© 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved.

Decisions, Decisions…

SOLID WASTE MASTER PLANNING

WHAT IS MASTER PLANNING?

EFFECTIVE DECSION MAKING TOOLS

CONCLUSIONS

WHAT IS MASTER PLANNING?

Process by which local governments can:

o Clearly define short and long term goals for

waste management

o Evaluate various alternatives available for

meeting those goals

o Chart a clear path forward

SOLID WASTE MASTER PLANNING

Finding acceptable balance of

the right services, right price,

and right sustainability goals as

defined by your community

Define the baseline

Develop projections

Needs assessment

Define vision, guiding principles, and goals

Implementation plan

PLANNING PROCESS

1

2

3

4

…

10

EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING TOOLS

The right combination of tools will be

different for every community depending on

their specific needs and goals

Stakeholder outreach techniques

Modeling – diversion and financial

Sustainable Return on Investment (SROI)

analysis

EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING TOOLS CAN HELP YOU FIND THE “SWEET SPOT”

Economically

Viable

Environmentally

Sound

Socially

Acceptable

Sweet

Spot

Advisory committee

Charettes

Surveys

Focus groups

STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH TECHNIQUES

Typically 5-15 members

o Local government staff

o Public/private sector partners

o Community stakeholders

• Residents

• Businesses

• Special interests

Defines vision, guiding principles, and goals

Guides development of the Master Plan

Evaluates alternatives and their projected

impacts

Makes recommendations on the final plan

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

15 members

County staff

Public sector partners

Private partners

Private waste haulers

Neighborhood representatives

Union

Special interest groups

THREE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO ADVISORY COMMITTEES

8 members

County staff

Public sector partners

Special interest groups

9 members

County staff

o Solid Waste

o Public Utilities

o Public Works

o Planning Commission

o County Administrator’s Office

Public participatory process commonly used

by urban design professionals to reach

community consensus around a shared

vision

Best utilized with:

o Large groups

o High stakes projects

o Projects affecting diverse group of

stakeholders

o Volatile, yet workable, political environments

o Complex program or facility design challenges

o Projects that include proposed development

CHARETTES

Three day charette

o Thursday evening - opening session

o Friday sessions - commercial areas of interest

(143 attendees)

o Saturday sessions - residential areas of

interest (99 attendees)

Feedback received on what initiatives would

be viable in the County

Consensus reached on some topics

Lack of consensus understood on others

Allowed for realistic goal development

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NC

Way of collecting information that

represents the views of the whole

community or group

Can be conducted online, by mail, phone,

or in person

Best utilized for:

o Large numbers of diverse people

o Topics that can be broken down into concise,

easily understandable questions

o Gathering information quickly and efficiently

o Obtaining statistically valid information

SURVEYS

Online residential survey

CORAL SPRINGS, FL Phone/email commercial survey

13 questions – including type and size of

business

Used business license database

Email with link to online survey sent directly to

those with email on file

Phone calls made to other businesses over

three week period

Single-family and multi-family

35 questions - customized to respondent

Link to survey on City website homepage

Postcards mailed to random sample of 4,000

households

Email with survey link sent to all 480 members

of City advisory boards and committees

Small-group discussion guided by trained

leader

Used to learn about opinions on a

designated topic and guide future action

Best utilized for:

o Specific group on specific topics

o Asking questions that cannot be easily

communicated via survey

o Supplementing knowledge gained from a

survey or other efforts

Take time to recruit a willing group of

participants

FOCUS GROUPS

Three focus group meetings

Participants recruited through community

organizations and City boards/committees

Introductory meeting

o Current services

o 75% recycling goal

o Strategic Plan and Phase 1 findings

o Expectations for focus groups

o Input on residential and commercial surveys

Separate meetings - residential and

commercial

o Presented survey results

o Discussed findings, areas of consensus

CORAL SPRINGS, FL

Waste characterization

Apply characterization results to generation

projections

Identify needs and opportunities

Develop strategies to target specific

materials

Estimate diversion impacts associated with

each strategy by year

Allows for understanding of projected:

o Diversion/recycling rates

o Facility needs/sizing

o Operational impacts

DIVERSION MODELING

Model applied results of recent

characterization studies to waste generation

projections for the next 10 years

Identified possible diversion strategies

Examples:

o Automated collection and single stream

o Mixed Waste Material Recovery Facility

o Landfill gas to energy

Estimated diversion impacts associated

with each strategy by year

Combined diversion impacts of all short-

listed strategies to estimate recycling rates

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL

Builds upon the diversion model

Establish a base case

Estimate additional costs and cost savings

associated with potential strategies over the

planning period, as compared to the base

case

Integrating the diversion and financial

models allows us to compare strategies on

a cost per ton diverted basis

FINANCIAL MODELING

Three very different scenarios under

consideration

o Least cost

o Environmentally preferred

o Most flexible

Used County’s existing financial model to

project financial operating results out 20

years as the base case

Evaluated cost impacts associated with a

total of 55 different strategies

Summarized and compared financial results

for each scenario and presented to SWAC

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL

Net Annual Financial Impact of Environmentally Preferred Scenario

Sustainable Return on Investment

Builds upon diversion and financial model

Measures/monetizes sustainability related

costs and benefits of strategies

Examples:

o Greenhouse gas emissions

o Energy efficiency

o Water efficiency

o Job creation

o Public health and safety

SROI

Resources Financial Environmental Social

Land / Waste

Mgmt.

7% reduction in revenue;

5% increase in costs

70,000 annual tons of

waste diverted from

landfill

19% reduction in truck

mileage

Energy Over 300 thousand

gallons of diesel saved

from truck use (20 years)

GHG reduction equal to

removing 43 cars from

road each year

2 fewer annual potential

asthma-related illnesses

People Over 120 local annual

jobs created from

recycling, processing

Education programs

improve recycling and

local stewardship

364 hours per year of

average congestion time

savings

Materials

(replaced with

recyclables)

Savings in annual energy

use equal to 8.5 thousand

homes

GHG reduction equal to

removing 22 thousand

cars from road each year

Over 500 jobs created

through re-manufacturing

and reuse of recyclables

SROI EXAMPLE - PHYSICAL INDICATORS

*GHG is an abbreviation for greenhouse gas. CAC is an abbreviation for criteria air contaminant. CAC includes

Nitrogen oxides, Sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, Particulate matter 2.5 and 10.

Resources Financial Environmental Social

Land / Waste

Mgmt.

$41 million in net

financial costs

Over $0.5 million in

potential savings in

landfill space value

$0.08 million in reduced

truck damage to

pavement

Energy $0.7 million in reduced

diesel fuel costs to waste

service providers

$0.23 million in GHG*

reduction from reduced

truck hauling

$0.06 million value in

CAC* reduction from

reduced truck hauling

People $4.3 million of additional

annual income to local

residents

Education programs can

lead to greater recycling

success

$6.83 million in improved

traffic condition and

safety

Materials

(replaced with

recyclables)

$150.2 million reduction

in lifecycle energy costs

$90.1 million in reduced

lifecycle GHG*

$24M per year in income

for new re-manufacturing

and material reuse jobs

Total Environmental and Social Benefits over 20 years ($2016): $ 57.3 million

Total Environmental and Social Benefits per Ton of Diverted Waste ($2016): $113

**Total environmental and social benefits are computed from the cells that are shaded for comparison with financial

outcomes

SROI EXAMPLE - MONETARY INDICATORS

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER…

CONCLUSIONS

A wide variety of planning tools can be

applied to allow local governments to make

better, more informed long-term solid waste

planning decisions

Every community is different

Where and how these tools are applied

should be carefully considered

Match the right decision making tools to the

particular needs and goals of the

community

CONCLUSIONS

© 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved.

Solid Waste Planner katie.brown@hdrinc.com 512.799.1577

Katie Brown

© 2014 HDR Architecture, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR Architecture, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR Architecture, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved. © 2014 HDR, Inc., all rights reserved.