Oregon Schools Facilities Management Association

April 13, 2011

Dorothy Fisher AtwoodZero Waste Alliance

Following nature's model...Working for the elimination of waste and toxics.- Portland-based non-profit established in 1999 by Larry Chalfan

- SOSI – Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative

- Development of standards (e.g. EPEAT, Outdoor Industry)

- Management systems implementation: sustainability, environmental (ISO 14001) , energy (ISO 50001)

- Direct technical services, waste stream reduction/elimination (PDC Green Gain Program)

www.zerowaste.org

Key Lessons• What is waste

– Importance of upstream – Mass Matters

• Less consumption is “more”– More money– More environmental benefits– More for future generations

• Can’t do zero waste alone

What is Waste?

Something we throw away……

………what else?

What is Waste?• Something we have purchased and reduced

to a value of zero or less

• Actions taken that don’t create or add value

• Costly - permits, fees, disposal costs, safety risks

• A sign of inefficiency and lost money

Waste is….General Wastes:1. Solid Waste - Garbage2. Hazardous Waste3. Air Emissions4. Waste of Resources -

Energy, Water, Materials5. Waste of Human

Resources6. Over consumption7. Space

Manufacturing Wastes1. Waste from Overproduction2. Waste of Waiting Time3. Waste of Transportation4. Waste in Processing5. Waste of Inventory6. Waste of Motion7. Waste from Product

Defects-from Toyota

Zero Waste - Defined

Zero Waste is a whole-system approach to redesigning the flow of resources through society.-Warren Snow, Zero Waste New Zealand

Material Flow Today

Material Flows Tomorrow

What and where are the impacts of waste?

Courtesy of David Allaway, DEQ(503) 229-5479

allaway.david@deq.state.or.us

Final Disposition – Landfill,

Combustion, Recycle, or Reuse

Raw Materials Acquisition

Materials Manufacture

Product Manufacture

Product Use or

Consumption

Energy Energy Energy Energy Energy

Wastes Wastes Wastes Wastes

Reuse

Product Recycling

Figure 1-1. General materials flow for "cradle-to-grave" analysis of a product system.

Materials & Materials &Materials & Materials & Materials &

“Upstream” (Production) Use“Downstream”

(end of life management)

Life Cycle Stages

Upstream Impacts

• Extraction and harvesting of raw materials– Energy use– Habitat impacts– Pollution and wastes

• Product/packaging manufacturing– Energy use– Consumptive water use– Pollution and wastes

• Transportation of raw materials, products– Energy use– Pollution

Downstream Impacts

• Energy and pollution associated with collection and transportation of waste and recyclables

• Leachate from landfills• Methane and other air emissions from

landfills• Emissions from incineration • Liner failure• Land, air, and water quality impacts of

burning, stockpiling, and illegal dumping of garbage (not well quantified)

Which are greater - upstream or downstream impacts?

Tellus Institute Packaging Study (1992)

• Prepared for the Council of State Governments, U.S. EPA, and State of New Jersey.

• Relied solely on public sources of information.

• Evaluated and “monetized” human health impacts of emissions not captured by pollution control devices.

Tellus Study Results

Environmental Cost ($/ton material)

Material Production Disposal Total Virgin Corrugated Box*

$95 $2 $97

Recycled Content Corrugated Box*

$86 $2 $88

Virgin Aluminum

~$923 $5 $928

Recycled Content Aluminum

~$71 $5 $76

*Assumes ~2 pounds linerboard per 1 pound of medium.

Tellus Study Results (continued)

Note: These costs are per-ton, not per-package!

Environmental Cost ($/ton material)

Material Production Disposal Total Virgin Glass $69 $1 $70 Recycled Content Glass

$47 $1 $48

Virgin HDPE $124 $4 $128 Virgin PET $327 $4 $331 Virgin PVC $1,710 $4 $1,714

California/LBL Greenhouse Gas/Product Life Cycles (2004)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%R

elat

ive

Con

trib

utio

n to

Gre

enho

use

Gas

Em

issi

ons

End-of-LifeUseManufacturing

What does all this mean?

The first R, Reducing, ie – preventing waste by reducing consumption has the largest benefit by many times.

Solid Waste Policy in Oregon

• Waste management hierarchy:– Reduce (prevent waste), then– Reuse, then– Recycle, then– Compost, then– Recover energy, then– Landfill

Comparison: Prevention and Recycling

• Recycling reduces upstream impacts.

• Prevention (reducing so not consuming) eliminates upstream impacts.

A Common Question: To Box, or To Bag?

Bags and Boxes• Boxes have recyclability and recycled-content

advantages over most types of bags. • But bags have waste prevention advantages over

boxes (for non-breakable items), due to lower weight (less mass).

• Different types of bags and void fills for boxes exist – can we state with any certainty that one general approach is better than the other, from a cross-media perspective?

• Do different options shift pollution from solid waste to a different medium?

Common Business Perceptions• The choice of void fill is the most important

environmental choice.

• Plastic is “made from oil” and is therefore “bad”.

• By extension, products not made from oil aren’t “bad” (or as bad).

• Downstream (disposal) impacts are more important, than upstream (manufacturing) impacts.– Wastes that biodegrade are inherently “good”.– Recyclability is important.

DEQ Packaging Study: Materials Evaluated

Corrugated box* Void Fill (for boxes) Shipping Bags Polystyrene loose fill* Unpadded all-kraft mailer* Corn starch loose fill Unpadded all-poly mailer* Molded paper loose fill Kraft mailer with ONP padding* Inflated “air pillows”* Kraft mailer with poly bubble padding* Newsprint dunnage* Poly mailer with poly bubble padding* Kraft dunnage* Shredded office paper Shredded boxes

*Different levels of post-consumer content also evaluated.ONP = Old newspaper

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Million Btu of Petroleum per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Petroleum

Results: Natural Gas

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Million Btu of Natural Gas per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Coal

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Million Btu of Coal per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Solid Waste

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000

Pounds of Solid Waste per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Atmospheric Particulate

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Pounds of Atmospheric Particulate per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Atmospheric NOx

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Pounds of Atmospheric NOx per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Atmospheric Fossil Derived Carbon Dioxide*

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000

Pounds of Atmospheric Fossil Derived CO2 per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

*Landfill, waste incineration, and forestry-related emissions not included.

Results: Atmospheric Mercury

0 0.0002 0.0004 0.0006 0.0008 0.001

Pounds of Atmospheric Mercury per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Biological Oxygen Demand

0 10 20 30 40 50

Pounds of BOD per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Results: Waterborne Suspended Solids

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Pounds of Waterborne Suspended Solids per 10,000 Packages

High PC Bags

Low PC Bags

High PC Box/Fills

Low PC Box/Fills

Mass Matters• Weight of materials used is a critical factor:

– All bags evaluated have lower burdens than boxes (in most categories) because of their much lower weight.

– This confirms the relative ranking of waste prevention and recycling in the waste management hierarchy.

• Recyclability and recycled content are not always the best predictor of life cycle energy use or emissions:– BUT, once you’ve chosen a packaging material,

increasing post-consumer content and recycling opportunities can have benefits.

Please . . .

. . . don’t interpret the study as being “anti-paper”

. . . don’t interpret the study as being “anti-box”

. . . don’t interpret the study as being “anti recycling” or “anti-recycled content”

What’s the “Zero Waste” Option?

Comparison: Reuse and Recycling

• Reuse = using a product in its original form, without the repulping, melting, grinding, or other mechanical or chemical reformulation associated with recycling.

• Benefits of reuse are typically greater than the benefits of recycling. For example:Reusing a personal computer saves 5 - 20

times more energy than recycling it.Reusing a corrugated box saves 3 - 4 times

more energy than recycling it, and may save the business 5 - 10 times more money.

Net Energy Savings from Recycling

• Aluminum Cans: 207 MM BTU/ton• Carpet: 106 MM BTU/ton • HDPE/LDPE: 51 – 56 MM BTU/ton• PET: 53 MM BTU/ton• Personal computers: 44 MM BTU/ton• Steel cans: 20 MM BTU/ton

Source: US EPA

Net Energy Savings from Recycling (continued)

• Newsprint: 17 MM BTU/ton• Corrugated: 16 MM BTU/ton• Phone books: 12 MM BTU/ton• Office paper: 10 MM BTU/ton• Glass: 2.7 MM BTU/ton• Magazines/third class mail: 1.1 MM BTU/ton• Aggregate: 0.6 MM BTU/ton

Source: US EPA

How Much Energy Does Oregon Save by Recycling?

• Recycling in Oregon in 2007 saved ~30 trillion BTUs of energy

• ~2.7% of total statewide use

• Equivalent of ~241 million gallons of gasoline

• Recovery in Oregon in 2007 reduced greenhouse gas emissions by ~3.6 million tons of CO2e

• ~5.1% of total statewide emissions

• Equivalent of 770,000 “average” passenger cars

What is Zero Waste?• Goals:

- Closed Loops or “Cradle to Cradle”- Goal: 100% resource efficiency, no released toxics

• Drives Design- Design for the Environment- Design for End-of-Life Management

• The concept acknowledges that our “Take-Make-Waste” society is compromising nature’s ability to provide for us and future generations

Today’s Industrial System

Nature’sCycles

IndustrialSystem

Zero Waste’s System View

Nature’sCycles:Cyclical,No Waste!

Goal:Society’sCycles:Closed-Loop

Biodegradable Non-biodegradable

Zero Waste LeaderEpson Portland Inc. Zero Waste to Landfill as of March 2001

• 90% diversion, 4.5M lbs in 2000• 10% to energy recovery for electricity

generation

Since its baseline year of 1997 • Reduced total waste by 37%, • Reduced VOC emissions by 96%, • Reduced hazardous waste by 24%

Saved $308,000 in 2000 via Zero Waste to landfill through recycling.

Zero Waste supports the triple bottom lineEconomic Sustainability•Waste reduction improves efficiency and lowers costs• Costs of compliance with regulations is reducedEnvironmental Sustainability• Reduces demand for resources and energy from nature• Reduces wastes to natureSocial Sustainability• More resources and energy become available for others• Closing the loop (cradle-to-cradle) generates new jobs

Sustainability and Zero WasteSustainability is a vision• Considers future generations• Doesn’t tell us what to do

A Zero Waste Strategy• Visionary, stretch endpoint (not a short-term goal)• Looks at all processes, products, activities and

services• Utilizes tools of industrial ecology, LCA, DfE,

EMS, etc.

Approaches and Support Tools

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)Design for the Environment (DfE)Green Chemistry Environmental Management Systems (EMS)Product Stewardship/Extended Producer

Responsibility (EPR)Supply Chain ManagementFull Cost Accounting (FCA)Pollution Prevention (P2)Resource Flow MappingWaste Exchanges and Eco-Industrial Parks

Steps to Zero Waste1. Understand Current Conditions

– Map resource flows– Do a waste audit

2. Create a Zero Waste Vision of your organization– Set goal with target date and interim milestones– Select metrics

3. Identify Potential Zero Waste Opportunities4. Prioritize and select5. Implement, monitor, measure, check back

Resource Flow Mapping

Air

Materials

Human

Product

By-products

Administrative Activities

Production Activities

Zero Toxics Use

Water Soil

Solid

Energy

Hazardous

Resources

Emissions

Lifetime

Emissions

Waste

Waste

Waste

Waste Waste

Apply the model to each department and operation

Example: Operations Map

Vehicle Maintenance Yard

Resources Products

Recyclables

Waste

• Combustion gasses• Used parts (some)• Used spill clean up

materials

• Trash• Haz. Waste

• New vehicles• Vehicle fuel (B20

and gasoline)• Lubricants• Service parts• Misc. shop

supplies• Tools and equip.• Office supplies• Water• Electricity• Nat. gas

• Used vehicles• Scrapped vehicles• Used parts

(rebuild)• Used oils• Scrap metal• Cardboard, paper

• Transportation services, mobility

• Vehicles maintained

Management & Procurement

Facilities Management

Fuel Islands Emergency

Service Heavy Equipment

Light Vehicles Fabrication Parts Mark Ready Acquisition Remote

Fueling

Functions

Current Conditions - Waste Audit/Sort

Why do it?• baseline information• progress measurement – program refinement• actual information vs. speculation• tangible, graphic, and persuasive (in the front

hall)

Creating a Zero Waste VisionImagine ~• no technological barriers• no economic barriers• no infrastructure barriers• collaboration between all parts of society

Imagine closing all the loops

BHAGS:Big Hairy Audacious Goals Sustainability Endpoints• Matter: zero-waste, closed-loop systems• Energy: from renewable sources, not ancient

sunlight• Non-toxic chemicals and materials• No net carbon releases• Zero Emissions • Zero harm to the ecosphere - habitat,

atmosphere, water

Bold Vision What do we intend to look like in 20-50

years?

Will we earn the respect of future generations for our social, ecological and economic legacy?

Collaborative PartnershipsProactively address complex environmental and community issues. • Share best practices; leverage information• Create a community of participants• Build common purpose - Goals• Share resources

– By products become feed-stock– Waste heat is used as a benefit

• Collaborate on transportation logistics

Principle: Garbage in… Something of value out.

Anne Anderson, illustrator. Anne Anderson's Old, Old Fairy Tales. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1935.

Like Rumplestiltskin, spinning straw into gold!

Materials Exchanges• “One business’ trash may be another business’

treasure.” Example: Sattex obtains 100 fiber drums a month from exchange services, saving $16,000/year

• Statewide promotion of exchange services: www.NWmaterialsmart.org (NOT www.materialsexchange.org

• IMEX

DEQ Waste Prevention Strategy: Guiding Principles

• Prevent waste to achieve the greatest environmental benefits.

• Determine benefits by examining the full life cycle, not just the waste stage.

• Responsibility should be shared between consumers and producers.

• Collaboration with partners is essential to successful execution of the Strategy.

Key Lessons Learned• What is waste

– Importance of upstream – Mass Matters

• Less is more– More green house gas reductions– More environmental benefits– More money

• Can’t do zero waste alone

Parting thought...“We do so much to prepare our children for the future, but are we doing enough to prepare the future for our children?”

Larry Chalfan, ZWA Founder

Contact:Dorothy Fisher AtwoodManagement Systems SpecialistZero Waste Alliance Associate503 699-7834datwood@zerowaste.org

Sources for Information:• Zero Waste Alliance www.zerowaste.org

• NW Pollution Prevention Resource Center www.pprc.org

• National Recycling Coalition: www.nrc-recycle.org

• Association of Oregon Recyclers www.aorr.org/

• The Composting Council of Canada www.compost.org

• The Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries www.isri.org

• The Steel Recycling Institute www.recycle-steel.org

• Tetra Pak www.tetrapakusa.com/environment/

• The Plastics Foodservice Packaging Group www.polystyrene.org

Federal, State, and Local Government• Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov/epawaste/index.html

• Oregon Department of Environmental Quality www.deq.state.or.us

• Metro Recycling Information metro-region.org

• Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability www.sustainableportland.org

• King County Solid Waste Division dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/nwpc

• California Integrated Waste Management Board www.ciwmb.ca.gov

• Alameda County Waste Management Authority www.stopwaste.org/home

DEQ Waste Prevention Resources

• Grants• Packaging waste prevention:

http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/packaging/lifecyclereport.htm

• Business resource efficiency “success stories”: http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/cwrc/success/index.htm