HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.1 DUSD Recycling Contest
STAFF REPORT CITY CLERK
File #810-60
CITY COUNCIL
DATE:June 3, 2014
TO:
Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM:
Christopher L. Foss, City Manager
SUBJECT:
Report on the Year-end Results for the 4-R’s Challenge
Prepared by Kathy Southern, Environmental Technician
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City Council will receive a report on the activities of the Dublin Unified School District
(DUSD) recycling contest for elementary schools and recognize the year-end top recyclers.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the report and recognize Fallon Middle School,
Dublin Elementary, Frederiksen Elementary and Dougherty Elementary School for their
recycling efforts.
Submitted By Reviewed By
Assistant to the City Manager Assistant City Manager
DESCRIPTION:
At the February 15, 2010 City Council meeting, the City Council adopted the City of Dublin
Green Plan, which contained recommended initiatives from the City’s Green Initiatives
Taskforce that the City could undertake to make Dublin a more sustainable community. The
Dublin Green Plan includes a goal to work with the City's schools to increase awareness of the
City's recycling and composting programs. In response, City and Dublin Unified School District
(DUSD) Staff have been working collaboratively to promote recycling and composting at each of
Dublin’s schools through a recycling contest.
To fund this effort, City and DUSD Staff applied for and received funding from the Altamont
Education and Advisory Board (EAB) for the third and final year of a three-year grant program to
conduct the recycling contest for all of the District's schools, including the high schools this year.
The Grant, in the amount of $8,950, paid for supplies to assist the schools in establishing and
ITEM NO. 3.1
Page 1 of 3
increasing their recycling and composting programs, provided each school with educational
assemblies, and will pay for prizes for the winning schools and their custodians. The program’s
goal is to reduce waste in each of the schools, establish the City's composting program at every
school, and enhance recycling through education, as well as make it exciting by having each
school compete to be the top recycler.
All elementary and middle schools participated in recycling assemblies and received supplies to
help them with their recycling programs. At the start of the contest, four elementary and both
middle schools were participating in full food scrap composting, including Murray, Dougherty,
Frederiksen and Dublin Elementary schools, as well as Wells and Fallon Middle schools. Green
and Kolb elementary schools were composting lunch trays in lieu of a full food scrap program.
While Green and Kolb elementary schools are not yet participating in full food scrap composting,
both schools have participated in StopWaste’s waste audits to investigate further opportunities
for diversion. In fact, Kolb Elementary discovered that their trash contained 80% food waste,
and because of those results and the assistance that StopWaste has provided, they are working
on a plan to move to full food scrap composting at the start of the next school year.
All schools have recycling programs in their classrooms. Several schools utilize student
leadership or green teams to assist with the collection and removal of recyclables from the
classroom to the outdoor containers. Most schools have a school garden, and some schools
even have internal composting and worm bins.
Staff has monitored progress and provided technical assistance through waste audits and lunch
time observations. Staff believes the recycling contest has been very successful, and we will
continue to provide assistance to the schools, helping to keep the program moving forward.
End-of-Year Results
Results for the year-end challenge were based on several factors, including total waste
production and the increase in diversion of recyclable and compostable materials from the
landfill from the start of the school year to the end of April (on a per student basis). As the focus
is on an increase in diversion, a school may have a higher overall diversion rate than another,
but not win the contest as the increase in diversion is the primary measure for success within
the contest. Thus, the scoring has a heavy emphasis placed on the increase in diversion away
from the landfill (Reuse, Recycle, Rot), and on low waste production overall, or the “Reduce”
phase of the four “Rs” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot), including waste, recycling and organics.
In addition, bonus points for special programs and processes each school has participated in
during the school year to enable their success were also included in the year-end results in the
suitability points section. The combination of diversion and sustainability points determined the
overall winners as outlined in the below table.
The results are as follows:
Diversion Diversion Sustainability
School Rate Points Points Total
1st place Fallon Middle School 74% 86 43 129
2nd place Dublin Elementary 77% 81 44 125
3rd place (tie) Frederiksen Elementary 79% 45 70 115
3rd place (tie) Dougherty Elementary 81% 47 68 115
5th place Wells Middle School 81% 72 39 111
6th place Green Elementary 62% 55 46 101
Page 2 of 3
Diversion Diversion Sustainability
School Rate Points Points Total
7th place Kolb Elementary 42% 21 60 81
8th place Murray Elementary 69% 34 43 77
9th place Valley High 61% 69 4 73
10th place Dublin High 23% 13 20 33
The end-of-the-year awards include monitory incentives for each school and for their
custodians.
The prizes for the schools are: $1,000, $500, $250, $250 to the top four winners, $100 each for
4th-8th place, and $50 for 9th and 10th place.
NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH:
Representatives from Fallon Middle School, Dublin Elementary, Frederiksen Elementary and
Dougherty Elementary School have been invited to the City Council meeting to receive the
Certificate of Recognition.
ATTACHMENTS:
.
None
Page 3 of 3