HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3.1 Recycle Contest ReportG~~~ OF Dp~~~
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~`~~~~~~ STAFF REPORT C I T Y C L E R K
~c~~L,~s~ DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL File # ^[~']0~-~~
DATE: September 7, 2010
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: ~ Joni L. Pattillo, City Manager
SUBJEC .~._ ~~teady Set Recycle Contest Report
Prepared By: Roger Bradley, Senior Administrative Analyst
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City Council will receive a report on the Ready, Set, Recycle Contest. The contest was for
single family residences and rewarded the residents with the least amount of recyclable and
compostable materials in their garbage cart.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the report and formally recognize the contest
winner.
~
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Submitted evie ed
Senior Administr tive Analyst Assistant ' Manager
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DESCRIPTION:
As part of the Fiscal Year 2010-2011 Goals & Objectives Program, the City Council included a
high priority goal (Goal I.F.12) to "implement a food-scrap, cash-incentive program for single
family residential customers" to motivate greater participation by single-family residents in the
City's composting and recycling programs. As Staff began preparation to conduct the City
Council directed program, Staff was approached by Stopwaste.Org about an opportunity to
participate in a pilot program. The proposed program would be a contest between residents to
see who could get the least amount of recyclable and compostable materials in their garbage
bin. Over the past few months, Staff worked with Stopwaste.Org to prepare such a program for
the Dublin community. The program was entitled Ready, Set, Recycle. The goals of the
program included:
• Increase and quantify the amount of residential recycling of food scraps (including
compostables and plant debris) and recyclable materials.
• Generate conversation among residents about the contest.
• Grow awareness among residents about recycling and composting and encourage
participation.
On July 1, 2010, the Ready, Set, Recycle contest kicked off within the City of Dublin. To
communicate the program to the community, Stopwaste.Org conducted a media campaign that
involved the Tri-Valley Herald, local news stations, TV30, the City Website, contest flyers
attached to garbage carts, informational posters, and a contest specific website. In order to
enhance excitement, residents were encouraged to pledge to recycle. Everyone that took the
pledge was entered into a random drawing for $15 worth of their choice between BART tickets,
Starbucks gift cards, and movie tickets. In total, there were 52 pledges submitted by Dublin
residents, and twenty-nine residents (29) were awarded prizes (3 BART, 16 Starbucks, and 10
movies).
In order to track the program's progress, Stopwaste.org conducted audits at the beginning of
the contest and afterward to determine what impact the contest was having on resident
participation. Participation was determined by observing the presence of food scraps within the
green waste bin. Food scraps were chosen because the City has been conducting regular
audits since 2005, and the availability of data allowed for better statistical analysis. As indicated
in the table below, there was a large jump in participation as a result of the contest. Pre-contest
data was inline with historical data at approximately 18%. Post-contest results show an increase
to approximately 32%, which is a statically significant difference.
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2S%
20%
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Food acrap Participatic~n per Setout
+City of Dublin
M~y-02 Oct-03 F~b-0~ Jul-06 Nov-07 Mar-09 Aug-10 Dec-11
The program also called for one resident per day, corresponding to the day of pick up, to be
awarded a prize for excellence in recycling and composting. Thus, the competition was
designed such that residents competed against fellow residents who share the same garbage
collection day. Further, a grand prize winner was chosen from among the daily winners. As
displayed in the below table, Resident 1 or Richard and Sharon Lewis, was the grand prize
winner of $250 with only 13.3% of their garbage containing material that could have been
recycled or composted. The goal established by Stopwaste.Org is to get everyone within the
County to less than 10%. The Lewis Family is very close to this goal and is setting a good
example for the rest of the community. Staff recommends that the City Council formally
recognize Richard and Sharon Lewis for their efforts.
Total % Recycling
Dublin % Garbage and % % ~~o
Can
Wt (Ib.) Organics in Garbage Recycling Organics
Full Garba e
Resident 1 80% 18.1 13.3% 87% 5% 8%
Resident 2 100% 11.5 24.3°/a 76% 0% 24%
Resident 3 90% 9.4 24.5% 76% 0% 24%
Resident 4 90% 37 25.7% 74% 6% 20%
Resident 5 80% 14.3 40.6% 59% 4% 37%
Stopwaste.Org plans to expand the recycling contest to the rest of the County over the next
year using the promising contest results from the City of Dublin.
NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH:
None.
ATTACHMENTS:
None
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