Agenda Item 14.4.2 Report No. 171/15cncl TO: ORDINARY COUNCIL - MONDAY 14 DECEMBER 2015 SUBJECT: ALICE SPRINGS TOWN COUNCIL WASTE AUDIT REPORT AUTHOR: ENVIRONMENT OFFICER - HAYLEY MICHENER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report summarises the Alice Springs Town Council Waste Audit Report IT IS RECOMMENDED that Council receive and note the Alice Springs Town Council Waste Audit Report 1. BACKGROUND Through the NT EPA, a grant was received to conduct a waste audit of Alice Springs household waste. 2. DISCUSSION The waste audit will enable the Alice Springs Town Council to gain a better understanding of the breakdown of household waste in Alice Springs and will provide an accurate measure of the average weight and composition of garbage, recyclables and green organics in household wheelie bins in Alice Springs. It will give a precise indication of the amount and percentage of waste being thrown into the general waste wheelie bin rather than being recycled through the existing programs. The audit methodology was largely developed by the consultant, EC Sustainable, but was based on relevant Australian industry guidelines in lieu of guidelines existing for the NT. Waste from 132 randomly selected households in 5 different areas of town was collected over 5 separate days from 2nd-6th November 2016. Waste was sorted at the Regional Waste Management Facility over this period. The data from the audit was presented in a report (see Attachment). This data will be used in the development of Waste Strategy (2016-2030) in 2016. A brief summary of findings: • The average weight of bins was 19.98kg (1039kg/year) • Food waste (18.45%), was the single largest category of waste followed by garden waste (15.74%) • 8.56% of waste was cardboard, however, only 1% was white paper • Unrecovered comingled (mixed) recycling accounted for a total of 34.35% of total bin weight. • The average bin capacity used was 85%, whereas the median bin capacity used was 100%, meaning that many residents were over-filling their bins.
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TO: ORDINARY COUNCIL - MONDAY 14 DECEMBER 2015 … · Acknowledgements: Hayley Michener, Reinier Laan and Amanda Varden (Alice Springs Town Council) for assisting with overall project
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Agenda Item 14.4.2
Report No. 171/15cncl
TO: ORDINARY COUNCIL - MONDAY 14 DECEMBER 2015
SUBJECT: ALICE SPRINGS TOWN COUNCIL WASTE AUDIT REPORT
AUTHOR: ENVIRONMENT OFFICER - HAYLEY MICHENER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report summarises the Alice Springs Town Council Waste Audit Report
IT IS RECOMMENDED that Council receive and note the Alice Springs Town Council Waste Audit Report
1. BACKGROUND
Through the NT EPA, a grant was received to conduct a waste audit of Alice Springs household waste.
2. DISCUSSION
The waste audit will enable the Alice Springs Town Council to gain a better understanding of the breakdown of household waste in Alice Springs and will provide an accurate measure of the average weight and composition of garbage, recyclables and green organics in household wheelie bins in Alice Springs. It will give a precise indication of the amount and percentage of waste being thrown into the general waste wheelie bin rather than being recycled through the existing programs.
The audit methodology was largely developed by the consultant, EC Sustainable, but was based on relevant Australian industry guidelines in lieu of guidelines existing for the NT. Waste from 132 randomly selected households in 5 different areas of town was collected over 5 separate days from 2nd-6th November 2016. Waste was sorted at the Regional Waste Management Facility over this period.
The data from the audit was presented in a report (see Attachment). This data will be used in the development of Waste Strategy (2016-2030) in 2016.
A brief summary of findings:• The average weight of bins was 19.98kg (1039kg/year)• Food waste (18.45%), was the single largest category of waste followed by garden
waste (15.74%)• 8.56% of waste was cardboard, however, only 1% was white paper• Unrecovered comingled (mixed) recycling accounted for a total of 34.35% of total bin
weight.• The average bin capacity used was 85%, whereas the median bin capacity used was
100%, meaning that many residents were over-filling their bins.
Due to the high percentage of food and garden waste, a public awareness campaign would be advisable.
6. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS .
The Waste Audit will support the Strategic Plan Outcome 3.3.1 Develop, maintain, and improve Council Regional Waste Management Facility in order to provide efficient waste collection and disposal services and facilities.
7. PUBLIC RELATIONS
Nil until further direction provided
8. ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Alice Springs Town Council Waste Audit Report
Hayley MichenerENVIRONMENT OFFICER
peg BuxtonRECTOR TECHNICAL SERVICES
Domestic Kerbside Waste
Audit in November 2015
Report November 2015
EC Sustainable Pty Ltd
ACN: 163 386 061 ABN: 87 163 386 061
VicState Office
Suite 28, 458 St Kilda Road
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA 3004.
Copyright ® EC Sustainable Pty Ltd 2015
"This document is and shall remain the property of
EC Sustainable Pty Ltd
Unauthorised use of this document in any form is prohibited.”
Disclaimer: Any representation, statement, opinion or advice, expressed or implied in thispublication is made in good faith but on the basis that the authors are not liable (whether by reason of negligence, lack of care or otherwise) to any person for any damage or loss whatsoever, which has occurred or may occur in relation to that person taking or not taking action (as the case may be) in respect to any representation, statement or advice referred to herein.
Acknowledgements: Hayley Michener, Reinier Laan and Amanda Varden (Alice Springs Town Council)for assisting with overall project management, collection and waste and provision of the sorting site.Terry Soukoulis (Transpacific Cleanaway) and the regular Transpacific Cleanaway truck drivers for assisting with the survey route, and facilitating the audit logistics around their regular services.
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Table of contents
List of tables ivList of figures.................................................................................................................................. ivList of abbreviations...................................................................................................................... vExecutive summary..............................................................1 Introduction.....................................................................
1.1 Background..............................................................1.2 Objectives.................................................................1.3 Council information..................................................1.4 Document structure.................................................
2 Project methods.............................................................2.1 What is a waste audit?.............................................2.2 Guidelines.................................................................2.3 Sampling....................................................................
2.3.1 Sample size.......................................................2.3.2 Sample site selection.......................................2.3.3 Sample frame...................................................
2.4 Material collection....................................................2.4.1 Visual bin survey...............................................2.4.2 Transportation to the sorting site.....................2.4.3 Managing non-presented bins......................... .2.4.4 Authorisation.......................................................
2.5 Sorting and data collection.......................................2.5.1 Sorting categories.............................................2.5.2 Location..............................................................2.5.3 Staffing...............................................................2.5.4 Material weighing...............................................2.5.5 Scale calibration................................................
2.6 Work health and safety.............................................2.7 Data verification and accuracy.................................2.8 Audit monitoring.........................................................
3.4.1 Summary composition and resource recovery3.4.2 Detailed composition........................................
3.5 Composition and resource recovery by day...........3.5.1 Composition and resource recovery by day....3.5.2 Detailed composition by day............................
4 Audit photos.....................................................................5 Comments and recommendations...............................References...............................................................................Appendix A - Raw data by day............................................
Table 3 - Personal protective equipment (PPE) used....................................................................................9
Table 4 - Presentation rate by percentage (%)............................................................................................11Table 5 - Summary bin percentage full (%).................................................................................................11
Table 6 - Summary bin percentage full by day (%)..................................................................................... 12
Table 7 - Detailed bin percentage full - count and percentage (%)........................................................... 12Table 8 - Generation rate by day and overall (kg/hh/wk)............................................................................ 13
* Based on typical kerbside services accepting containers and recyclable paper and cardboard, and including the CDS component shown in the row above.A Rounding of figures may lead to a slight difference to the second decimal place.
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ec Sustainable
The data shows the high potential for additional recovery and avoidance, particularly for materials
that can be recycled in typical kerbside bin services, CDS material and organics. If a three bin system
was feasible, approximately 72% of the bin contents could be recovered. Recovering all of these
materials, or avoiding them, would reduce the waste bin weight from approximately 20kg per
household to 5.5kg per household.
Discussion and recommendations
Based on the results of this audit, the following comments and recommendations are made against
each project data indicator in the project objectives. The commentary includes discussion to assist
the waste strategy and infrastructure and education decisions.
Objective 1a - generation rate
• The generation rate of approximately 20kg per household is similar to Councils in Australia before
they had additional kerbside recycling and garden organics bins and a focus on waste
minimisation.
• Council should:
o Consider the costs of acquiring and servicing additional bins, or crates, within the
waste strategy for kerbside recycling and garden organics or food and garden
organics (FOGO). This will need to consider the costs of processing and community
education.
o Consider non-binned kerbside recycling collection services such as organics bundles,
collected in rear loaders or cage trucks.
o Determine whether existing resource recovery technologies and future options, would
have the capacity to recover any additional material collected.
o Consider additional non-binned kerbside recycling services that return the material to
the generator and thus create a direct local market without the need for more waste
processing sites, such as home composters, worm farms, and kerbside chipping of
timber and tree waste to provide material directly back to residents. Council has
recently commenced participation in the Compost Revolution Program which
provides an online, step-by-step guide to composting and a discounted compost bin.
o Consider options to match reusable materials with local businesses for drop-off by
residents, such as shredded paper to local pet shops or large cardboard boxes to
storage businesses.
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o Consider waste minimisation approaches, such as Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW)
and working with local businesses to reduce packaging wastes,
o Conduct additional education on the usage of Councils existing drop-off centres,
o Consult with residents about their satisfaction with Councils drop-off centre services
and locations, and seek to encourage more usage by residents,
o Consider more localised small-scale recovery options like charity bins and reverse
vending machines.
Objective 1b - bin capacity used and presentation
• Approximately 85% of the bin capacity was used as a mean value, with a median value of 100%
and a maximum value of 110%. More than 55% of households used 90% or more of their capacity.
• Approximately 62% of bins were presented. The lower presentation rate in this audit, than in many
surveys, may mean that households do not present their bins until they are full or near full. A
typical presentation rate based on our experience may be approximately 85% to 90% for general
waste as an average in Australia.
• Council should consult with residents about the adequacy of their capacity and consider ways to
reduce the volume (and weight) within the bins system, as outlined in Objective 1a.
• It is recommended that Council reduces the high proportion of households that have used their
full bin capacity.
• It is not advisable within resource recovery or service cost, to consider a Council-wide offer of
bigger general waste bins or more frequent collection. However, some households may require
additional capacity, which could be provided at a fee.
Objective 1c — unrecovered resources
• The unrecovered resources rate of approximately 72% of a bin was similar to Councils in Australia
before they had additional kerbside recycling and garden organics bins and a focus on waste
minimisation.
• Council should consult with residents about their willingness to participate in alternative ways to
reduce the volume (and weight) within the bins system, as outlined in Objective 1a. The
consultation should focus on food waste, garden organics, paper, cardboard, containers CDS and
containers non-CDS.
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• If a centralised processing systems was viable, the general waste stream material composition
appears suited to an initiative that could recover the compostable material and typical kerbside
recyclable material. This could achieve a maximum reduction of 72.36% of the audited general
waste stream based on 34.35% of the general waste stream being typical kerbside recyclables
and 38.01% of the general waste stream being organics material.
Objective 1d - hazardous waste
• Council should consider more local drop-off solutions for hazardous wastes, particularly
chemicals and e-waste. It is noted that no paint or vehicles batteries were audited in the study.
Five needles were observed during the audit, although medical/clinical waste was not a sorting
category.
In addition, as part of monitoring the effectiveness of its waste strategy, Council should conduct
waste audits annually and in all seasons to build up trend data and also monitor performance of any
waste recycling or avoidance programs implemented.
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1 Introduction1.1 Background
Alice Springs Town Council (ASTC) engaged EC Sustainable Pty Ltd (EC Sustainable) to conduct a
council-wide audit of the residential kerbside Mobile Garbage Bin (MGB) usage and contents
composition. EC Sustainable was engaged based on experience with conducting residential waste
audits across Australia, using a ran. e of industry guidelines. Council received a grant from the
Northern Territory (NT) Government to complete the audit.
This was the first detailed study on the composition of waste generated from the kerbside MGBs
within ASTC. The audit was completed in the week of 2 November 2015.
ASTC households are provided with a general waste bin service, where they entitled to a Council
operated kerbside bin collection service. This audit only focused on households with a kerbside bin
service. Currently, there is no kerbside recycling bin service in ASTC but residents can:
• Voluntarily take recyclables and green waste to the Council owned and operated Regional
Waste Management Facility (RWMF) or to other local recycling businesses.
• Participate in the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), which provides 10c refunds for eligible
containers in the NT.
The project objectives are shown below.
1.2 Objectives
The purpose of this audit was to:
1. Provide a snapshot of the state of domestic general waste stream composition in kerbside
MGBs for Spring 2015 (November) through data indicators, including:
o Generation rate, how much material is produced per household,
o Bin survey data such as:
■ Bin capacity usage, compared to available space.
■ Bin presentation rate, the percentage of bins presented to the kerbside,
o Unrecovered resources, or resource loss, how much:
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■ Material that could be recycled now.
■ Material that could potentially be recycled in future,
o Hazardous waste.
2. Provide data to assist with the reduction of general waste through recycling and minimisation
of unwanted kerbside waste.
3. Assist with the development of a waste strategy, including infrastructure and education.
1.3 Council information
ASTC is located in the centre of Australia, within the North Territory. Alice Springs is classified as a
regional and remote town, acting as the main service centre for all of Central Australia. As such Alice
Springs is also the "waste hub" of Central Australia through the RWMF.
ASTC was responsible for the provision of waste infrastructure and services to its residents. The
Council currently owns and manages the town’s RWMF, Transfer Station, and Rediscovery Centre
(tip shop). ASTC has a target of reducing putrescible waste landfill by 50% in 2030 based on 2011
tonnages.
The Council area has a population of approximately 28,000 people in 2015. In the census of 2011,
there were an average of 2.6 people per household (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2011). 4.1% of
households are single unit dwellings, 14.2% are medium density dwellings, 16.3% are high density
flats/apartments and 5.0% are other dwelling types.
Council will develop a waste strategy in 2015. Distance to major recycling facilities, small population
size, servicing cost, and the absence of waste levies in the NT are major factors that influence waste
and recycling services.
1.4 Document structure
This report provides the methods used to obtain the data (Section 2), the results of the general waste
audit (Section 3), some key audit photos (Section 4) and comments and recommendations (Section
5).
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ec Sustainable
2 Project methods2.1 What is a waste audit?
A waste audit is an examination of a particular waste stream including the waste materials within
that stream. It includes using classification methods to determine the physical waste stream
composition, measurement of the size of the waste stream and verification of other statistics related
to the waste stream for planning and decision-making purposes.
2.2 Guidelines
There are no specific residential waste auditing guidelines for the Northern Territory. The audit draws
upon relevant aspects of other Australian industry residential waste auditing guidelines such as:
Garden / vegetation Green waste Loose garden vegetation to agreed size.
Other paper Compostable soiled paper *Compostable paper not suitable for recycling based on typical MRF standards (before being put in the bin), soiled paper and used tissues.
Otherputrescible Other putrescible Animal excrement mixed compostable items, kitty litter
(including soil)
Other material
Nappies * Absorbent hygiene waste.
Textiles Clothing / rags, shoes, leather
Building materials/ hard rubbish (C&D) Asphalt, plasterboard, concrete, asbestos (and note)
Hazardous - vehicle batteries All vehicle batteries
Hazardous - paints Paints
Hazardous - chemicals Chemicals, poisons, motor oils
Other waste Everything else
* Additional categories conducted by EC Sustainable, as agreed with Council, which were not included within the original brief.A The glass-CDS category includes wine bottles, which are accepted by Council as CDS material, even though they may not be marked 10c.
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A safe sorting site was provided ASTC at the RWMF, Commonage Road in Alice Springs. This site
is a safe under cover facility that provides suitable conditions for separating and weighing bin
contents, such as wind and sun protection. Council was responsible to remove the general waste
and recyclable material once it had been sorted, for disposal or recycling
2.5.3 Staffing
All audit staff members had Work Health and Safety (WHS) white cards, manual handling training
tetanus vaccinations, Hepatitis A and B vaccinations and the audit managers in each team had first
aid training, asbestos awareness training and waste audit competency training.
The waste audit competency training includes WHS awareness relevant to sorting and accurate
identification of material types in each category. No labour hire was used.
2.5.4 Material weighing
The sorted material in each category was weighed on a daily basis, based on the delivered material
for each day in each sample. An accuracy of 1g was used for the weighing using 30kg scales for
weights up to approximately 30kg and to an accuracy of 10g on 150kg capacity scales for weights
over approximately 30kg. Each weight was verified by a second person for accuracy.
2.5.5 Scale calibration
All scales were calibrated by a senior staff member each day before the commencement of the audit
and each time the scale was moved. Three weights (200g, 1kg and 5kg) were used.
If the scales had failed to read within 1% of the dedicated weight (for example, a 1kg weight should
read between 9.990 and 1.010kg), then the scale would have been removed and a conforming
replacement used. Any scales reading outside of the 1% allowable limit for scale calibration would
have been brought to the attention of a senior staff member immediately and the scale taken for
servicing. However, the scales conformed to the requirements for the audit duration.
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2.6 Work health and safety
An Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) was developed for the audit to
meet WHS requirements. The system included completing a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS)
and Hazard Assessment Check (HAC) process for both the collection and sorting tasks in the audit.
All staff wore PPE as outlined in the SWMS and shown in Table 3.
Table 3 - Personal protective equipment (PPE) used
PPE required Applicable standard complianceDust mask (Optional, except when advised by a manager)
AS/ NZS 1715: 2009 - Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective devices.
Gloves Heavy duty rubber or neoprene AS/ NZS 2161: 2000 - Occupational protective gloves.
Gloves Needle proof Turtleskin™ needle proof gloves which withstand 1.1 pounds force against a 28g needle to NIJ99-114 test methods.
Eye protection (optional) Low impact goggles with indirect ventilation (HT or CT with C, D optional)
AS/ NZS 1336:2004 - Recommended practices for occupational eye protection.
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Figure 2 - Photos of unrecovered resources (organics)
1. Garden organics. 2. Kitchen food waste.
Figure 3 - Photos of hazardous items
1. Nappies. 2. Parts of a kettle and try cell batteries. 3. Parts of a vacuum and a broken lamp. 4. Cables, a light bulb and other e-waste.
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1. A bag and other textiles. 2. Thermal bottles, a dish drying rack, a metal pot, a small piece of timber and other kitchenware. 3. Foams. 4. Plastic bags. 5. An electric toy. 6. Blankets, carpets and clothes.
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5 Comments and recommendations
Based on the results of this audit, the following comments are made:
• Generation rate - the mean bin weight was 19.980kg/hh/wk in the 2015 audit.
This figure is similar to Councils in Australia before they had the kerbside recycling and garden
organics bin and a focus on waste minimisation.
Councils should:
o Consider the costs of acquiring and servicing additional bins, or crates, within the
waste strategy for kerbside recycling and garden organics or Food and garden
organics (FOGO). This will need to consider the costs of processing and community
education.
o Consider non-binned kerbside recycling collection services such as organics bundles,
collected in rear loaders or cage trucks.
o Determine whether existing resource recovery technologies and future options, would
have the capacity to recover any additional material collected,
o Consider additional non-binned kerbside recycling services that return the material to
the generator and thus create a direct local market without the need for more waste
processing sites, such as home composters, worm farms, and kerbside chipping of
timber and tree waste to provide material directly back to residents. Council has
recently commenced participation in the Compost Revolution Program which
provides an online, step-by-step guide to composting and a discounted compost bin.
o Consider options to match reusable materials with local businesses for drop-off by
residents, such as shredded paper to local pet shops or large cardboard boxes to
storage businesses.
o Consider waste minimisation approaches, such as Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW)
and working with local businesses to reduce packaging wastes,
o Conduct additional education on the usage of Councils existing drop-off centres,
o Consult with residents about their satisfaction with Councils drop-off centre services
and locations, and seek to encourage more usage by residents.
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• Bin percentage full - the mean and median bin percentage full results were 84.62% and
100% in the 2015 audit Approximately 55% of the households used 90% and over of their bin
capacity.
• Presentation rate-the presentation rates in the 2015 audit was 62.12%. This figure is lower
than in many surveys, may mean that households do not present their bins until they are full or
near full. A typical presentation rate based on our experience may be approximately 85% to
90% for general waste as an average in Australia.
Council should:
o Consult with residents about the adequacy of their capacity and consider ways to
reduce the volume (and weight) within the bins system, as outlined in Objective 1a.
o Reduce the high proportion of households that have used their full bin capacity.
It is not advisable within resource recovery or service cost, to consider a Council-wide offer of bigger
general waste bins or more frequent collection. However, some households may require additional
capacity, which could be provided at a fee.
• Unrecovered commingled recycling material - the total amount of commingled recycling
material in the 2015 audit was 6.864kg/hh/wk (or 34.35% of the stream).
• Unrecovered organics-the total amount of organics (excl. containerised food) in the 2015
audit was 7.595kg/hh/wk (or 38.01% of the stream).
The unrecovered resources rate of approximately 72% (with approximately 34% of the stream being
commingled recycling material and approximately 38% of the stream being organics material) of a
bin was similar to Councils in Australia before they had additional kerbside recycling and garden
organics bins and a focus on waste minimisation.
Council should:
o Consult with residents about their willingness to participate in alternative ways to
reduce the volume (and weight) within the bins system, as outlined in Objective 1a.
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The consultation should focus on food waste, garden organics, paper, cardboard,
containers CDS and containers non-CDS.
o If a centralised processing systems was viable, the general waste stream material
composition appears suited to an initiative that could recover the compostable
material and typical kerbside recyclable material. This could achieve a maximum
reduction of 72.36% of the audited general waste stream based on 34.35% of the
general waste stream being typical kerbside recyclabies and 38.01% of the general
waste stream being organics material.
• Hazardous waste -the total amount of hazardous waste in the 2015 audit was 0.20kg/hh/wk
(or 0.99% of the stream).
Council should:
o Consider more local drop-off solutions for hazardous wastes, particularly chemicals
and e-waste. It is noted that no paint or vehicles batteries were audited in the study.
In addition, as part of monitoring the effectiveness of its waste strategy, Council should conduct
waste audits annually and in all seasons to build up trend data and also monitor performance of any
waste recycling or avoidance programs implemented.
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References
Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2011 http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services