CHAPTER THREE: REFUSE IN THE CITY

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1 CHAPTER THREE: REFUSE IN THE CITY There are three types of solid waste generated in the City of Manassas: Municipal Solid (MSW) is defined as that is normally composed of residential, commercial, and institutional waste. MSW is commonly known as trash, refuse, or garbage. CDD is defined as construction and demolition debris and is broken down into two subgroups: CD is waste that is generated during construction and remodeling. Demolition is the destruction of structures and may contain the same materials found in construction debris and/or waste created through land clearing activities. Industrial is waste generated by manufacturing or an industrial processes which is not regulated as hazardous waste. It does not include mining waste, oil or gas waste. Residential Municipal Solid (MSW) In the City s 1991 Solid Plan the City depended upon figures obtained from a 1990 Fairfax County survey. (This composition chart is located in Appendix B.) Since a formal waste stream profile had not been developed for the City, the same composition percentages were used in the 1997 SWM Plan update. However, in order to compare the City of Manassas with the rest of the US, figures need to be nation wide. The 2000 EPA mean study reflects a lower paper percentage than in past years, but a higher plastic generation. This seems to reflect the national trend of more containers being made of plastic instead of glass or metal and is used to reflect City of Manassas municipal solid waste trend. Figure 3-1: Example of trash within City of Manassas The EPA figures indicate that yard trimmings, paper products, plastics, food followed by metals, rubber, leather, textiles and glass were the largest components of MSW. The following pie chart, Figure 3:-2, demonstrates these percentages. 3-1

2 Figure 3-2: 2000 EPA Municipal Solid Generation Percentages Stream Composition Food Scraps 11% Rubber,leather, & textiles 7% Other 3% Paper 36% Metals 8% Glass 6% Yard 18% Plastic 11% In eight years, the EPA has adjusted its generation statistics to show changes that have occurred in the waste stream. The following pie chart shows this variance: Figure3-3: 2008 EPA Municipal Solid Generation Percentages 2008 EPA Municipal Solid Generation Yard Trimmings 13% Wood 7% Food Scraps 13% Rubber, leather and textiles 8% Metal 8% Other 3% Paper 31% Glass Plastic 5% 12% 3-2

3 Compared to 2000 figures, paper consumption has dropped 5%. This is not unexpected with the vast amount of electronic and digital devises such as electronic newsletters,magazines, blogs, and use of Facebook that have become preferred ways to communicate instead of using paper. The disposal of plastics has increased by 1% but glass has dropped 2%. This shows the change to using plastic food containers instead of glass containers. Yardwaste has dropped 5 %. With landfills prohibiting yardwaste many people are using grass and leaves for mulch or for composting rather than putting it in a landfill. Metal waste has remained the same. Rubber, leather, and textiles is up by 1%. Changing Municipal Stream Manufacturers are finding more ways to introduce more plastic products into our waste stream. This is apparent in the large jump in the plastic percentage category from one percent in 1990 composition to 11 percent in the present EPA percentages in Table 3-2, and in Figure 3-3. This jump is very noticeable in the beverage container market place, where glass, even though it is cheap, has been slowly losing ground as the preferred container. Plastic containers are also gaining strides in soda beverage container arena, closing in on the aluminum can. Even though the aluminum can producers have continually downsized the weight of beverage cans to make more out of less (truly source reduction), the rise of plastic as a preferred soda and water container will outpace glass and aluminum cans in the near future. New innovative plastic products are being brought into the home market place every day. A surge in plastic composite lumber might even surpass the use of cedar for decking material. Plastic containers, self sealing wraps, storage bags, and more are filling our grocery baskets. However plastic is derived from petroleum products. It will remain to be seen if manufacturers will continue their present trend toward plastics if the necessary primary ingredient, petroleum, is too expensive to use. Manufacturers have designed more products that are supposedly more convenient. What they fail to realize is that they also create more waste. Instead of using a product that can be reused, the trend is to push the throw away This can range from one time use of dish cloths, floor cleaners to one time use toilet brushes. This will cost the consumer more in refuse fees if this trend continues. Paper consumption has been declining as newspaper readership has declined. Yet, old newspaper (ONP) is still recovered at a 60.2% rate nationally. Generated Table 3-4 shows actual figures in 1990, 1995, and 2000 plus estimated waste generation (red) that the City will encounter in the next twenty years. Note that in 1995, trash tons decreased considerably. This was due to an increase in the types of materials that could be set out for recycling and a new contract. In five years trash tons reverted to the 1990 level in 2000 but 3-3

4 there was a 25.6% increase in population during the same time period. From 2010 and beyond, City officials estimate that the trash tons should increase very slightly because the City should reach a built-out situation in that year. In 2000 City residents generated 5.39 pounds of waste per person per day. This figure is determined by using data obtained from the City s refuse contractor and business reporting forms. In 2002, it increased to 5.66 pounds which is higher than the national EPA rate of 4.4 pounds per person a day. Fairfax County estimates that they generate over 6.30 pounds per day 1, and Prince William County has estimated that they generated 7.76 pounds per day 2. The County has experienced a 4 percent increase per year over the last four years. They contribute this increase to accelerated commercial development taking place in PW County. Noting that the surrounding counties have higher generation rates than the City, it is estimated that the City will also increase its generation rate as the City becomes more affluent, and gains more diversity. There was a considerable jump in the figures from 1990 to This was partially because there were few available figures to base estimates on in the mid 1990 s. In 1997, when the business reporting figures became known, a better idea of how much commercial waste was being produced became apparent although this survey only documented material reported on a voluntary basis. It does not reflect all CDD materials generated by the City. Household Hazardous figures have been estimated as twenty pounds per year per household. This estimate was obtained from the state of Colorado for generation purposes. Since most people tend to accumulate this type of waste over a long period of time, it is difficult to estimate how much is produced. The City has a HHW program provided by Management, Inc. at the Manassas Transfer Station. Figure 3-4 : Estimated City of Manassas Generated to 2025 (in tons) Fiscal Year City Contracted Residential Estimated Household Hazardous Commercial/ Industrial Construction Demolition Recycled Total /Per Debris Household Tons) , ,248 2,126 1,620 17, , ,619 2,472 3,493 18, , ,529 2,596 10,121 34, ,740 2,725 11,100 42, , ,688 2,725 11,988 49,007 1 Fairfax County SWMP, chap Prince William SWMP, chap

5 Fiscal Year City Contracted Residential Estimated Household Hazardous /Per Household Commercial/ Industrial Construction Demolition Debris Tons) Recycled Total , ,456 2,043 12,227 52, , ,401 1,532 12,838 56, , ,541 1,149 12,984 58,696 Above chart includes an estimated 20 pounds of household hazardous waste per household per year household generated waste using estimates found on the state of Colorado website ( Commercial Refuse in the City Prior to 1997, few statistics were available for commercial and industrial refuse in the City. That year, a business recycling report was generated, and brought to light additional commercial tons generated in the City. Using figures gained from the City s recycling report from , commercial trash has increased exponentially because the information has become available. To predict future commercial refuse generation is a look back at the last four years as a standard. In those last four years, commercial tons have ranged from 30% to 35% of the City s waste. With an increase in population will come more businesses to serve those needs. With the trend of eating out more, purchasing more convenience products and services, commercial tons will only increase. By 2025, the percentage of commercial tons may increase higher than residential tons produced if recycling is not practiced. Water in the City Until 1977, the City of Manassas treated its domestic and industrial waste water in two municipally-owned sewage treatment plants with two City owned pumping stations. In 1971 the Commonwealth of Virginia Control Board adopted a policy to protect the quality of the Occoquan watershed by replacing individual treatment plants with one regional, advanced water reclamation facility. The Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority (UOSA) was formed by a concurrent resolution of four political jurisdictions which includes Manassas City, Manassas Park, Fairfax County, and Prince William County. Each jurisdiction has two representatives on the UOSA Board of Directors. By 1977 the Millard H. Robbins Water Reclamation Facility, was built off Route 28 on Bull Run just over the boundary in Fairfax County. This state of the art waste treatment facility has replaced all four City 3-5

6 treatment plants. The only remaining stations are two UOSA owned pump stations within the City. Since that time, the plant has increased its treatment capacity from 27 MGD to 54 MGD through a permit granted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The City has been allotted one additional MGD within the 54 MGD. For future growth, the City could purchase additional capacity from one of the other jurisdictions most likely Fairfax. The City collects and delivers four to five million gallons of domestic, industrial and commercial wastewater to the UOSA plant daily. This is done through 110 miles of gravity sewer mains. Approximately ten percent of this wastewater is due to stormwater runoff that enters the collection system at old leaking manhole and pipe joints or by the illegal connection of roof drains and storm drains to the sewer system. The City eliminates Infiltration and Inflow by relining aging pipes and manholes, as well as searches for stormwater connections that flow directly into the sanitary sewers and leaking manhole covers. Another objective of the City s Sewer Department is to replace older aging unreliable sections of sewer pipe with new materials properly sized to handle today s design flows. The existing City of Manassas sewage delivery system is adequate to support an increase in density build out of the City. CDD Materials Accurate construction and demolition wastes are difficult to calculate because individual haulers use private C&D landfills which may not be within the City. There is no required reporting on this material to the City. Conversations with individual businessmen have revealed some estimated information about volume, however. Northern Virginia Regional Commission for the Northern Virginia Solid Management Board did a summary on the status of CDD landfill capacity within the region in 2003, and presented data which concluded that there was a slight decrease in CDD in 2002 from the more than 35% increase between 1998 and This study also concluded that the average CDD landfill in Virginia has only about 4.71 years of life expectancy. Data from their report also pointed out that about 23% of CDD material deposited in Virginia is placed in a non-cdd landfill. These trends can have a significant impact on how this material is handled and where it is taken. The Manassas Transfer Station operated by Management, Inc. accepts CDD materials, but like the survey indicates, the materials are taken to a non-cdd classified landfill, usually Atlantic at Waverly, or to King George Landfill located outside Fredericksburg, Virginia. The other significant trend brought out by the survey is that there has been a decrease in CDD materials that are being recycled in Virginia. This could spur government to develop stricter regulations on disposal of this material through VDEQ, or even federally. It might also encourage new entrepreneurship in recycling CDD. With anticipated City build out approaching 3-6

7 in 2010, C&D materials should level off and decline slightly in the City. As older City properties are renovated and replaced with newer construction, there should be a slight increase in this type of refuse compared to MSW. If other CDD landfills close, then the City should see an increase in CDD tons coming from outside the jurisdiction to the Manassas Transfer Station. Industrial Industrial is handled privately in the City of Manassas. As the City grows to its capacity, more industrial waste will be handled at the Manassas Transfer Station, or exported to other landfill sites. Amounts will level off once City capacity is reached. Of the large industries located in the City, namely, Micron and Lockheed Martin, both have obtained P3 status and work to reduce waste. The City is also working to attract more technical, high-end type industries rather than heavy manufacturing. Special Special waste is a category of waste that requires special handling. This includes: Hazardous waste--obviously, hazardous waste is regulated by the state, and private businesses that deal with these materials have special licenses to operate disposal facilities or have special handling procedures. Private companies handle all hazardous waste in the City. Future City generated waste estimates are unknown, but are likely to be very small. Medical waste-- Medical waste is another category that requires special documentation, licensing, handling and disposal. State permitted Prince William Hospital contracts with a private contractor to provide these services. The Manassas Transfer Station does not accept any medical waste. As the population ages and more medical procedures are preformed due to population increases, there will be more medical waste. Since medical waste is handled by private, licensed contractors, this increase is not considered problematic. Tires-- The Code of Virginia (Section ) provides for a plan for tire management for all waste tires in the state. Individual businesses are required to charge a $1 tax per tire fee that is placed in the Tire Trust Fund. The City of Manassas contracts with a tire recycler that collects waste tires from City vehicles and those found on City streets. The contractor hauls them to his processing plant for shredding. The Manassas Transfer Station does not accept tires, but they are occasionally found hidden in dumped loads. These tires are fished out and are placed in a dumpster until they can be collected by a tire recycler. Because tires are already regulated and processed privately, the City does not anticipate developing any extensive City programs. City residents are directed to private companies for disposal. By 2025, the industry should have stricter disposal methods. Oil-the City of Manassas contracts with a private contractor to provide waste oil disposal for its own fleet only. This waste oil and used antifreeze is contained properly until a licensed contractor collects and recycles it. City residents use auto shops, motor 3-7

8 pools, or the HHW collection at the Manassas Transfer Station for disposal. Large increases are not anticipated. City businesses contract privately for removal. Batteries- The same procedures are used for vehicle battery recycling as in waste oil collection for City vehicles. City residents are encouraged to use private businesses or the HHW collection for proper recycling of NiCad and lithium batteries. Proper recycling is encouraged due to the cadmium found in these types. This special waste is potentially hazardous if landfilled or incinerated. Special drop off programs will be added to City sponsored programs to collect these materials from residential use. Commercial businesses recycle auto batteries through private contractors. Sledges, mining waste, septage, agricultural waste, and spill residues. These wastes are not commonly found within the City of Manassas. Specialized private companies are used for disposal of this type of waste. Friable asbestos- since this material is considered a special waste, it is only handled by licensed professionals, who are carefully regulated. Their services are privately contracted. Household Hazardous Household Hazardous (HHW) is defined as any product that is corrosive, flammable, and/or toxic. The City of Manassas Household Hazardous program grew out of Management s request for increased daily tonnage allotted at the Manassas Transfer Station in These events were handled by a subsidiary of Management, Inc. called Advanced Environmental Technical Services, or AETS until two years ago, when Care Environmental Corporation was hired to handle all of the HHW materials. Acceptable waste included: Table 3-5 Types of HHW Materials Accepted at HHW Events at the MTS Paints Used oil Cleaning solvents Antifreeze Auto batteries Aerosol cans Fertilizers Pesticides Oxidizers Dry Cell Batteries Corrosive Liquids Mercury Gasoline/Kerosene Flammable Liquids Propane gas Chemicals Unacceptable materials are ammunition, explosives, radioactive materials, and medical waste. The City of Manassas Police Department will take ammunition. Generated Household Hazardous is difficult to estimate as most people tend to keep these various products for years before disposal. Some of these materials do not enter into the waste stream as they are used up, or are treated as universal waste and are legally allowed in the trash. Twenty pounds per household is an accepted amount for estimating. 3-8

9 The HHW events run on the first Saturday of the month between April through September, and every other month during the winter months. Hours are from 8 AM to noon. The program is open to City residents only. They enter the Manassas Transfer Station, go over the scales, and are directed to a special handling site away from the regular tipping floor. Environmental Care employees retrieve the HHW from the vehicle, and then residents are free to leave. Participation varies depending upon the month and weather conditions. Figure 3-4 indicates residential HHW generated waste and the amount recycled from various years from 2001 to Residents bring in mostly paint, car batteries, bulk motor oil, and fluorescent bulbs. The types of HHW materials brought to the HHW events has remained constant over the years. Table 3-4 Amounts and Types of HHW Collected at the MTS Material (Units of 55 gallon barrels) (Jan-June) Aerosols Antifreeze Batteries- NICAD, Wet, Lithium Batteries, Auto Corrosive Acid Flammable Liquid Flammable Liquids ( YD3) Flammable Paint Motor Oil Propane Gas (Bottles) Oxidizing Solid Pesticide-Liquid Pesticide-Solid Note: Most materials are packed in 55 gallon barrel paks. Numbers reflect the number of paks used. Some Flammable Liquids are packed in cubic yard boxes as indicated. Curbside The town of Manassas started providing its own utilities around 1915 when it installed water lines in the town. Town employees picked up residential trash, but since the early 1970 s, contractors have been used to provide trash and recycling services for residents. Figure3-5: Refuse Service Contractor Services The City provides curbside services to most of the residents in the City. Large apartment complexes and shopping centers are considered commercial so they procure their own trash/recycling services. Small businesses within the Old Town area are serviced by the City. Single family 3-9

10 homes receive a once a week trash and recycle collection plus a yardwaste collection. Townhouses, small businesses and mobile home parks receive a twice a week trash collection, once a week recycle collection in addition to the yardwaste collection. Those with a twice a week collection pay a higher fee for the extra collection. Residents may use a trash can of their choice, but a 65 gallon cart or a 18 gallon recycling bin are provided by the City. Bulk items In the 1980 s the City crews scheduled two bulk item cleanups per year since there were no contractor-provided bulk item services. These collections were then transitioned to a program called the Courtesy truck where residents can schedule a City street department truck to be dropped off for 24 hours. Residents fill the truck with non-hazardous materials and the City will take it for disposal. Cost is $75. This is still part of the City s programs although most bulk items are collected curbside. Bulk items are collected by the refuse contractor on a regular weekly basis. No additional notification is required except for those appliances containing freon. Those appliances can be set curbside on trash day, but before removal, City residents have to contact the Refuse & Recycling Coordinator for instructions. The contractor is then given the address, and the item is collected separately from the regular trash. It is the contractor s responsibility for proper removal of freon. Use of Transfer Station City residents also may use the Transfer Station, operated by Management, Inc. They are charged $10.00 for the first 300 pounds and prorated on $60 a ton for anything over that amount since most of the materials are construction debris, not garage. The City s residential contract specifies that the City s contractor will bring City trash to the Transfer Station however the jurisdiction has the right to dispose of its trash at other facilities if appropriate. This leaves options open to use other county or Northern Virginia facilities if needed. City Ordinance Changed The Citizens Advisory Committee on Solid worked with the City to revise the refuse section to the code in New ordinances enforced what was already in the code, but additional articles were added to strengthen new ordinances. One of these was the provision that REQUIRES City residents to separate trash from yard waste (Chapter 98, 42, Separation of solid waste) The purpose of this was to capture the yard waste that would most assuredly end up in a landfill. Since there is no provision for mandatory recycling, it was the resident s choice whether to set the materials out for recycling or trash collection. Organics in landfills create methane gas accumulation. It is more environmentally sound and economical to reuse, or recycle this material. A civil penalty of $25 dollars per incident was added as part of the section with enforcement done by the Refuse and Recycle Coordinator. 3-10

11 Clarifications were made to definitions like suitable container and how it could be used, and located for collection. A resident must have a hard-sided container for storing any trash outside between their trash days was inserted as a new requirement (Chapter 98, 34). Since the City s Yardwaste program specifies the use of special biodegradable bags, descriptions of the proper bags were included. Citizens Advisory Committee A citizen s advisory committee was formed by City Council to study the trash situation, to provide a solution, and recommend a plan to City Council in Eight months after creating the committee, they published their findings in a report called, Solid Management Current State, Future Problems, and Long Range Proposals. Many of the issues and recommendations addressed by the report were incorporated into the 1991 Solid Management Plan as well as the updated 1997 Plan. During this time, several options for the City s waste were investigated, including situating an incinerator in the City. Environmental concerns, high construction and operating costs including the possibility that City residents would have to bear additional costs for not producing enough trash caused public outcry and the incinerator idea was not pursued. Transportation by rail, and transfer station options were considered instead. After almost two years of investigating new technologies, reviewing disposal methods of neighboring jurisdictions, the City decided to utilize the waste transfer station concept. Because the City has a history working with the private sector, the City selected to solicit private industry to situate a transfer station in the City. The committee also recommended that the City transition to a three phase program that would end up with a volume base collection by The committee made presentations to civic and homeowner groups to convince residents that this was the program that the City should embrace. However, some vocal residents felt that the program was too restrictive and it lost support. The final transition was not completed due to this lack of support. The committee works to suggest innovative trash/recycle programs for the City, its schools, and has been active in providing guidance and suggestions for the present solid waste program. 3-11