Solid/Hazardous Waste Management

Solid Waste Division (SWD)

Percent of single-family curbside solid waste stream that is recycled.

2010 Results: 54%.

2010 Target: 55%.

2011 Target: 55%.

Influencing Factors: : As of December 2010, 97% of single-family garbage customers had food waste collection services available. In addition, in 2010, the Division's "Recycle More. It's Easy to Do." campaign included print, broadcast, and online ads resulting in over 127,000 media impressions; media events, including the "Lighten Your Load Media Challenge" and the "Pumpkin Smash" with Q13 TV; and retail partnerships with Round Table Pizza that promoted food and food-soiled paper recycling and with Bartell Drugs that provided discounts for compostable bags and countertop food waste containers.

The campaign also conducted outreach and education to residents of seven cities with recycling rates under 35%, including the cities of Snoqualmie, Kent, SeaTac, Renton, Tukwila, Kenmore and Federal Way. Outreach and education activities included providing recycling information at community events, such as the SeaTac International Festival; writing articles for community newspapers; and taking advantage of other unique educational opportunities, such as featuring the "Recycling Royalty" educational characters on Kent TV.

Strategy Going Forward: These and other efforts will continue in 2011. In addition, the "Recycle More. It's Easy to Do." campaign will have a new focus on conducting recycling education and outreach to the county's Spanish-speaking community. The reasoning for this is that Hispanic residents represent 15.2 percent of the total population and are the fastest growing segment of the population of any race in King County. Other than English, Spanish is the most frequently spoken language in the county.

Technical Notes: The data are countywide except for: a) the cities of Seattle and Milton, which are not in the King County solid waste system; and b) Snoqualmie Pass and the Skykomish area, which have limited collection services.

Pounds of solid waste disposed per single-family household per week.

2010 Results: 26 pounds per week.

2010 Target: 25 pounds per week.

2011 Target: 25 pounds per week.

Influencing Factors: As of December 2010, 97% of single-family garbage customers had food waste collection services available. In addition, in 2010, the Division's "Recycle More. It's Easy to Do." campaign included print, broadcast, and online ads resulting in over 127,000 media impressions; media events, including the "Lighten Your Load Media Challenge" and the "Pumpkin Smash" with Q13 TV; and retail partnerships with Round Table Pizza that promoted food and food-soiled paper recycling and with Bartell Drugs that provided discounts for compostable bags and countertop food waste containers.

The campaign also conducted outreach and education to residents of seven cities with recycling rates under 35%, including the cities of Snoqualmie, Kent, SeaTac, Renton, Tukwila, Kenmore and Federal Way. Outreach and education activities included providing recycling information at community events, such as the SeaTac International Festival; writing articles for community newspapers; and taking advantage of other unique educational opportunities, such as featuring the "Recycling Royalty" educational characters on Kent TV.

Strategy Going Forward: These and other efforts will continue in 2011. In addition, the "Recycle More. It's Easy to Do." campaign will have a new focus on conducting recycling education and outreach to the county's Spanish-speaking community. The reasoning for this is that Hispanic residents represent 15.2 percent of the total population and are the fastest growing segment of the population of any race in King County. Other than English, Spanish is the most frequently spoken language in the county.

Technical Notes: The data are countywide except for: a) the cities of Seattle and Milton, which are not in the King County solid waste system; b) Snoqualmie Pass and the Skykomish area, which have low population and limited collection services.

Pounds of solid waste disposed per employee per week countywide

2009 Results: 21.7 pounds per week

2009 Target: 23.5 pounds per week

2010 Results: 19.9 pounds per week

2010 Target: 23.5 pounds per week

2011 Target: 23.5 pounds per week

Influencing Factors: In 2010, garbage disposal per employee was 18% lower than the county's target of 23.5 pounds per employee per week. The steep decline in disposal per employee reflects the impact of the recession and slow recovery on garbage generation and disposal. Since most of the businesses in the county are located in cities, the Solid Waste Division (SWD) provides support to cities in the form of Waste Reduction and Recycling (WRR) grants to improve city recycling programs. SWD also hosts a web site that provides information on workplace recycling, business waste prevention activities, and property managers recycling.

Strategy Going Forward: The strategy for 2012 is for SWD to continue to work with cities to increase recycling services for businesses and institutions. These efforts will include continuing to provide WRR grants to cities and continuing the Green Schools Program to help schools recycle more.

Technical Notes: The county's service area for this measure is all of King County except for the cities of Seattle and Milton (and including the entire city Bothell). Also, employees included in this measure are those considered "covered employees." Covered employment refers to positions covered by the Washington Unemployment Insurance Act. The Act exempts the self-employed, proprietors and corporate officers, military personnel and railroad workers, therefore those categories are not included in the dataset. Covered employment accounts for approximately 85-to 90% of all employment.

Residents' recycling and disposal behavior via EBI

About this measure: The King County Environmental Behavior Index (EBI) tracks and reports on the adoption of selected environmental behaviors of King County residents. In 2004 and again in 2006, 1000 randomly selected respondents in King County participated in a telephone survey and reported on their household's behaviors related to:

• Yard Care
• Recycling And Disposal
• Environmentally Friendly Purchasing

Understanding residents' awareness and behavior guides a more cost-effective targeting of outreach efforts and helps evaluate whether the efforts to improve these behaviors are making a difference.

The 2006 Environmental Behavior Index was conducted in spring of 2006. The findings about yard care and purchasing behavior can be found under the performance measure on solid and hazardous waste management, which is here.

Below are details on findings for residential recycling and disposal behaviors.

2006 results: The 2006 survey of residents' recycling and disposal behaviors indicates that use of recycle containers at home is high and improving, as is proper disposal of paints, kitchen grease and prescription drugs. Proper disposal of compact fluorescent light and tubes is low and is slightly declining.

Influencing factors: In 2006, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance making it illegal and punishable by fine to put selected recyclables in the garbage. There was significant media coverage of this new legislation, which likely influenced both awareness and behavior of residents throughout King County.

Strategy going forward: SWD will continue to work with cities to allow food waste recycling with yard debris. The SWD is partnering on a recycling education campaign, "Recycle More, Its Easy to Do" and is making further improvements to its Web site about general and food waste recycling.

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Seattle - King County Local Hazardous Waste Program

About this measure: This measure is a composite index of actions aimed at reducing exposure to hazardous materials. Below are descriptions of 5 key 2009 program areas of the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program and a rating of the degree that targets for these actions were met.

Waste pharmaceuticals project

Completed the largest unused medicine collection pilot project in the United States, and initiative to enact a product stewardship law for the safe and secure take-back of unused pharmaceuticals.

2006 results: 7 sites

2007 results: 25 sites

2008 target: 37 sites

2009 results: Completed two-year pilot project in October 2008. Group Health Cooperative and Bartell Drugs continue to collect waste medicines at 37 sites across the state. Other sites at police and sheriff offices have been set up to address controlled substances. Since the project began, more than 27,000 pounds of unused medicines have been collected for safe and secure destruction. Washington legislature did not pass proposed product stewardship bill in 2009 or 2010 sessions.

Influencing factors: The pilot project demonstrated the feasibility of collecting used medicines safely and securely at pharmacies. Logistics surrounding controlled substances continue to present major challenges.

Strategy going forward: Pilot project successfully tested the pharmacy take-back model. Group Health and Bartell Drugs continue to offer service in the interim, as are a growing number of law enforcement sites to address controlled substances. Our focus is now on passing legislation that would require drug manufacturers to take over the long-term collection of unused medicines via a product stewardship system.

Nail salon English-as-a-second language business project

The purpose of this project is to work with nail salon workers for whom English is a second language to reduce exposure to hazardous chemicals.

2009 results: Developed "healthy nail salon" guidelines in collaboration with the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, U.S. EPA and other partners. Tram Duong, ECOSS partner, has provided more than 200 technical assistance visits to salons in King County. In addition we have worked with beauty schools, nail supply distributors and Washington Department of Licensing to increase awareness of safe chemical handling in salons.

Influencing factors: Many connections have been made with the nail salon industry and with Vietnamese-American community to build trust, research concerns, and develop safer alternative products and practices. Working with local NGO partners helps reach an audience skeptical of working directly with government.

Strategy going forward: Continue outreach to salons where Vietnamese-Americans are owners or predominant workers. Increase level of contacts and reach within this community. Explore EnviroStars certification criteria to promote best management practices.

Healthy schools project

The focus of this project is to reduce or eliminate exposures to key hazardous chemicals in all King County schools.

2009 results: 69 school inspections were completed, looking for mercury, lead glazes and high risk chemicals. Elemental mercury continued to be found in schools, and was removed. Explosive old chemicals such as crystallized ethyl ether were also uncovered and safely removed. Washington state included our chemical restrictions in its revised K-12 Health and Safety Guide.

Influencing factors: We had hoped that we could rely on past inspections done through the Rehab the Lab project to assure that schools were, for example, mercury-free, but have found instead that pockets of old products continue to turn up. In addition to science lab supplies, our focus is turning to art supplies, where lead ceramic glazes, hexane-acetone glues and other high hazards are common.

Strategy going forward: Keep working with individual schools, school districts and the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Continue to refine high risk chemicals ratings and lists that can be disseminated by the state to influence all schools across Washington.

Low-income governmental housing

The aim of this project is to reduce exposures to key hazardous chemicals found in public housing within King County.

2009 results: This project fell short of target. Developed signed agreements with two out of three public housing authorities to eliminate and properly dispose of all mercury-containing thermostats as well as implement some pesticide-reduction strategies. Provided Integrated Pest Management training and consultations.

Influencing factors: Local housing authorities are stretched thin, yet are interested in working with us on a variety of hazardous chemical reduction strategies, both in their facilities and landscapes and in getting useful information directly to their residents.

Strategy going forward: Continue work with housing authorities, looking for avenues where our services best match their needs. In addition to mercury-reduction through fluorescent lamp recycling and thermostat change-outs, we will focus on integrated pest management techniques to explore ways to reduce pesticide use.

Flood hazard zones

This project aims to prevent the release of hazardous chemicals in the event of major river flooding in King County.

2009 results: Provided significant outreach to both businesses and residents potentially affected by the diminished capacity of the Howard Hanson Dam in the lower Green River Valley. Developed best management practice guidelines for storage and use of hazardous materials in flood zones from federal and other sources.

Influencing factors: Each flood zone valley within King County has a different mix of issues, from predominantly agricultural in the Snoqualmie to commercial and industrial developments in the Green. No one size fits all in terms of best management practices or outreach mechanisms. Our emphasis is 2009 has been in the Green, while continuing to provide core assistance in the Snoqualmie.

Strategy going forward: We will continue to explore the best approaches to hazardous material storage concerns in areas subject to major river flooding and to work with those agencies, local governments and businesses who know flood-related issues the best.

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