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The Advantage in the Waste Industry

Learning & Living Green: Teaching Our Children, Investing In Our Future
in 1990, The CounTy of SimCoe, loCaTed in Central Ontario, assumed responsibility for waste management from the 16 local municipalities. Since that time, the County has established a number of progressive programs that have significantly increased waste diversion, including standardization of recycling services in all municipalities, expansion of the blue box program, placing restrictions on curbside garbage collection and implementation of a green bin program for collection of source separated organics to approximately 127,000 households. The County is currently experiencing significant population growth, and as a result, increased demand for municipal services such as waste management. The County of Simcoe has very limited waste disposal capacity; current estimates are for approximately 6.5 years of remaining disposal capacity, and options throughout Ontario are also declining. Therefore, achieving high waste diversion rates is imperative to extending the lifespan of the Countys existing disposal facilities. The County currently has a diversion rate of 58 percent and has established a short-term diversion target of 71 percent.

Establishing a Partnership
In September 2010, the County of Simcoe partnered with the five local school boards to implement a program called Learning & Living Green, which provides for County collection of recyclable and organic materials at more than 100 schools. We recognize that children play a significant role in influencing adult behaviour with respect to environmental initiatives, says Willma Bureau, Contracts and Collections Supervisor for the County of Simcoe. Establishment of early recycling behaviors and reinforcement of emerging positive patterns among residents is vital to achieving the Countys high waste diversion targets. This program enables the schools to recycle a much broader range of materials than they did previously and facilitates consistency between the materials collected in the Countys residential curbside diversion programs with that collected in the school setting. This consistency is vital as children become more aware of what is recyclable and compostable in the school setting and can then participate more fully in waste diversion programs at home. Furthermore, they will have a positive influence on the adults in their families with respect to residential waste management programs. The program was branded Learning & Living Green because it embodies the intent, which is for children to learn to reduce waste generation and maximize waste diversion and then take that information home and use it throughout their lives.

Survey results indicate that 83.5% of children have a better understanding of whats acceptable in the County of Simcoes residential curbside collection program since the inception of the Learning & Living Green Program.

Pilot Program
County of Simcoe front end collection truck for the collection of recyclables.
Images courtesy of the County of Simcoe.

In order to implement the Learning & Living Green program, a pilot program was undertaken to

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determine what, if any, barriers there were to implementing this program in the school setting. The pilot program was extremely successful as waste diversion in the schools increased from 37 percent to 79.5 percent. It was determined that there were few barriers to program implementation and that those encountered, such as odors and fruit flies, were easily mitigated through sound management practices. The successful pilot program demonstrated to County Council and the local school boards that full implementation of the program would be beneficial and approval was obtained to launch the full program in more than 100 local schools at the start of the 2010/2011 school year. County and school board representatives met regularly prior to program implementation. Partnership agreements were developed that outlined the roles and responsibilities of the parties. The County and the local school boards share the cost for outdoor collection containers and annual operating costs 50/50. The County provides capital equipment, in the form of a front end collection truck, all indoor collection containers and promotion and educational support. The County also sourced partial funding for the project from the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF). CIF is mandated to help Ontario municipalities undertake best practices initiatives to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of blue box recycling programs. CIF supported the Learning & Living Green program through provision of $86,500 in funding to partially offset costs related to the 8-yard front end recycling containers used in the program.

Material
Blue Box Residuals Organics Residuals

2009
4.8% 7.4%

WasteAdvantage 3.9% -0.9%

The Advantage in the Waste Industry

2010

Decrease

4.5%

-2.9%

Figure 1: A comparison of residential blue box and organics contamination rates pre- and post-Learning & Living Green program

Program Campaign and Curriculum

Various media sources were used in the promotion of the Learning & Living Green campaign, including a startup kit delivered to each school to provide program information specific to the school, blue and grey boxes for indoor collection of recyclables and small green bins for the indoor collection of organics, sorting guide posters, an annual bulletin for children to take home outlining the program and its benefits, and recycling rules rulers made of 100 percent recycled plastic. In addition, a joint launch/media event was held, with additional promotional items provided, including coloring and activity books, t-shirts and water bottles made of 100 percent recycled plastic. A number of joint media releases were issued and the program was detailed in the fall edition of Managing Your Waste, a newsletter produced by the County and distributed via bulk mail to all residents. The Learning & Living Green program is unique among municipalities in Ontario. Few municipalities provide collection of recyclables from schools; fewer still provide collection of organics from schools. Another innovative aspect of the Learning & Living Green program is the development of school curriculum as a practice to communicate information specific to municipal waste management programs. The eco curriculum, developed

jointly by the Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe Muskoka
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Catholic District School Board, is provided to kindergarten through 8th grade teachers through a monthly electronic calendar. It includes useful links and activities such as analysis of waste generation, vermi-composting, etc. that are suitable to each age group. The curriculum also supports the Ontario Ministry of Educations Shaping Our Schools Shaping Our Future policy document, which outlines that consideration for the environment should be a part of all aspects of the education system. Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, is provided to kindergarten through 8th grade teachers through a monthly electronic calendar. It includes useful links and activities such as analysis of waste generation, vermi-composting, etc. that are suitable to each age group. The curriculum also supports the Ontario Ministry of Educations Shaping Our Schools Shaping Our Future policy document, which outlines that consideration for the environment should be a part of all aspects of the education system. The Learning & Living Green program fulfills a number of promotion and education best practices identified to positively affect program performance. The program is collaborative with schools, organizations and youth groups and it provides for ongoing and sustained contact with target audiences to have a greater impact than a one-time blitz. Year-round exposure is also targeted for effective promotion and education with the Learning & Living Green program, providing a sustained long-term campaign that the children participate in every day from September through June each year.

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Measuring the Results

To gauge the success of the program, waste audits were conducted of The Advantage in the Waste Industry school material which indicated that the schools achieved an 89 percent recycling capture rate and had only a 2.52 percent recycling contamination rate. The schools also achieved a 79 percent organics capture rate and had an almost non-existent organics contamination rate of 0.06 percent. This would indicate that the students and faculty have an excellent understanding of what materials are acceptable and not acceptable in the Countys recycling and organics programs. Additionally, surveys were conducted of students and school staff in order to determine the environmental and social impacts of the Learning & Living Green program. Survey results indicated that: 60 percent of children assist parents with recyclables/organics sorting and preparation for collection 83.5 percent of children have a better understanding of whats acceptable in the Countys residential curbside collection program since the inception of the program 72 percent of children say they will recycle more at home due to the program 87.1 percent of faculty feel the program has had a positive effect

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Positive Impacts
During the first year of the program, 580 tons of recyclables and organics were collected from the schools, increasing waste diversion by 70 percent over the previous year. This increase in waste diversion equates to an additional 100 garbage truckloads of material that were successfully diverted from landfill during the 2010/2011 school year. A comparison of residential blue box and organics contamination rates pre- and post-Learning & Living Green program implementation illustrates that the program has also had a positive impact on waste diversion programs in the residential sector, resulting in decreased contamination rates in both the recycling and organics programs (see Figure 1, page 85). The Learning & Living Green program has also had a positive impact on the environment as diverting organics from landfill reduces leachate production and greenhouse gas emissions. The breakdown of organic material in the landfill causes the production of methane, a greenhouse gas, which is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Additionally, the contact of water with organic material in the landfill environment causes the production of leachate, which, if not properly managed, may result in impacts to ground water resources. These results indicate that the program has been successful in reaching youth in order to influence waste diversion practices in the school setting as well as in the residential sector, says Bureau. The Learning & Living Green program will have a positive impact on waste management programs in the short term as well as into the future. | WA For more information, contact Willma Bureau, Contracts and Collections Supervisor for the County of Simcoe, at Willma.Bureau@simcoe.ca.
2011 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.

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