RECYCLING SYSTEM GAP ANALYSIS MEMPHIS REGION PREPARED BY RRS FOR THE COALITION TO ADVANCE RECOVERY IN TENNESSEE (CART) JANUARY 2, 2017
MORE RECYCLING THROUGH COLLABORATION Tetra Pak is committed to supporting local partnerships and projects to help increase recycling rates. This report provides an overview of a recent collaborative effort called CART - the Coalition to Advance Recovery in Tennessee. It also shares the results of a recycling system gap analysis performed in one key region of the state - the Memphis Area. CART PROJECT TIMELINE SPRING 2014 Tetra Pak project development HOW THE CART COLLABORATION BEGAN RRS created an inventory of key stakeholders in the region, mapped their shared interests in recycling, held consultative sessions with the stakeholders and prospective sponsors to collectively define the CART Mission and Action Plan, and recruited sponsors to join CART and help fund the project. WHY TENNESSEE? There was significant opportunity to improve recycling rates and, in turn, the economic vibrancy of Tennessee s local communities. RRS estimated that residents dispose of more than $180,000,000 of valuable recycled materials every year in Tennessee. Many manufacturers in the region have aggressive zero waste policies that drive a need for better recycling infrastucture. The state also has new requirements for regional recycling planning. CART A private-public partnership of organizations working together to: Build local supply of quality recycled materials Reduce dependence on imported sources of raw feedstock The expected benefit: build competitive advantage for manufacturing and recycling industries in Tennessee. MISSION Accelerate recovery of high value recyclable materials through collective voluntary industry action. OBJECTIVES 1. Increase recycling access in key metropolitan areas in the state. 2. Raise awareness of the economic value of strong recycling programs among state and local leaders: elected officials, community leaders, and local governments. 2014/EARLY 2015 ID funding partners MAY 2015 Memphis optimization workshop FALL 2015 Regional action planning OCTOBER 2016 Overview and results OCT 2014 Initial partner informational meeting MARCH/APRIL 2015 Workshop planning & logistics JULY 2015 Nashville optimization workshop MARCH-MAY 2016 Memphis region gap analysis and opportunity assessments 2
RECYCLING OPTIMIZATION WORKSHOPS: HUB AND SPOKE The above CART sponsor companies participated in recycling workshops for local elected officials, recycling and solid waste staff in Memphis and Nashville in 2015. Experts shared best practices and facilitated dialogue on how to optimize recovery programs through building hub and spoke models. Hub and spoke consists of a centralized processing center or hub where material is sorted, baled and sold to market. The spokes are surrounding communities that feed collected recyclables to the hub. THE REGIONAL GAP ANALYSIS The next step was to conduct a recycling gap analysis of the Memphis region. A customized best practices survey was developed to collect data across the municipalities in the region, and provide an assessment of the opportunities for each individual community as well as a regional hub and spoke system. RRS benchmarked current programs against national best practices and state s 2025 solid waste planning objectives Each municipality in the region was invited to participate Results: Recycling best practice gaps identified that are opportunities for targeted investment to increase recycling. Program Optimization The Economics of Recycling Where is value added? Providing More Access Collection and common suite of materials The Processing Puzzle Am I a hub or spoke? Best Practices: Education, Policy & Incentives What s the impact? Who s involved? HOW SECTORS WORK TOGETHER Public and private sector leaders need to continue working with their local networks to make measurable improvements on recycling gaps. This includes the recycling champions, local governments, businesses leaders, elected officials, recycling industry and corporate partners. Local governments Complete the best practices survey for their county or municipality. Good data leads to optimizing recycling efficiencies. Business leaders Continue to advocate for strong community recycling, and provide program support as needed. DEVELOPING LOCAL CHAMPIONS AND NETWORKS During each CART workshop, recycling champions for the regional network were identified to begin exchanging data and information on their programs. In Memphis, the city/county Office of Sustainability and the regional solid waste planning board chair are leading efforts. In Nashville, the Tennessee Environmental Council and Tennessee Municipal League came forward. Elected officials Support building individual recycling program capacity in your communities and becoming part of hub and spoke. Recycling industry partners (public and private sector) Continue to assist with information exchange, relationship building, providing market data, and supporting policy incentives. Corporate partners Continue to be engaged on shared goals with new partners that have emerged such as The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Fund. 3
MEMPHIS REGION RECYCLING SYSTEM GAP ANALYSIS OVERVIEW SCOPE Memphis, greater Shelby County, plus municipalities and counties in the surrounding region. OBJECTIVE Quantify the impact of recycling programs in the region, and provide a fact-based analysis that serves as a baseline to achieve greater adoption of recycling best practices. 1 Provide mentorship and education to form a network of municipal champions and develop strategic partnerships. METHODOLOGY Conduct recycling best practice analysis to obtain a data driven snapshot and identify biggest opportunities. 1. Build from AMERIPEN best practices work 2. Customize and adapt survey tool to align with TN 2025 Plan Objectives 3. Communicate with regional champions and other municipal contacts 4. Compile and analyze data 5. Develop Recycling Opportunity Assessment Summary based on data analysis 2 Conduct recycling best practice gap analysis to identify priority projects for optimizing efficiency. Six best practice areas analyzed Aligned w/ TDEC 2025 Plan Objectives 3 Increase recycling access to improve materials recovery in key metropolitan areas in the state. COLLECTION PROCESSING 4 Provide a regional system blueprint for how more materials can be recovered efficiently and sustainably. POLICY FINANCING PARTNERSHIPS 4
FOCUS ON RESULTS The gap analysis process was very useful to help identify opportunities for improvement in our recycling program through benchmarking best practices in other municipalities, and provided insight into the success of our program on key performance metrics. -Joe Nunes, Neighborhood Services Manager, City of Germantown and Shelby County regional solid waste planning board chair Key partnerships developed during Memphis region gap analysis project Range of counties responding to best practices survey: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Public and private sector recyclers, business leaders (recycling network developed during optimization workshops). Shelby Co. Sustainability Office Regional Solid Waste Planning Board chair (Joe Nunes, Germantown, TN) State - TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Memphis Materials Marketplace - US Business Council for Sustainable Development Memphis Area Association of Governments - MAAG Southwest TN Development District - SWTDD Northwest TN Development District - NWTDD Response: Madison, Gibson, Fayette, Chester, & Shelby Counties in TN; Desoto County, MS Including the cities of Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, Millington, Bartlett, and Henderson, TN. #of Households: 370,353 Population: 1.1 million 5
CART REGIONAL RECYCLING SYSTEM GAP ANALYSIS Similar templates are available for all the Cities and Counties that participated in the Memphis region best practices survey. PARTNERSHIPS FINANCING BEST PRACTICES LEAD TO RECOVERY LB PER HH RECYCLED ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES A KEY FINDING OF OUR RESEARCH IS THAT HIGHER ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES AND POLICIES LEADS TO GREATER RECOVERY OF MATERIALS. POLICY MEMPHIS OPPORTUNITY 174k 164 HOUSEHOLDS SERVED POUNDS PER HOUSEHOLD 49% EFFECTIVENESS RATING LB PER HH RECYCLED ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES PARTNERSHIPS FINANCING POLICY PROCESSING COLLECTION COLLECTION PROCESSING POLICY FINANCING PARTNERSHIPS 6
35% COLLECTION Household participation rate MATERIALS COLLECTED Glass Bottles and Jars, Plastic containers 1-7 (no Styrofoam), Paper/Cardboard, Aluminum foil, aluminum cans, Steel cans Multifamily Commercial Away from Home Collection Carts Single Stream Curbside MRF/Transfer Station Access Weekly Collection High Capacity Vehicles Used Automated Vehicles Core Materials Yard Waste Food Waste Commercial Food Waste PROCESSING 336,723 TONS LANDFILLED 49,297 TONS RECYCLED 14,279 TONS COMPOSTED $1.25 MSW TIPPING FEE MSW Transferred to landfill MSW direct hauled to landfill MRF can process additional materials MRF/Transfer Station within 10 miles MRF runs one shift MRF Residue below 10% Processing contract Multiple MRFs available PARTICIPATION POLICY FINANCING PARTNERSHIPS Website with educational materials Keep America Beautiful programs The Recycling Partnership programs Listed in Earth911 Directory $90k Annual education & outreach budget Recycle Rewards/Recycle Bank Mandatory recycling ordinance Enforcement Mandatory recycling legislation Landfill ban Pay As You Throw program Other diversion initiatives Revenue sharing Franchise agreement Tax based funding Fee based funding Extra recycling charge for citizens State grant funding available Awarded grant funding within past 3 years Grant funds cover recurring costs Partnered with other municipalities on grant projects Utilizes private sector partnerships Utilizes TRP grant program Utilizes Closed Loop Fund resources MEMPHIS OPPORTUNITIES Provide increased funding on a per household basis to recycling education Utilize existing educational resources such as KAB and/or TRP to increase education & participation POLICY Guide local/state legislators to adopt environmentally sound, cost effective, and regionally appropriate policies Lobby for additional policy support including landfill ban on packaging materials Lobby for local policy support such as a mandatory recycling ordinance FINANCING Look to available recycling industry finance tools to assist in program funding 7
GAP ANALYSIS DETAILS High Recycling Performers Low Recycling Performers COMMUNITY % UPTAKE OF BEST PRACTICES # S/HH COMMUNITY % UPTAKE OF BEST PRACTICES Germantown, TN 34% 356 Collierville, TN 35% 406 Memphis, TN 49% 164 Chester County/Henderson, TN 45% 379 Desoto County, MS 31% Madison County/Jackson, TN 18% Gibson County, TN 7% COMMON STRENGTHS: Curbside collection Some recycling education Processing COMMON OPPORTUNITIES Explore program financing options Increase education funding and messaging Policy provisions COMMON OPPORTUNITIES Infrastructure access better utilize existing infrastructure Education Little to no investment in messaging and resident communication. Develop outreach channels. Partnerships Improve regional communication to take advantage of existing system opportunities. PATH FORWARD With baseline data and a stockpile of actionable opportunities in hand, regional planning conversations are underway. The data gathered during the Memphis Region Gap Analysis presents a way to measure uptake of recycling best practices, provides recycling program details and benchmarks performance for municipalities and counties in the region. It also provides clear opportunities to develop hub and spoke recycling systems in this city region. 8
PATH FORWARD Two key performance metrics collected during the gap analysis were tipping fees and total tons disposed. Communities surveyed that had some sort of access to curbside recycling programs on average disposed of about 1,800 lbs per capita per year less vs. communities that did not have curbside recycling access. Based on the average tipping fee of $25/ton, this represents about $23 per household per year that could be an opportunity cost for investment into a recycling program. This is one way to look at opportunity, and performing more recycling system gap analyses of city region waste sheds will have a real impact on recycling rates. Those program costs play a huge role in the decision by municipalities to invest in recycling and material recovery. With recent tools developed by US EPA Region 4 along with economic studies done by SERDC, best practice toolkits provided by The Recycling Partnership, and funding available through state grant programs and funding partners like the Closed Loop Fund, a pathway of resources to fill these gaps and advance the investment in recycling access and community impact is being built. CART has helped to inform the network, identify recycling best practice uptake and performance, and delivered the analysis to accelerate conversations related to investing in material management opportunities in the Memphis region and beyond. Communities with access to curbside Communities without access to curbside COMMUNITY POPULATION HOUSEHOLDS DISPOSAL (LBS./HH/YR.) COMMUNITY POPULATION HOUSEHOLDS DISPOSAL (LBS./HH/YR.) Chester Co. 17,379 5,943 1,743 Collierville 49,487 15,100 3,829 Germantown 40,123 13,500 1,879 Memphis 655,770 248,320 2,712 TOTAL 762,759 282,863 2,541 Bartlett 58,500 20,143 3,008 Fayette Co. 39,165 14,680 4,147 Gibson Co. 49,000 12,200 6,185 Millington 11,080 4,609 4,159 TOTAL 157,745 51,632 4,375 Memphis region communities w/ curbside access average 2,540 lbs/ HH/yr of disposal Communities w/out curbside access average 4,374 lbs/hh/yr of disposal Difference of 1,834 lbs/hh/yr Tipping fee of $25/ton = an average of $22.92/HH/yr in additional trash disposal costs for communities without access to curbside recycling. 9
Memphis City Region Approach 2 hub regions: Jackson, TN and Memphis, TN Jackson hub feeds Memphis Potential impact 600,000+ HH PATH FORWARD Increasing material recovery in Tennessee to the national average and beyond will further the interests of the public and private sectors. It will produce thousands of processing and manufacturing jobs and build upon an existing, steady base of infrastructure in the state. Local industries are hungry for the additional feedstock and it makes sound business sense to use local materials. No single initiative or entity can increase recovery in a significant way, but partnering around this 6-prong approach will effectively and efficiently drive recovery. Jackson COLLECTION PROCESSING Memphis POLICY FINANCING PARTNERSHIPS 10