The Characterization of Business and Industrial Waste suzann s. Gad, AICP a Camp Dresser & McKee Prepared for Prensentation at: North Carolina Recycling Association 1993 Conference and Exhibition "Getting Down to Business: Together in '93" Research Triangle Park, North Carolina March 22-24,1993 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL WASTE Developing Cost-Effective Solid Waste Management Program through Solid Waste Characterization Studies Introduction In North Carolina and throughout the United States, almost every state, as well as many counties, businesses, and industries, have set goals to reduce their waste and recycle. In most cases these goals identify a specific percentage and a date by which the goal is to be met. As most of you know, setting the goal is merely the first step in a process that involves developing a wide variety of programs and networks to take any waste material and ensuring that it is recycled. To develop these programs in the most cost-efficient and timely manner it is critical that you start with a clear and accurate understanding of the facts about your waste stream. This is where a waste characterization study is critical. In many ways a waste characterizJtion study is similar to a market analysis. For example: if a business were considering opening a new store, they would first perform a market analysis. They want to know if they can get the enough raw materials from a reliable, cost-effective source, and if they are close enough to a market to sell their product. Along the same lines, before anyone can set up any recycling program, they should look seriously at the type of waste materials available to them; the number and reliability of the sources for this material; and the potential of targeting some materials that can be captured in a cost-effective manner. My presentation will: . Introduce you to the waste characterization study process Identify some of the information that a waste characterization study can give . you (including what materials and waste generators to target for recycling and reduction programs) Demonstrate how the information gathered in the study can be used to design cost-effective programs and measure the success of recycling and reduction programs Show you how a waste characterization study can provide the information . needed by decision makers to justify the development and continuation of a recycling program. The Waste Characterization Study The slides, facts, and programs I am about to show you are from a two-season (spring and fall of 1992) waste characterization study conducted by Camp Dresser & McKee (CDM) for Wake County and the City of Raleigh. This study was designed to focus on the commercial, industrial, and institutional waste stream. CDM has done these types of studies for over 5 years throughout the United States. They are designed to be statistically accurate and avoid the type of bias that can reduce the reliability and validity of the findings. We follow standard procedures for selecting samples from waste loads. We also follow a detailed health and safety protocol to avoid potential risks to the individuals performing the study. Before we select waste loads to sample, we analyze the available data from the area landfills and waste haulers for the previous year, at a minimum. Every effort is made to select waste loads for sampling that accurately reflect the demographic characteristics of the community sampled. In the case of Wake County and the City of Raleigh, this sampling involved identifying the types, sizes, and locations of all commercial, industrial, and institutional waste generators. Since this study was limited to specific waste generators and not the total waste stream we also conducted a visual survey. This was necessary to determine what percentage of the total waste stream is commercial, industrial, and institutional and what percentage is residential. The visual survey was also conducted to account for the fact that large industrial generators tend to have uniform loads, and it would not be worth the effort to sort an entire load that contains only one or two materials. Information Gained Through the Study The following tables summarize some of the findings from the Wake County and City of Raleigh Waste Characterization Study. Also attached is a sheet containing the highlights of our findings. Highlights from the Commercial, Institutional and Industrial Solid Waste Characterization Study Conducted in Wake County and the City of Raleigh, N.C. Approximately 70% of all waste landfilled is generated by Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional sources (CII). This 70% includes waste from apartments and multi-family residents. Approximately 30% of all waste landfilled is from residential sources. Approximately 50% of all waste landfilled is from the more than 12,000 small businesses in Wake County. Approximately 26% of all waste landfilled by CII sources is corrugated paper. Approximately 52% of all waste landfilled by governments, schools, and institutions is paper. Approximately 8% of all CII waste is wood pallets and other hard woods that could be recycled, reused, or composted. Approximately 7% of the total waste stream in Wake County is yard waste. Approximately 6.3 Ibs/person/day of waste is landfilled in Wake County. From 1988-89 to 1991-92 the amount of waste landfilled in the three landfills in the study was reduced by 15.6%. FOR WAKE COUNTY AND ITS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO ACHIEVE THE STATE'S 25% AND 40% WASTE REDUCTION GOALS THE SUPPORT OF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY IS CRITICAL. Above statistics are based on a survey of 1475 waste loads and a sample analysis of 83 waste loads disposed of in the Spring and Fall, 1992 at the Wilder's Grove, Feltonsvilla, and North Wake landfills. CDM nvimmenfy enQhssrs, scianlisfs, dmem 6 manaoemcwll c~nsuilmls TABLE 2-4 BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS IN WAKE COUNTY BY SIZE Number of Number of Percent of Emplovees Business Total 1 TO 4 6,694 5TO9 2,625 10 TO 19 1,722 20 TO 49 163 50 TO 99 403 100 TO 249 218 250 TO 499 43 500 TO 999 21 1000 OR MORE 14 51.9% 20.3% 13.3% 1.3% 3.1% 1.7% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% TOTAL 12,903 100% Source: Adapted from County Business Patterns U.S. Dept of Commerce, 1989. Note: Governments and Institutions are not included in this count. TABLE 2-6 Waste TvDe BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS IN WAKE COUNTY BY TYPE Business Percent (%) Establishments Construction Manufacturing 11 Agricultural Services I 223 I 1.85% II 1483 11.49% 534 4.14% Wholesale Trade Retail Trade 1016 7.87% 2896 22.44% Financial Services Services 1373 10.64% 4275 33.13% 11 Unclassified I 790 I 5.49% I1 Total 12,903 100% Source: Adapted from U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1989 Note: Government and Institution not included. 52.6% 6.0% -Manufacturlng a 1% -Resklentlal Zontainer Sites ' Small WAKE COUNTY/CITY OF RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA SOUD WASTE C!-lARACTCRIZATION SNDY Figure No. 7-2 SOURCE OF WASTE ENTERING LANDFILLS CDM n w r m e d ~ ? s s r s . rs,mUsf*, dmem 6 manaosmwd rmrullanlr TABLE 7-4A VISUAL SURVEY/SUMMARY -FALL 1992 Visual Estimate of Composition of All Observed Loads from Entire Waste Stream Total 6 days Number of TNC~S Total: 979 Number of Total Tons: 3472.26 Number of Observed Trucks: 729 Number of Observed Tons: 2603.43 Percent of Trucks Surveyed: 74.5% Percent of Weight Surveyed: 75.0% Cormgated Yard Waste Paper Wood + Wood Food Plastic Textiles Product Metal C&D Mix* Total PalleIs North North Wilders Wilders Wake Wake Grove Grove Feltomville Feltonsville 10/26/92 11/7/92 11/9/92 11/10/92 11/12/92 11/13/92 373.08 123.38 749.20 669.55 309.89 378.33 Total %oftotal Source: Table based on 729 trucks observed by CDM staff, Fall 1992 as compared to scale weights provided by City of Raleigh Public Works. * Mix indicates a mixture of waste components listed above, except C & D. TABLE 8-11 COMBINED COMPOSITION SUMMARY OF 83 SAMPLED WASTE LOADS Spring and Fall 1992 . . . . . . . . Waste Component Total All Loads 26.1% 3.0% 2.8% 15.3% 3.3% 0 4% 1.9% 52.8% 0.5% 0.5% 12.6% 8.4% f8.3% 1.0% 5.6% r--5%r7 0.2% 0.1% WIndarJs Const"Demoiitii FM Rubber Photo Film car Parts Diapers Textiles Metal -Mked Aluni" cans Ferrous Metal Yard Wastes Wood and Wood Pallets Food Wastes plastic -soft Plastic -Hard Plastic -Mied 5% Plastic -(PEF) Plastic Film Plastic -(Ps) Paper Board Pla~tic -(HDPE) I Wax Paper Newspaper 3% Paper -Mied Office Paper Kraft Paper Corrugated Paper 15% 26% 0% 5% 10% 15% m? 25% 30% WAKE COUNTY/CIlY OF RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA SOUD WASTE CHARACTERIZATION STUDY COMPOSITION BY WEIGHT OF SAMPLED CII WASTE LOADS -SPRING AND FALL Figure No. 8-5 . . s m M --CDM plamm 6 maneganm mrsdtmfs Schools B lnstbtbns R Small Businesses Apartments Manufactuting and Industry All Loads Paper Plastic Organic Metal Glass Other WAKE COUNlVCITY OF RALEIGH I CDM NORTH CAROLINA SOLID WASTE CHARACTERIZATION STUDY COMPOSITION BY SOURCE AND WEIGHT OF e n r i , d & W , S C i ~ ~ S SAMPLED CII WASTE LOADS -SPRING AND FALL Figure No. 8-6 @mar 6 mnaganm mt&mls I+ WasteCom neni Existing Recycling Pmjected Additional Capture Rate I I I I %of waste I %ofwaste Plastic Metal Mbed Paper Newspaper Phone Books Yard Waste Wood Food Waste HHW White Goods Motor Oil cormgated TOM mung a Projected Capture Rate I %of waste of waste stream 2.16 2.57 70.69 130.48 7,850.00 18.57 162.93 TABLE 8-12 EXISRING AND PROJECTED WASTE REDUCTION IN WAKE COUNTY (BASE YEAR 1991-92) 487.30 863.96 534.97 140.46 9,834.93 21.85 8,200.00 987.00 0.00 18.57 162.93 53.74 0.1 % 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% 1.90% 0.0% 1.6% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2urbsideI Drop-off I Other ITotaltonsl stream' I Tons I stream. 2,520.59 1,133.67 14.361 3,668.62 o.m.1 21,148 63,443 26,435 15,861 5,287 291.31 193.83 290.00 571.39 17.40 446.88 9.98 7,146.89 2,688.04 21.85 350.00 987.00 398.06 325.151 723.21 0.1%1 53.74 723.21 4% 12% 5% 3% 1% 21,682.57 63,583.26 9,834.93 34,634.50 16,847.70 5,286.90 162.93 0.0% 18.57 0.0% 2.2% 1 .O% 1.6%1 4.9% I 1 Source: 1991-92 Scale records and tons reported recycled by Wake County Communities. Total Waste Stream = 528,680 Tons based on 502,992.5 tons landfilled and 25,697.53 tons recycled in 1991-92. Desiging Programs Around the Facts Based on the findings of the waste characterization study,the City of Raleigh and Wake County felt confident that the programs they discussed and considered would be worth the financial responsibility and staffing effort, and would prove successful in significantly reducing their waste. Several of these programs included: . Levying a surcharge on corrugated that is landfilled Establishing a wood pallet recycling program Providing a special assistance program for small businesses. . . Based on the findings, recommendations were made to expand and develop programs that: . Target specific waste materials . Target specific waste generators . Focus efforts on geographic locations with concentration of multiple small generators. Materials recommended for recycling, based on the findings, included: corrugated; wood and wood pallets; plastic film; construction and demolition waste; and food. Specific waste generators with uniform loads were identified as targets for individual contact and assistance. Specific categories of waste generators needing special assistance were identified and included: small office-oriented businesses concentrated in office complexes; institutions such as prisons, hospitals, and transportation facilities; several departments from the University; and bakeries. Conclusion: Measuring Effectiveness Since this study was completed the findings have been used to compare the quantities recycled, determine what percent of the waste material has been captured, and project the capture rate for the future. The findings have been used to demonstrate to commercial, industrial, and institutional waste generators that for a 25 or 40 percent waste reduction goal to be met, they must actively work to reduce their waste. In the years to come, the findings from this study can be used to measure the true impact of the Wake County and City of Raleigh recycling and reduction programs.