Stormwater/Urban Runoff Public Education Program

Spring 2004 Volume 38

JOIN THE TEAM: If you are interested in participating on the Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Public EducationSubcommittee or if you would like to submit an article for Inside Solid Wasteplease contact Emily Montanez at (626) 458-3579, [email protected]. Quarterly meetings are held at the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works Headquarters to discussand review upcoming newsletters. If you feel you have something to contribute why not become a member of the Subcommittee?

o rganizations supported the two community clean-upevents, donating hundreds of dollars in goods and services.Fifteen fact-finding interviews were successfully completedwith local environmental stakeholder groups/individuals tohelp obtain feedback on proposed outreach tactics andgarner support for the campaign. Feedback received wasfavorable, with most participants supporting the campaign“Can It!” message. The campaign advertising buys placedwith 27 different ad mediums (including various television,radio, print and billboard outlets) yielded more than 100million total audience impressions.

Evaluation mechanisms included a phone poll, trashm e a s u rement within the pilot program communities,monitoring calls to the environmental hotline 1(888)CLEAN LA and participation in various campaignactivities. Bearing in mind the short duration of ProgramYear I, there were program successes on many counts.County residents participated in the community events,

recalled campaign messages andi n c reased calls to the County’spollution prevention hotline.Additionally, trash measurement dataindicated a slight change in pollutingbehaviors for both pilot pro g r a mareas.

Over the course of the three-year campaign, ongoingexecution of the strategic plan is anticipated to yieldincreasing measurable results. Recommendations for theProgram Year II include; 1) continued data collection, 2)solicitations to other cities for participation in specialprojects and events, 3) continued outreach to community-based organizations, 4) increased use of local print, radioand outdoor advertising, and 5) focus on messages thatemphasize personal accountability for polluting behaviorthat effects our neighborhoods, children and future. Formore information, please contact Kimberly Lyman at (626)458-6533.

The County of Los Angeles’ three year campaignbegan with the implementation of a strategic plandesigned to both inform County residents about the

perils of stormwater pollution and motivate them to changetheir polluting behaviors.

The Program Year I objectives were defined as follows:

❖ Measurably increase the knowledge of the targetaudiences regarding the storm drain system, theimpacts of stormwater pollution on receiving waters,and potential solutions to mitigate the problems;

❖ Measurably change the waste disposal and runoffpollution generation behavior of target audiences bypractice of appropriate solutions; and

❖ Involve and engage socio-economic groups andethnic communities in the County to participate inmitigating the impacts of stormwater pollution.

A pilot program was put into actionin the communities of East LosAngeles (in the neighborhood ofUnion Pacific) and Inglewood, ands e rved as the primary campaignstrategy that all other campaignactivities were centered upon.Community clean-up eventsattracted more than 450 volunteers who participated andcollected more that 19,000 pounds of trash fro mneighborhood streets—nearly the equivalent amount oftrash collected monthly by the County street sweeper in theUnion Pacific community. Event volunteers wereenthusiastic, many asking when the next clean-up eventwould be held and how they could receive additionalinformation about pollution prevention.

Public education campaigns focused on changing behaviorand included several components. Media relations resultedin 30 local media reports, generating more than 5 millionimpressions. Thirty-two local businesses, corporations and

Stormwater/Urban Runoff Public Education Program

City of Long Beach ExpandsAutomated Recycling Collection

ADVISORY SUBCOMMITTEE ESTABLISHED TOPROMOTE ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

The Task Force recently formed a newsubcommittee to investigate, promote andimplant new alternative technologies to

landfilling and incineration of solid waste, also calledconversion technologies. The Subcommittee includesexperts in the field of conversion technology and willhelp determine which technologies may be suitable forS o u t h e rn California from an environmental andeconomic perspective. The Subcommittee was createdpursuant to a requirement of the new conditional usepermit (CUP) for the Puente Hills Landfill. The landfillis operated by the County Sanitation Districts ofLos Angeles County (CSD). The CUP requires theCSD to provide up to $100,000 per year for the next 10years, to fund the investigation, promotion andimplementation of conversion technologies.

The Subcommittee conducted its first meeting onJanuary 15, 2004. The primary task of the Subcommitteeat this point is to work with the County to develop thescope of work for a consultant to evaluate potentialconversion technology facilities best suited for SouthernCalifornia. The Task Force is pleased to partner withthe County and make this study possible.

From left to right: Michael Theroux, Jeff Yann, PaulAlva, Fernando Berton, Alex Helou, John McTaggart,Christine Urbach, Ed Wheless and Mike Mohajer.Missing from the photo are Dr. Kay Martin and EugeneTseng.

Last summer, the City of Long Beach began rollingout 96-gallon wheeled carts for automated curbsiderecycling collection. By December 2005, all 125,000

City-serviced refuse accounts will receive the new carts.The carts have more than five times the capacity of therecycling bins currently used for manual collection. Thelarger carts help reduce litter and scavenging, keep mate-rials dry, and allow for more efficient automated collec-tion. For those who prefer a smaller cart, 64-gallon and32-gallon models are also available. The new carts aremade of 25% post-consumer recycled content and remainthe bright purple color historically used to identify theCity’s recycling bins. The City tested the recycling cartsin limited areas, and over 90 percent of survey respon-dents prefer the new system. People using the largercarts are also recycling significantly more materials thanbefore.

The City of Long Beach’s curbside recycling collectionwas previously limited to single family homes and multi-family apartment buildings with a maximum of 10 units.The automated program will include all City-servicedaccounts, including larger apartment buildings and busi-nesses who have the option to use private refuse collec-tors. All new automated collection vehicles will be fueledby low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG). And thebest news is, the new program will not increase costseither to ratepayers or to the City.

To ensure the highest possible participation in theexpanded recycling program, outreach materials areprinted in English, Spanish, and Khmer. Prior to rollingout carts on a route, all City accounts receive a tri-lingualpostcard in the mail. When the carts are delivered, a tri-lingual flyer is attached to the cart handle, explainingwhere to put the cart, what to put in it, how to use theCity curbside program for recycling motor oil and filters,and what to do with the old recycling bin. On the under-side of each cart lid is a tri-lingual sticker listing all mate-rials that can be placed in the cart, as well as giving someexamples of materials that should be kept out. For a fulllist of acceptable materials, check the EnvironmentalServices Bureau web site www.longbeach-recycles.org.Since the City began rolling out the new carts, the biggestcomplaint has been “Why can’t I get my cart RIGHTNOW?” For more information call James Kuhl at (562)570-2850.

Page 2, Inside Solid Waste,Spring 2004

TASK FORCEMEETINGS

Meetings will be held at theCounty of Los Angeles Depart-ment of Public Wo r k sH e a d q u a rters, 900 SouthFremont Avenue, Alhambra.

All meetings arein conference room B.

May 20 - 1 p.m.June 21 - 10 a.m.July 15 - 1 p.m.

What’s Up?HHW ROUNDUPS are open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.unless otherwise indicated. For more information, call theLos Angeles County Department of Public Works, at1(888)CLEAN-LA (253-2652). For information about City ofLos Angeles events call 1(800)98-TOXIC (988-6942).

April 24 Santa Clarita - College of the CanyonsParking lot #7, Valencia Blvd. at Rockwell Canyon Rd.

May 1 Avalon - Pebbly Beach Rd. at Roaring Canyons

May 1 La Mirada - City Hall/Community Gym13700 La Mirada Blvd.

May 8 Manhattan Beach - Northrup Grumman Corp.N o rthwest corn e r, Aviation Blvd. & Marine Av e .

May 15 El Monte - El Monte Airpor t4233 N. Santa Anita Ave.

May 22 West Covina - West Covina Maintenance Yard825 Sunset Ave.

May 29 Pico Rivera - Southern California Gas Co.8101 Rosemead Blvd.

June 6 Agoura - Calabasas Landfill5300 Lost Hills Rd.(This is a Sunday event)

June 12 Torrance - American Honda1919 Torrance Blvd.

June 19 Irwindale - Department of Public WorksFlood Control Maintenance Yard160 East Longden Ave.

June 26 Culver City - West Los Angeles College4800 Freshman Dr., parking lot #7

July 17 Rancho Palos Verdes -Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall30940 Hawthorne Blvd.

July 17 Woodland Hills - Pierce Collegeand July 18 6201 Winnetka Ave., Parking lot #4

(Conducted by the City of Los Angeles)

August 7 Whittier - Rio Hondo College3600 Workman Mill Rd., parking lot A

August 14 Arcadia - Santa Anita Race Track285 W. Huntington Dr. enter throughColorado Place, Gate 6

Now there’s no excuse to throw away your unwantedhousehold hazardous waste! Recycling of these mate-rials has never been so easy. Aside from the County ofLos Angeles and City of Los Angeles events that areheld on weekends, there are now four permanent cen-ters that are open every weekend. The centers areoperated by the City and open to all County residents.

Materials such as paint, motor oil, anti-freeze, cleaningproducts, and pesticides can be taken to any of the fourlocations. Electronic waste will also be acceptedincluding computers, monitors, printers, televisions,and cell phones.

Please read each permanent center description belowfor details or call 1-800-98-TOXIC or 1(888)CLEAN-LA for more information.

Gaffey Street collection center1400 N. Gaffey St.San Pedro, CA 90021Open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Hyperion Treatment Plant7660 W. Imperial Highway, Gate BPlaya Del Rey, CA 90293Open Saturdays and Sundays 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Washington Boulevard collection center2649 E. Washington Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90021Open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Randall Street S.A.F.E. center11025 Randall St.Sun Valley, CA 91352Open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

A message from the CaliforniaD e p a rtment of Conserv a t i o n

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) isimplementing a regulation to reduce toxic particu-late matter (PM) emissions from diesel-fueled

commercial and residential solid waste collection vehi-cles. The rule applies to owners of waste collection trucksover 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight with model-yearengines from 1960 to 2006 used to collect residential andcommercial solid waste. An owner can be a private com-pany operating independently or under contract to a cityor county, or a city, county, state or federal agency as wellas a special district that directly operates refuse and recy-cling collection services. All are required to reduce PMemissions from their solid waste collection vehicles byusing what the ARB defines as the best available controltechnology (BACT).

This measure will achieve a reduction in PM emissionsfrom collection vehicles by as much as 81 percent by 2010and 85 percent by 2015 from levels that existed in 2000.Owners will see a range of costs to implement BACT ontheir vhicles. Research and calculations by ARB staffshow that, generally, newer trucks and engines will be lessexpensive to implement while older ones will be moreexpensive. More information is available at the ARB’swebsite, http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/swcv/swcv.htm, oryou may contact Mr. Richard Varenchik of the ARB’s ElMonte Office at (626)-575-6730.

ARB moves to reduce trash truck emissions

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is dis-tributing $10.5 million in fiscal year 2004/2005 toeligible cities and counties specifically for bever-

age container recycling and litter cleanup activities. Thegoal of the DOC’s beverage container recycling programis to reach and maintain an 80 percent recycling rate forall California Refund Value (CRV) beverage containers.Projects implemented by cities and counties will assist inreaching and maintaining this goal.

The DOC provides a funding request form (FRF) to eacheligible city and county. The FRF specifies the amount offunding each city or county is eligible to receive for fiscalyear 2004/2005. A copy of the FRF is also sent to desig-nated Joint Powers Authorities (JPAs) and lead agenciesfrom the previous fiscal year. It is the responsibility of thecity or county to contact its JPA or lead agency to deter-mine who will take responsibility for submitting the FRFto the DOC.

To receive these funds, a city, county or designated entityshall fill out and return the FRF to the DOC no later thanMay 3, 2004.

Hurry and get all your forms in, the deadline is quicklyapproaching!!!

The State has implemented

several environmental

programs to encourage

recycling and

cleaner air quality.

Page 4, Inside Solid Waste, Spring 2004

Spring 2004, Inside Solid Waste, Page 5

Residents Recycle 11.5 tons of E-Wasteat Collection Event Hosted by City of INGLEWOOD

When about 200 Inglewood residents decidedrecently to get rid of their old televisions,VCRs, computers, telephones, stereos, and

other electronic items, they made sure it didn’t all go towaste. Instead, they brought it to an Electronics WasteCollection Event that was recently held at HollywoodPark. The free recycling event was sponsored by the Cityof Inglewood Department of Public Works, Environmen-tal Services Division. Since CRTs are now banned from landfills, residents can’tjust leave their televisions at the curb for collection, andpublic outreach efforts have made them more aware ofthe need to properly manage these items. Recyclingevents for e-waste giveresidents the opportu-nity to manage theseitems in an enviro n-mentally safe manner.Evidence of thisi n c reased conscious-ness is very apparentto the City. When anevent was held by theCity in the summer of2002, less than 85 resi-dents participated andonly 6 tons were col-lected. At the January event,each of the part i c i-pants donated an aver-age of 115 pounds of e-waste, totaling 22,941

pounds — the equivalent of approximately 11.5 tons. Inaddition to CRTs, the event also accepted other electron-ic items such as computer CPUs and peripherals, stereoequipment, VCRs, telephones, cell phones, and videogames. CRTs made up about half of the total collected.Computers and peripherals totaled about 30% and stereoequipment totaled about 20%. “We’re happy to see so many residents taking advantageof such an environmentally re w a rding event,” saidThomas Coates, Environmental Services Administratorfor the City of Inglewood. “Residents had an opportuni-ty to get rid of their old electronics, while also doing theirpart to be environmentally responsible. ”

The Enviro n m e n t a lS e rvices Division ofthe Public Wo r k sD e p a rtment isresponsible for plan-ning, developing andimplementing city-wide solid waste man-agement pro g r a m s ,including re c y c l i n gand household haz-a rdous waste man-agement. For moreinformation on Ingle-wood’s recycling pro-grams, call the Ingle-wood Department o fPublic Works infor-mation line at (310)4 1 2 - 5 3 3 3 .

NEWS

Two of Southern California’s oldest solid wastehauler associations, the Greater Los Angeles SolidWaste Management Association (GLASWMA)

and the Los Angeles County Disposal Association(previously known as CDA) have finally decided to jointogether and “tie the knot”. The merging of the twohauling groups under the banner of LACDA will givetheir combined 30-plus hauler members a more activeand stronger voice in solid waste issues throughout theLos Angeles area according to their president MarkBlackburn of Universal Waste Systems.

It has also been announced that LACDA ExecutiveDirector Ron Saldana will fill the industry chair onthe Integrated Waste Management Task Force. The

seat was previously filled by Clarence Geick,re p resenting GLASWMA. Following Clare n c e ’sre t i rement and the association merger it moved toLACDA to fill the chair. For more information, pleasecontact Mr. Saldana at (714) 693-8812.

In light of the trend of worldwide enviro n m e n t a lconservation, the City of South Gate is currentlyboosting efforts to recycle used motor oil, filters, and

beverage containers. The belief is that a little elbowgrease may be the best method for conserving the earth’se n v i ronment and keeping it clean. With itsenvironmental outreach programs, the objective is to getthe recycling message out to students, families, andbusinesses in the City of South Gate.

The City hopes that the program outreach efforts willencourage residents to recycle motor oil as they gear upfor a Used Oil RecyclingCollection Event May 15,2004. Participants of thisevent will re c e i v ereusable used oilcollection buckets andgiveaways such as carc reeper mats, quarts ofre - refined oil, calendarsand computer mousepads.

School outre a c hp rograms have alsohelped to enlighten thecommunity – a “BeverageContainer RecyclingTips” contest was held inJ a n u a ry targeting elementaryschool students generating103 entries from 2nd, 3rd,4th and 5th graders.

Twenty-five contest winners were chosen (five from eachgrade) and recognized at an awards ceremony heldduring the council meeting of February 10, 2004 whereprizes and proclamations were presented to the winners.In March, a one-of-a-kind advertising competition washeld at South Gate High School to promote the recyclingof used motor oil. Contest winners created uniqueadvertising copy and art ensembles to promote the UsedOil Program in the community.

Individuals can make a difference by participating in theCity’s recycling events/ programs. If the land we live in isregarded as a commodity to us all, then with proper care

and respect, this land will keepus moving into a brave andclean new future. The Cityhopes to enable action from itsresidents and provide a safeand feasible method to curbthe needless waste going intolandfills and to change thethinking patterns when itcomes to waste. For morei n f o rmation on the City ofSouth Gate’s Used OilP rogram, Storm w a t e rPollution Prevention Programand/or Beverage ContainerRecycling Program, please callJeanette Lopez at (323) 563-5748.

Recycling Efforts in South Gate Step Up