Business Recycling Plans and Policies

Case Studies

Playa Vista Development

Playa Vista is a 1,087-acre development located just south of Marina del Rey in Los Angeles. It will ultimately include 5.1 million square feet of commercial space, including The Campus at Playa Vista (an entertainment, media, and technology district) and an estimated 13,000 residential units. The site is the former home of the Hughes Aircraft Company. Eleven major buildings have been demolished, totaling 1.2 million square feet, and extensive areas of the site have been cleared.

Extensive mitigation measures were included in the environmental impact report for the project. These measures include restoration of the Ballona Wetlands, creation of a freshwater marsh, and set-asides for open space. Approximately 50 percent of the site will be dedicated to open space, parks, and public facilities.

The Los Angeles City Council set forth special conditions of approval, including solid waste management. The conditions of approval include requirements for recycling demolition and construction-phase debris, use of recycled-content construction products, and operational-phase recycling. The city council also proposed a materials recovery facility (MRF) and organics recovery facility (ORF). Plans are pending.

Interagency Cooperation. A group of interagency representatives began meeting in January 1996 to plan an effective integrated solid waste management program for the project. These included the developer, environmental consultants, several departments from the City of Los Angeles, and the CalRecycle. The project’s high profile, along with the huge volume of C&D material it would generate, created particular interest.

Other attractive features included the potential to incorporate recycled-content products and the desire for an operational-phase recycling program. The results have been impressive, and the program serves as a model for large-scale developments throughout the state.

The Planning Process. The planning process included a series of tours and staff meetings to develop a strategy for building materials reuse, on-site processing, and recycling through local plants off site. The City of Los Angeles provided a sample specification, which was adapted by the developer’s specification consultant for the demolition package. The consultant tracked and documented all of the C&D recycling activities, and the developer issued several press releases on the success of the program at its completion.

Building Decommissioning and Site Clearance Phase. Because they are part of a separate tract map, the council’s conditions of approval did not formally apply to the Hughes buildings. The developer voluntarily recycled debris generated during the decommissioning of these 11 buildings. The material came from the demolition and site clearance phases. The developer reported that 84,035 tons of C&D material was recycled during the decommissioning of the buildings and related site work. This included more than 60,000 tons of concrete that will be used on site, 10,000 tons of steel, and 9,000 tons of green waste. The recovery rate was more than 92 percent of all materials generated.

On-site processing reduced 3,000 truck trips to the landfill. Reused building materials, such as collectible items and glass blocks from the Hughes plant, will be incorporated in the Playa Vista Visitors Center (now under construction).

More than 60,000 tons of concrete and asphalt material was processed for reuse on site. However, the Playa Vista development will require an extensive amount of additional import material for the subbase. After crushing the materials from demolition, the inert materials crushing operator coordinated a program with the developer to continue its operations. The crushing operator imports additional inert materials from local demolition projects and recycles them for use at Playa Vista. That effort is ongoing, and the results will be announced when completed.

Construction Phase Recycling. The environmental mitigation measures required a plan to recycle new construction debris. Construction of up to 13,000 single- and multifamily residences will take place over the next ten to fifteen years. The developer’s consultant prepared a construction phase materials recycling program that was approved by the City of Los Angeles in spring 1999. A particular coordination issue for recycling was that the residences would be constructed by a host of “merchant builders” rather than by a single construction contractor.

The developer decided to have one construction debris recycler service all of the separate builders. Depending on materials type and quantity, materials such as wood and gypsum drywall will be source-separated into bins on site. Mixed loads will be commingled into roll-off bins and taken to the hauler’s plant for processing. A recycling construction waste hauler has been selected for the construction phase of the project.

Operational Phase Recycling. The developer’s environmental consultants have designed a residential recycling system for the occupancy phase of the project. Residents will be allowed to use separate chutes for recyclable materials and disposed waste. The material will be collected by a recycling waste hauler and taken to a materials recovery facility. A similar program will be established for commercial tenants.

Development of Training Materials. The Playa Vista project has involved many participants in its planning, design, and construction. As a result, the City of Los Angeles and CalRecycle recognized the need for a concise training manual for the solid waste aspects of the development. In 1996, the CalRecycle and the City of L.A. Department of Public Works agreed to jointly develop this technical manual.

The manual needed to address materials reuse and recovery from decommissioning and construction of buildings, use of recycled-content products, and other sustainable building measures. CalRecycle and the City of L.A. recognized that the manual should be more appropriately geared for all major developments in the state, rather than for a specific project. In spring 1999, the CalRecycle released “A Technical Manual for Material Choices in Sustainable Construction,” available from the CalRecycle (to download or order, see “For More Information.”)

Sustainable Development Guidelines. In spring 1999, Playa Vista released a set of sustainable performance guidelines for the residential construction phase. Commercial sustainable performance guidelines are under development.

After the developer’s press conference announcing these guidelines, the Los Angeles City Council passed a motion requiring that a team of city departments produce sustainable development guidelines for all future city building projects and private sector developments. Those guidelines were scheduled to be developed and implemented in the year 2000.

Although geared for residential construction, the Playa Vista sustainable performance guidelines provided a structure for the City of L.A. to develop guidelines for its buildings. The guidelines will also cover private sector residential, commercial, and industrial development.

Electronic Takebacks

Planned Obsolescence. Between 1997 and 2000, an estimated 61 million computers became obsolete. Most of those are still stored in warehouses, businesses, and homes. By the year 2004, about 315 million computers are expected to be obsolete. With computer design technology changing every 18 months, recycling computers has become a serious disposal concern.

In addition, high-definition digital television (HDTV) requires a wider television screen than current models offer. Beginning in 2006, TV stations will be broadcasting HDTV signals exclusively. Although a converter box could keep current TVs working, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates 40 million consumers will have switched by then.

U.S. Hazardous Waste Regulation. More than 700 different kinds of chemicals are required to make a computer. Many of these chemicals are toxic. In response to federal Superfund cleanup regulations, U.S. corporations are recycling surplus computers and electronic equipment in order to reduce the risk of financial responsibility for cleanup at future Superfund sites.

European Take-Back Mandates. Legislative mandates in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, and other members of the European Union require electronic equipment manufacturers to take back their products at the end of the product’s life cycle. Aggressive European recycling policies have prompted changes in the way American original equipment manufacturers do business. They are now designing products to be recycled, adopting end-of-life management programs, and working with the U.S. EPA to explore alternatives to mandatory European take-backs.

The combination of these trends is causing much concern among municipal waste managers. The growing California electronic recycling industry is responding to these challenges.

San Francisco Bay Area Pilot Programs

San Francisco and Alameda County worked with the Materials for the Future Foundation (MFF) to develop four electronic collection and recycling pilot programs. MFF worked with community-based organizations, city government, businesses, and waste haulers to implement these pilot programs. The purpose of the pilot program is to document the quantity of consumer electronic products that enter the residential waste stream and determine if the recovered electronic products can be recycled cost-effectively.

The materials collected in the pilot programs included all consumer electronics (or "brown goods") that plug in or operate on batteries. "White goods," such as electric stoves and refrigerators, were not included. Materials collected included those from residential curbside collection programs, residential drop-off programs, and a public disposal area.

The community-based organizations salvaged products for reuse whenever possible. However, products that were not in reusable condition were disassembled and the constituent metals, plastics, glass, and wood recycled.

Pilot Goals:

• Document the quantity of electronic products discarded by residents into the municipal waste stream.
• Explore best practices for collecting, disassembling, and recycling electronic products in the municipal waste stream.
• Identify electronic recycling and revenue-generating opportunities for community-based organizations and local businesses.

Communities can use the preliminary findings when setting up their own programs; final data will be available soon.

Recyclables Drop-Off Event. The City of Hayward’s annual recycling drop-off program invites Hayward residents to bring their white goods, yard trimmings, mattresses, and wood waste to a municipal lot during the last weekend of March. In 1999, the recyclables drop-off event permitted residents to drop off electronic products as well.

C.U.R.A., Inc., a nonprofit long-term drug and alcohol treatment program, collected and recycled electronic products at the Hayward recyclables drop-off event.

Residential Super Recycling Day. The super recycling day program provides San Francisco residents with the opportunity to discard bulky waste items as part of the municipal residential collection program. In 1998, the super recycling day program collected approximately 43 tons of material per day from an average neighborhood of 800 residents. Yard waste, metals, and white goods were recycled. Sixty-four percent of the material collected during super recycling days must go to the landfill. C.U.R.A. collected and recycled electronics from super recycling days for a two-week period.

Public Disposal and Recycling Area. The public may discard materials for a fee at the public disposal and recycling area (PDRA) in the southern section of San Francisco. Green waste, metals, wood, and other materials are separated for recycling at this site. All non-recyclable items are placed in a pit and later transferred to the landfill.

The Marin Computer Resource Center (MCRC) collected and recycled all electronic products from the PDRA for a two-week period as one of the pilots. The MCRC is a nonprofit organization that has repaired and distributed more than 4,000 computers to schools and low-income individuals.

Bulky Waste Pickup Collection. Oakland residents are provided an annual bulky waste pickup day in which the contracted waste hauler collects white goods, brown goods, tires, household furniture, and yard trimmings. The bulky waste pickup program collected 5,700 tons of materials from more than 8,000 Oakland residents in 1998. White goods, yard trimmings, and tires are currently recycled from the bulky waste pickup program.

The East Bay Conservation Corps (EBCC) collected and recycled electronics from the Oakland bulky waste pickup day for a two-week period in 1999. EBCC programs promote youth development through environmental stewardship, employment training, and academic programs.

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