City of San Juan Capistrano

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City of San Juan Capistrano

• Bag 2 Bag
• Residential Curbside Recycling Program
• Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea
• 9-7-05
• By
• Ziad Y. Mazboudi, PE

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How did I get into this ?

• Senior Civil Engineer, managing the Environmental
  division, including
• Stormwater Program and compliance with the NPDES
  permit
• Solid waste and recycling program
• Household hazardous waste program
• Used oil program
• Sewer collection program

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Some Background Information

• The City of San Juan Capistrano is in South
  Orange County, a population of about 35,000.
• The City is one of the oldest cities in Orange
  County, with a beautiful Mission.
• The City has 2 creeks that merge a couple of
  miles upstream of Doheny Beach in Dana Point.
• All flow from San Juan Capistrano go into San
  Juan Creek, an impaired water body for bacteria.
• The San Diego Regional Board wanted to place the
  Orange County beaches on a TRASH TMDL.

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San Juan Capistranos Efforts

• Educate the Public
• Ban of Polystyrene Foam from all city facilities
  and Special events
• Annual Creek Cleanup event
• Regular street sweeping
• Catch basin inserts
• Promotion of recycling

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Why promote recycling ?

• For one, its the right thing to do !
• In addition, a by-product of recycling, is litter
  reduction
• By reducing litter, the city hoped to reduce the
  amount of trash reaching the creeks and
  eventually the ocean !
• When San Juan Capistrano banned Polystyrene Foam,
  it showed up on the Plastic Industrys radar
• City and Plastic Industry representative both
  members of the Orange County Trash and Debris
  Task Force.
• Meeting with the Plastic Industry representative
  to discuss possible joint project

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Plastic Bags are

• Made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource
• A serious litter problem, since they are light
  weight and hard to contain (blow around)
• Non-biodegradable, breaking into smaller
  particles BUT never fully disappearing
• Mistaken for food by marine animals
• One of the most numerous items of litter along
  with cigarette butts and Polystyrene Foam
• A major part of waste in our landfills
• Source Earth Resource Foundation

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The concept

• A success story for San Juan Capistrano meant
  that both the stormwater and recycling program
  must benefit.
• Commercial facilities Bag-2-Bag campaign, good,
  but not good enough!
• The most efficient way to capture plastic bags,
  is immediately as their use ends
• AT HOME !

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HOW ???

• Whatever we do, it needed to be SIMPLE !
• What if we provide all residents with a container
  to store plastic bags in until trash day??
• What if we use the recycling container we already
  pick up, to retrieve the plastic bags?
• We needed a way to make the bags stand out at the
  recycling facility where they will be separated.

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The PARTNERS

• The City of San Juan Capistrano
• Hilex Poly
• CRR

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THE PROMISE

• CLOSE THE LOOP
• AND
• PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

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A residential plastic bag recycling program

• The program was rolled citywide to 8,500
  single family homes.
• All 8,500 single family homes received
• A 4 gallon blue bucket with information on the
  program, in English and Spanish
• A year supply of blue bags in a roll (52)
• A flyer explaining the program with a message
  from the Mayor.

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Getting the Plan in motion

• Press release with articles in local papers
• Postcard to all single family homes informing
  them of the upcoming start of the program. (Large
  format 5.5 x 8.5)
• Information on the Citys website
• Full page Ads in 2 local papers and USA Today.
• Local Radio message

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At CRRs recycling facility in Stanton, the bags
arrive
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A blue bag stuffed with plastic bags
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Where are we now ?

• Are we getting 8,500 full bags a week ? NO !
• People reuse plastic bags, in trash cans
• Plastic bags are a favorite for use as doggie
  bags
• Some residents just dont want to bother
• What could be done to increase participation?
• More awareness and public education needed
• Use Environmental events such as Earth Day, Creek
  cleanup day and others to promote program.
• Environmental newsletters articles
• Focus group and survey
• PSA (video) running on Cox cable

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GOOD PROGRAMS CONTAGIOUS ?? YES !

• Cities of San Clemente and Dana Point joined this
  program in June 05.
• Other South Orange County cities that use CRR
  are looking into the program.
• Even cities that do not use CRR are considering
  the program and discussing the possibilities with
  their own waste hauler.
• Recycling industry in general excited about the
  program.

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• QUESTIONS