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[GreenYes] Re: Waste volumes


Title: [GreenYes] Re: Waste volumes

Dan,

I can't really tell from this email chain whether we're looking at
generation or disposal. It makes a big difference. San Francisco's disposal
numbers went up dramatically between 1995 and 1999 (increasing by almost
30%), and then hit a plateau for two years, and then started declining in
2001. By 2006, our total disposal was back down 3% below 1995 levels (the
Waste Board doesn't correct for misallocated and designated waste on their
website, even after they have finalized the numbers). For 2007, we don't
have total disposal numbers yet, but for Altamont (which accounts for
almost 80% of our disposal), the numbers dropped 5% between 2006 and 2007,
and for the first half of 2008, the Altamont numbers are 8% below the
numbers for the first half of 2007. Our diversion numbers have increased
from 400,000 tons in 1995 to 1.4 million tons in 2005, showing that
overall, generation is increasing every year.

David


David Assmann, Deputy Director
San Francisco Department of the Environment
11 Grove Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 355-3702


P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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The use of SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES has been found to cause climate
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             Dan Knapp                                                    
             <dr.ore@no.address                                            
             us>                                                        To
             Sent by:                  "Wayne Turner"                     
             GreenYes@no.address         <WAYNET@no.address>              
             oups.com                                                   cc
                                       GreenYes Listserve                 
                                       <greenyes@no.address>, David 
             10/29/2008 12:36          Tam <daviditam2@no.address>, Arthur 
             PM                        Boone <arboone3@no.address>, Mary   
                                       Lou Van Deventer                   
                                       <marylouvan@no.address>           
                                                                   Subject
                                       [GreenYes] Re: Waste volumes       
                                                                          
                                                                          
                                                                          
                                                                          
                                                                          
                                                                          




Hello Wayne:

Would it be correct to say that for 100 counties in California over the
last decade, solid waste tonnages, population, and gross retail sales tend
to stay in sync with each other?  Put another way, for most communities,
when population and retail sales go up or down together, do solid waste
tonnages go up or down more or less with the same volume and velocity?

This would be interesting to know, because in our part of California, the
San Francisco Bay Area, waste tonnages for most counties have remained more
or less stable for the last thirteen years, since 1995.  San Mateo's
landfilling decreased .3%; Santa Clara County had no net change.  San
Francisco and Alameda County volumes have increased .1% and .5%,
respectively.  Meanwhile, throughout our area both population and retail
sales have increased, I believe.

Your experience suggests compost facilities may turn out to be more or less
"recession proof".   This makes sense, because plants just keep growing and
dying without much regard for the vicissitudes of the "real
economy".  That's a good argument for having compost facilities in every
community instead of concentrated on agricultural lands.  The tip fees and
product sales from compost disposal can then act as a stabilizing force
within the local economy.

Dan Knapp
Urban Ore, Inc., a reuse and recycling company in Berkeley, California
since 1980


On Oct 29, 2008, at 7:51 AM, Wayne Turner wrote:

      Good point Jerry.  We own 3 public facilities, one MSW LF, one C&D LF
      and one Compost facility.  All three facilities are large in
      comparison to other, similar facilities in the state and serve a
      large metropolitan area of around 250,000 people.  Volume declines
      here apply to the MSW and C&D facilities.  The compost facility does
      not currently show declines from this same time last year.

      I have examined 10 years of state solid waste data county by county
      (100 counties) and compared waste tonnages against both county
      population and gross retail sales.  The difference in the correlation
      between solid waste tonnages and population vs solid waste tonnages
      and gross retail sales is negligible.  It will be interesting to see
      if that trend continues through this economic slump.  Have other
      states done similar analyses and found the same trends?

      Wayne

      >>> "Jerry Powell" <jpowell@no.address> 10/29/2008 10:38
      AM >>>
      When discussing the effect of current economic problems on waste
      flows, we need to distinguish between waste types.  The publicly
      traded waste haulers are reporting more severe drop offs in waste
      volumes from their C&D customers than they report declines from
      commercial and residential sources.  Thus, when a landfill reports a
      decline, we need to know the types of waste handled at the facility.
      That said, the history of waste flows during recessions shows a
      decline typically occurs.

      Jerry Powell
      Resource Recycling
      E-Scrap News
      Plastics Recycling Update
      PO Box 42270
      Portland, OR 97242-0270
      (503) 233-1305
      (503) 233-1356 fax
      jpowell@no.address






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