Re: [GreenYes] school RFPS for recycling

[Freda Fung <ffung@tellus.org>]

Hi Brenda,

I am writing to you in response to the message you posted on the GreenYes
listserve.  

I'm a Research Associate of Tellus Institute, a non-profit research
organization in Boston.  We are now working on a Resource Management (RM)
project with West Des Moines Community School District in Iowa (WDSD), with
funding from Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  RM is a strategic
alternative to disposal contracting that seeks continual improvement in
resource efficiency through enhanced source reduction, recycling, and
recovery.  From our previous research, we have found that typical disposal
contracts send the wrong economic signal to waste management contractors:
more waste equals more profit.  For this reason, traditional contracts
impede serious progress in recycling, composting, and waste reduction by
providing a profit incentive for disposal.  The RM project aims to assist
the school district to contract all its waste and recycling services through
a performance-based contractual agreement (RM contract agreement).  By
adopting the RM approach, the district provides direct incentives for the
contractor's services that foster prevention, reuse, and recycling.  When
the incentives of waste contractors are aligned with the customers', both
sides work together to pursue resource efficiency.

Tellus has received funding to research and implement RM in six states
(Massachusetts, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Nevada, Florida), and at the
national level through the U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste.  For additional
information on RM, you can visit the EPA / Waste Wise web site at
http://www.epa.gov/wastewise/wrr/rm.htm or review the current issue of Waste
Wise Update at
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/wstewise/pubs/wwupda17.pdf.

We are now finalizing the RFP for WDSD and we plan to issue the RFP shortly.
If you're interested, please provide your contact information (email address
and affiliation), we can forward a copy of the RFP to you when it is issued.


Please feel free to contact me or Tom Votta (mailto:tvotta@tellus.org)
should you have any questions.

Regards,
Freda Fung
Research Associate
Tellus Institute
11 Arlington Street,
Boston, MA 02116-3411

Tel: (617) 266-5400
Fax: (617) 266-8303
email: ffung@tellus.org
Web: www.tellus.org


>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Brenda Platt"
> > I am looking for some model RFPs that schools have issued to solicit
> > recycling services.  Can anyone help me?  I'd also be interested in any
> > waste reduction plans schools may have implemented (encompassing
> > prevention, reuse, recycling, and/or composting).
> >
> > On a related note, I'd welcome suggestions on the best recycling
> > curricula available.
>



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