil, garden waste, compost, social benefits . 1 . Introduction Davis is a university town, home of the University of California at Davis (UCD) known for its agricultural research programme . It has a population of 36,900 residents, not including the students at UCD . The town is situated 25 km (15 miles) west of Sacramento and is surrounded by highly productive farm land . Recycling in Davis is presently accomplished through the efforts of the privately owned garbage company, Davis Waste Removal Company, Inc . (DWR), which employs 38 people to provide the following services . (1) Residential waste collection-unlimited volume from 8800 houses, twice weekly in the summer, weekly during the other eight months . (2) Commercial waste collection-service to apartments and businesses, from one to six times weekly . (3) Bulk waste collection-at shopping centres, large apartment complexes, construction sites and at the tomato cannery . (4) Street sweeping-all city streets are swept at least weekly . (5) Loose yard waste collection-unlimited volume of brush and tree trimmings from out in the street, weekly . (6) Compost-grinding of loose yard waste ; given to city residents for private use and sold to farmers, landscapers, etc . (7) Recycling-weekly collection of recyclables from houses and apartments, businesses and the UCD campus ; and a drop-off centre open to the public six days a week . 2. History of recycling in Davis Community recycling in Davis started in April 1970, when a small group of environmentally concerned citizens began a newspaper recycling programme . Residents were asked to bring paper to drop-off boxes placed conveniently at schools around town . The recycling group, the Recycling Committee of Davis, gathered the paper from *Davis Waste Removal Co ., 1818 Fifth St ., Davis, CA 95616, U .S .A . 0734-242X/84/040293 + 10 $03 .00/0

© 1984 ISWA



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the drop-off boxes and after several weeks, when there was a load, hauled the paper to a buyer in Sacramento . In February 1971 the Recycling Committee decided to expand its service and recycle cans and bottles as well as newspaper . The drop-off boxes were removed from the schools and residents were asked to bring their cans, bottles and papers to a shopping centre on the first and third Saturdays of each month . The centre was only open from 9 a .m . to I p .m . so that the parking lot could be cleaned up and the collected materials could be taken, in rented trucks, to the various markets before 5 p .m . During the fall of 1971 the Recycling Committee sponsored the first "required deposit" ordinance in the State of California . In response to this effort, the beverage industry volunteered support of the recycling programme if the City Council did not go forward with this "repressive" legislation . The support came in the form of assistance from bottle manufacturers and the Coca-Cola Company in hauling the bottles and jars to the Owens-Illinois glass plants at Oakland or Tracy . In April 1972 the recycling programme became full time . The UCD allowed the Recycling Committee to use a piece of land on campus adjacent to the city for a recycling centre . The centre was attended by workers who were paid from the proceeds of the sale of the recycled materials . Also, at this time the Recycling Committee of Davis incorporated as a non-profit organization, the Resource Awareness Committee of Davis (RAC) . In July 1974 the Davis City Council passed an ordinance requiring residents to separate their newspapers from their garbage . The Davis Waste Removal Co . (DWR) contract was amended to include collection and recycling of those papers . The DWR began the newspaper collection using a 3 ton pickup truck . Because this effort reduced paper being brought into the RAC recycling centre, and because of the higher cost of collection and unstable newspaper market, after several months DWR turned the collection programme over to the RAC, and DWR loaned a scooter to RAC to do the collection . Also, at this time DWR began hauling the recovered newspaper to market . There rapidly developed considerable community interest in having the recycling pickup service expanded to include cans and bottles . This was done in November 1974 . In April 1976 DWR received permission from the Davis City Council to build a combined shop/office/recycling centre which included a concrete pit so that recyclables could be easily and efficiently top-loaded into drop boxes . It was the intent of the RAC, the Davis City Council, and DWR that the entire community recycling programme, including both the centre and collection, would be taken over by DWR upon completion of their new facility . Problems and construction delays made it appropriate for the take over to occur sooner . With the blessing of the RAC the responsibility for recycling in Davis transferred on I December 1976 . Also at this time, the beverage industry assistance was discontinued . Although DWR made some changes at the existing centre (such as switching to bulk mixed-colour glass storage, building a crusher for the aluminium cans and providing a waste oil tank) the operation had remained basically the same until August 1977, when the recycling operations were moved to the new facility . At the new recycling centre, bins are provided for glass, newspaper and aluminium cans, there is a 250 gal (1000 1) tank for used motor oil, and an area for cardboard drop-off . Materials collected on routes or brought into the centre by individuals are loaded directly into these storage containers which are hauled to market when full . The Davis Waste Removal Co . has tried several vehicle combinations for collection of recyclables . The kerbside recycling programme was begun with a â ton pickup truck, but soon switched to a three wheeled Cushman scooter with a I cubic yd (0 .75 m 3 )



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load capacity . This small vehicle was chosen because it is very manoeuvrable and allowed the collector to drive up very close to the recyclable materials placed out for pickup, thus, reducing time spent at each stop . However, the capacity proved to be too small for the volumes of materials that were placed out, and many trips back to the centre to unload became necessary . To increase capacity a trailer was added, but this overloaded the scooter and caused very high maintenance to keep the vehicle running . Various larger sized pickup trucks and trailers have also been tried with different levels of success . As the population of Davis grew, DWR purchased three LoDal EDO side-loading compactor trucks for refuse pickup, and added to these trucks a 21 cubic yard (2 m 3 ) rack for newspaper, two 40 gal (150 1) containers for metal cans and five 20 gal containers for glass . With this truck, refuse and source-separated recyclables were picked up at the same time . The extra handling required for the combined pickup proved to be inefficient for the refuse collection so the combined collection was discontinued . The combined collection had serviced half of the city and the pickup truck and trailer the other half, so when DWR stopped using the LoDals for recycling, a second truck and trailer were purchased to service this area . On one vehicle the newspapers were loaded into the bed of the pickup which is equipped with a hydraulic dump, and the cans, bottles and cardboard were loaded onto the trailer . On the other vehicle the cans, bottles and cardboard were loaded onto the pickup bed and the newspaper loaded onto the dump-bed trailer . Thirty 2 gal garbage cans were used to hold the collected cans and bottles . The rigs were done in reverse not only to allow us to test both systems, but also so that when the two collectors helped each other finish at the end of the day and returned to the recycling centre at the same time, they could each unload the collected materials without having to wait for the other . In October 1979 DWR hired a full time Recycling Coordinator to expand the collection programme, develop better markets for the recyclable materials and expand the public awareness programme . In December 1979 recycling of corrugated cardboard containers was initiated . A 60 in . (1 .5 m) downstroke baler was rented to bale the collected cardboard . Collection was initially accomplished with the z ton pickup and small trailer that had once been used for the residential kerbside collection programme . After several months, the pickup truck was replaced by an 18 cubic yard rear-loading packer truck that was a backup vehicle for refuse collection . In November 1980 with funding from the State Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), DWR purchased a horizontal baler with approximately six times the capacity of the 60 in . downstroke, and returned the rented machine . A 20 cubic yard three-axle rear-loader is now used for cardboard collection . Early in 1980 a magnetic separator was added to the can crusher that DWR built in 1977 to make this operation more efficient . This improvement also allowed DWR to begin an aluminium buy-back programme in August 1980 . The volume of aluminium processed by DWR doubled when the purchase programme began . In December 1980 the purchase of green wine bottles for washing and reuse by ENCORE was initiated . However, this programme was discontinued in May 1981 because of the high cost of the handling of the containers and the lack of sufficient storage space . With the increase in volume of recyclables from additional programme publicity and growth of the city, the two drivers could no longer handle the collection of source separated recyclables from the residences in Davis using pickup trucks with trailers . In March 1981 DWR decided against hiring a third full time collector and decided to



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switch the two recycling drivers to refuse collection and hire four part-time collectors for recycling . Each of the two pickup truck and trailer rigs used a two person crew . However, this proved to be rather inefficient, so the z ton pickup truck and small trailer were again put out on the routes and collection was switched to three part-time one person crews to cover the city . In July 1981 a new truck for kerbside collection of recyclables was put into service . This truck, funded in part through a grant from the SSWMB, is a recycled garbage truck . A LoDal EVO, side-loading packer was cut off behind the cab, the frame was modified and three hydraulically dumping bins were added . The truck has a capacity of 6 cubic yards for newspaper, 3 cubic yards for glass, 2 cubic yards for cans and I cubic yard (0 .75 m 3 ) for cardboard . The LoDal was chosen for its right or left side stand-up drive, low entry cab and front wheel drive features . Additionally, not using a trailer makes it easier to turn around tight places . The quick entry . faster loading and larger capacity of this truck makes it much more efficient than the pickup truck and trailer combinations . One of the new recycling trucks is able to service over one-half of the residences in the city . The modification of a second LoDal was completed in January 1982 . At that time, we were able to return to two full-time collectors to service the entire city . Also in July 1981 DWR instituted a white paper recovery programme . Paper was collected weekly from offices and businesses throughout the city . The cost of collection and handling the paper was twice that of the revenue, and after 6 months the collection was discontinued . At the end of August 1981 DWR purchased, through grant funding from the SSWMB . a rotary tub grinder to make compost from the collected loose yard waste material . Prior to acquisition of the grinder the yard wastes were taken to the landfill and buried with other wastes . Now some of the plant wastes are ground, stockpiled, turned and watered to produce a salable compost .

3 . Current recycling programme To maximize participation in the programme and to recover the greatest amount of materials possible, we have established several programme elements, each one designed to reach a particular segment of the population and a particular portion of the waste stream . No single programme could be as effective without these elements .

3 . 1 . The drop-oft centre The recycling centre is located on the property of the DWR corporation yard at 1818 Fifth Street in Davis, on one of the city's major thoroughfares . This location is approximately i mile east of the centre of town and is no more than 4 miles (7 km) from any part of the city . The centre is open to the public Monday-Saturday from 7 a .m . to 5 p .m ., and is closed on Sundays and holidays . The entire DWR corporation yard is 3 .37 acres (1 .5 ha) in size and is rectangular . The recycling facility is 0 .4 acres at the northwest corner of the yard, and is roughly square . The corporation yard is zoned light industrial . On the south side of the recycling centre is an 80 ft x 20 ft (24 x 6 m) shed . The shed is a "pole-barn" which is enclosed on two sides, stands 20 ft tall and has an office and two restrooms .



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At the west side of the centre is a 9 ft (2 .7 m) deep, concrete lined "pit" designed with five bays, each to hold a 50 cubic yard (40 m 3 ) drop-box . One stall is used for glass, two are used for newspaper, one for trash (possibly for scrap metal some day) and the fifth space holds the cardboard baler . Glass bottles are accepted colour-mixed . The glass is dumped into a 30 cubic yard (23 m 3 ) box supplied by the glass buyer. The public is asked to remove lids, but labels are acceptable . Mirrors, Pyrex and ceramics are not accepted with the glass . Newspaper is loaded loose into 50 cubic yard (40 m 3 ) drop-boxes and sold to a cellulosic insulation manufacturer . This market allows a small amount of brown paper bags, writing paper and some magazines to be mixed in . Cardboard that is brought into the yard is dropped off near the west end of the shed to be baled . The horizontal baler is positioned in the pit adjacent to the shed . A funnel was built up from the top of the baler . Piles of cardboard are picked up in the CLAW (U .S . Patent No . 4071 155), a pincher bucket on the front of a loader, and dropped into the funnel . Safety bars have been placed across the front of the funnel . Motorists who change the oil in their own cars are encouraged to bring their used oil in for recycling . A 250 gal (1000 1) storage drum is located at the east side of the centre . Cans brought in by the public or from the collection routes are stored in small wooden boxes and later run through a magnetic separator . The steel/tin cans drop into bins and are later hauled to landfill as there is no local market for them . The aluminum cans are flattened and blown into a 40 ft (12 m) trailer for shipment to market . 3 .2 . Purchase programme Aluminium cans and clean foil, TV trays pie plates are purchased from the public . Because of the high manpower requirements, this programme is only operated from l 1 a .m . each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the first and third Saturdays of each month . Consideration is being given to expanding the purchase programme to include glass, plastic containers and bimetal soda-water and beer cans . 3 .3 . Residential collection Residents living in single family dwellings (up to and including quadraplexes) are asked to keep bottles, cans, cardboard and paper (primarily newsprint, but also writing paper and magazines) separate from other wastes, and place them in bags, boxes or other small containers at their kerb, near but not mixed with their garbage . The recyclables are picked up once weekly, on the same day as, but separately from, the garbage and loaded onto a truck to be brought to the recycling centre for processing . Recycling routes each average over 1100 houses but range from 900 to 1500 each . Approximately 30% of the units put materials out on any given week, which requires the driver to make up to 450 pickups per work day . Over 65% of the houses in the city participate in the programme by placing recyclables at the kerb at least once a month . The composition of the source-separated recyclables varies in different parts of town . Newspaper subscriptions are higher in upper income parts of town . More beer (which is sold in one-way bottles) is consumed in lower income parts of town, hence more glass is recycled there . Seasonal variations based on temperatures also affect these materials . In the winter newspaper is burned to start fires in fireplaces and less beer is consumed .



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3 .4 . Apartment recycling Newspaper is collected from all of the larger apartment complexes in the city twice weekly . Residents are now asked to place bundled or bagged paper next to the refuse dumpsters . Initially, garbage cans were placed next to the refuse bins, but many of these cans have been taken and it has been too costly to continue to replace them . Further, since the containers were next to the refuse bins, many residents placed trash in with the paper . We believe this to occur for three reasons : (l) people place garbage in the smaller, easy to reach cans (especially when children have to take garbage out) ; (2) people take garbage out after dinner, at night, when there is not enough light to read the signs and then place the garbage into recognizable garbage cans and (3) some people just don't care! To overcome this problem a trial programme was conducted at a 276 unit apartment complex for married students at the UCD campus . Apartment dwellers were asked to put recyclable materials (cans, bottles, newspaper, magazines, typing and notebook paper and flattened boxes) out at the kerb at three specified locations for once weekly separate pickup . No containers were provided and residents were asked to put recyclables out in bags or boxes which were removed at the time of collection . The absence of containers which could be used for trash, proved to be a very positive feature . During an entire year, only one bag of trash was placed out with the recyclables . Since recyclables are not placed in front of individual units, there is no way of measuring the true participation rate but based on the amount of materials and the types of containers used, it is estimated that 20% of the households participated . Based on the success of the trial programme this service has been extended to most of the smaller apartment complexes within the city . Residents at complexes with less than 20 units are asked to place recyclables out at the kerb where the complex parking lot driveway crosses the sidewalk .

3 .5 . Commercial recycling A rear-loading packer truck is used to pick up corrugated cardboard at businesses throughout the city and at many locations on the UCD campus . Different levels of service are provided to businesses based on the amount of cardboard generated . Bins of I or 2 cubic yards (0 .75 or 1 .5 m) are provided to high volume locations . Others are requested to stack flattened boxes in special areas or next to refuse bins . In places where the store owners do not set the cardboard aside, it may be removed from the refuse bins . Finally, where drop-boxes are used by stores, or for construction and remodelling, cardboard is removed before taking the other wastes to the landfill . Initially, the collected cardboard was baled in a rented 60 in (1 .5 m) down-stroke baler . A bale weighing approximately 800 lb (400 kg) took just under I h to make . Through a grant from the State, DWR purchased a 72 in (1 .8 m) horizontal baler which has greatly improved the efficiency of the operation . A bale weighing about 1400 lb (650 kg) takes about 40 m in . t o complete . These higher density, larger bales also bring a higher per ton market value . Each week an average of 16 h is spent picking up about 8 tons of cardboard with the rear loader . An additional 2 12 tons per week, in small bales, are purchased and picked up from stores within the city . Newspapers and glass are collected from some businesses and restaurants .



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3 .6 . Compost programme

One of the services provided by to the city by DWR is the separate collection of yard wastes . Residents are allowed to put loose leaves, tree and shrub prunings in the street in piles not exceeding 5 ft (1 .5 m) in any dimension . The piles are picked up by a claw on a loader and loaded into the back of a packer truck . With this system, plant wastes have been collected separate from all other debris since 1972 . In August 1981 with funding from the State, DWR purchased a rotary tub grinder to grind the separately collected plant waste material for compost . The plant material is chopped up by hammers and forced through screens . The screens can be changed to vary the size openings and hence the coarseness of the grinding . The ground material is piled in windrows, watered, turned and allowed to break down . Some of the composted material is given to the residents of the city for use in their gardens, the remainder is sold to cover the cost of operation .

4. Public awareness programme The main emphasis of the public awareness programme has been newspaper coverage . The three local papers have been very cooperative . They have reported every newsworthy event and happening, they have done special stories on select features of the recycling effort, and have included photos with the stories whenever possible . An average of about ten articles per year appear in each paper . This level of coverage is given because Davis is a small town and recycling provides a very positive community service . This level of publicity is needed because a very high proportion of the population, those attending the University, is temporary . About 10% of the total population changes annually . Brochures (see Fig . 1(a) and (b)) have been prepared giving information on preparation of materials for collection and explaining the steps that the recovered materials go through in the recycling process . A separate brochure was designed and distributed when the compost programme was begun . These brochures are passed out in the fall, shortly after the students return each year . They are hung on the door knob of every house in the city . A poster, "Recycling Closes the Loop and Saves Energy", depicts materials being manufactured, used, and recycled . This poster has been placed at schools throughout the city and has been on display in stores around town . Over 3000 " 1 RECYCLE IN DAVIS" motor vehicle bumper stickers have been distributed . These are good day to day reminders of the programme . There are also a few "Recycling Centre" signs with an arrow pointing towards the centre . At this point, since most people in town know where the centre is, they serve in much the same way as the bumper stickers to remind people of the programme . During the hot summer months garbage is picked up twice weekly . At the start and end of this extra service period, DWR takes out newspaper advertisements to notify the residents of the change . There is included in this advertisement a reminder to recycle . Recycling collection remains only once weekly throughout the year . Every year there are three city wide special events that have a recycling element . In the middle of April, UCD alumni return to Davis for "Picnic Day" during which there is a parade in the city and then there are a variety of displays and exhibitions on campus . DWR usually has a recycling entry in the parade and a display following the parade .



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(a)

(b)

Fig. I . Covers of (a) recycling brochure and (b) compost brochure .

About 2 weeks after "Picnic Day" is the "Whole Earth Festival" in celebration of Spring . This event is primarily a craft fair and last 3 days, Friday-Sunday . After the regular routes are done on Friday, the recycling trucks are driven to the campus and the organizers of the event load cans, bottles and cardboard boxes into the three bins . The loaded trucks are picked up on Monday morning . Every year the Davis JayCees sponsor a big event for the Fourth of July at the Davis Community Park . One of the recycling trucks is driven to the park and aluminum cans are purchased from the public . Upon request a speaker will either go out to the schools to talk to the students about conservation and recycling, or a tour of the recycling centre can be arranged to explain how recycling works . Several school classes save aluminium cans to raise money for various events . Finally the bins on the recycling truck have been labelled to remind residents that several materials are recycled, since some residents just put newspaper out . The trucks are brightly painted and very visible, and the lettering on the bins, like the bumper stickers, calls motorists' attention to the recycling programme .



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5 . Material recovery Since the inception of the Davis recycling programme, over 14,000 tons of material have been separated for recycling by the people of Davis . This material would have taken up approximately 60,000 cubic yards (45,000 m 3 ) of landfill space . By the end of 1982 over 30 million lb (13,500 tonnes) of resources were recovered . Currently DWR recovers for recycling about 20% of the residential wastes of the city . The separately collected plant wastes which are ground for compost amount to 18% of the total waste of the city . Since virtually all of the brush collected is from residential areas, if it were counted as residential wastes, 52% of all residential wastes are diverted from landfill . Additionally, about 9% of commercial garbage is being recycled . A total of 30% of all of the wastes of the city are recycled or composted . 6 . Cost Analysis The total costs of operating the recycling programme are approximately U .S . $16,000 per month . This includes all labour, capitalization and on-going operating expenses . Direct revenue from the sale of the recovered materials varies widely based on market conditions . Recoveries during the 1981-1982 fiscal year are shown in Table 1 .

TABLE I Recycleable quantities and revenue, Davis

1981-1982

Tonnage Collected 1981-1982

Material

(U . S .)

(metric)

Newspaper Glass Aluminium Cardboard Total

1249 472 31 607

1132 428 28 550

Oil (gal,

7350

27,800

1)

Monthly average (U . S .) (metric)

Average monthly revenue (U . S . $)

107 41 3 47 198

97 37 3 43 180

3035 375 1770 1520 6900

616

2330

200

Additionally, by diverting material from landfill, the tipping fee of U .S . $3 .40 per ton is saved . Thus, over U .S . $650 per month is saved . Even though there may be no direct financial benefit to the residents of Davis, energy is saved through the recycling of all of the recovered materials, and a strong sense of doing something good to preserve our environment is shared by the participating members of the community . 7 . Conclusions The recycling programme in Davis has been very successful . Even though it does not make money, in good times the combined revenue and savings can exceed the cost of



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operation . The environmental benefits and the social good will developed by having this programme are important factors and must be considered when evaluating the programme . Over 65% of the residents of the city participate in this programme . Those that participate put out an average of about 50 lb (22 kg) per month of recyclable cans, bottles and paper per household . Twenty percent of the residential wastes of the city are currently being recycled .