Business Waste Reduction - WasteNot Development - Packaging Outreach – Recycling Hotlines, Publications and Special Events

Funder: Santa Cruz County Public Works, EA Development

Funding Level:  $45,950

Program Partners: Waste Management of Santa Cruz County

Timeline:  BWR and WasteNot development work extending in this fiscal year from December through February. Packaging work to be implemented in May and June.

Staff Members Working on Project:  Victor Aguiar is completing the BWR scope of work in collaboration with County staff, and with the assistance of volunteers for data entry. Development of WasteNot software is carried out exclusively by Victor Aguiar. Packaging work will be a collaboration of Victor Aguiar and additional staff as yet to be determined.

Overview and Scope of Work: Ecology Action's WasteNot solutions for solid waste reduction utilizes our WasteNot software to conduct solid waste audits for businesses and/or trains a business to use the software for their own waste reduction audits. This year the scope of work was redefined to prioritize an upgrade to the WasteNot software. The upgrade would allow integration with waste hauler records, recording waste hauling history, follow-up reminders, an improved interface, and extensive outreach reporting by generating Excel spreadsheets. The software would then be installed on a County computer. This work is complete as this summary is prepared. Remaining is to conduct field work providing waste reduction assistance to businesses, while training new County staff in assistance procedures and use of the WasteNot system.

Target Audience(s):  Businesses and institutions in the unincorporated area and the City of Scotts Valley.

Desired Behavior Changes:  The goal is to motivate operators to institutionalize and enforce waste reduction through policy, infrastructure, communication, directive, and supervision.

Desired Outcomes of Program:  The objective is to set County staff on a course that will result in providing assistance to upwards of 50 businesses by June 1. We would hope to see this result in a rise in the diversion rate for these businesses by over 100 tons per year.

Results: To date this program has assisted 624 businesses in identifying, designing, and implementing waste minimization measures using Ecology Action’s proprietary WasteNot^© audit and tracking software.  Estimated waste diversion resulting from this work totals 2,843 tons per year, or approximately 20 tons per business yearly on average.  The savings to each business averages $2,646 annually.  To date this year, the WasteNot software is upgraded and installed on a County Computer. The software update has not been completed

Overview and Scope of Work:  This includes work incurred in upgrading the WasteNot software which fell outside of the County’s requested changes, but was required to ensure the commercial viability of WasteNot for other EA clients. This is mostly limited to interface developments, retaining previously developed features, and providing flexibility for incorporating waste hauler information and populations.

Target Audience(s):  Communities and large businesses

Desired Behavior Changes:  Adopting BWR programs using WasteNot.

Desired Outcomes of Program:  Increased sales of WasteNot software and services.

Results: None expected until marketing takes place. Efforts now focused on County of Santa Cruz involvement.

Overview and Scope of Work:  The contract calls for preparation of data and tools to conduct a survey to measure compliance with the County’s Environmentally Acceptable Packaging Ordinance. The survey will be conducted in the summer months, after the beginning of the new fiscal year and under its contract. We are also to conduct research and promotion as directed by County staff.

Target Audience(s):  Unincorporated-area food service establishments.

Desired Behavior Changes:  Transition to environmentally acceptable food packaging choices as defined by the ordinance.

Desired Outcomes of Program:  Increased awareness of alternatives to plastic and polystyrene foam packaging.

Results: None yet.

Overview and Scope of Work: Ecology Action maintains and upgrades a variety of educational services for the County of Santa Cruz on an ongoing basis. This work includes annually updating The Environmental Shopping Guide (formerly The Buy Recycled Guide) and The Where to Recycle Guide for Residents and Businesses. We then update this information on Earth 911’s website and on EA’s web site. Ecology Action translates these and any other waste reduction publications as requested to Spanish for the County. EA also maintains the County recycling “InfoLine” by writing, updating, and recording the phone script in Spanish and English, and by recording and responding to inquiries on a daily basis. In addition to these tasks, EA coordinates and staffs information booths at four annual events (plus others as requested) and assists the County with designing and placing advertisements, PSA’s, newspaper inserts, and hauler bill inserts promoting County recycling services.

Target Audience(s): Residents and businesses within the unincorporated area of the County that receive, or are eligible to receive, refuse collection services from the County’s franchisee, Waste Management of Santa Cruz.