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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7697 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No-7697 (V To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Much 11, 1993 X Subject: PROPOSED CLEAN CITIES 2000 PROGRAM 1873 The City of Fort Worth's comprehensive, proactive and fiscally responsible approach to environmental issues, prompted the Texas Water Commission (TWC) to designate Fort Worth as the major city recipient for a Texas Clean Cities 2000 grant totalling $500,000 over a two year period. Fort Worth's leadership in mandating residential recycling apparently was the genesis for the TWC decision; however, the environmental commitment by the City of Fort Worth is much broader than merely solid waste recycling. (Attached to this report is an overview of the City's environmental programs.) The Clean Cities 2000 grant accepted by the City Council on November 17, 1992 (M&C C-13619), is intended to develop and implement programs and projects which address specific areas to achieve the objectives of both SB 1340 and the Clean Cities 2000 program by reducing landfill disposal of solid waste. Eight specific target areas were identified by the staff for inclusion in the TWC program. They are: 1. Source Reduction and Reuse 2. Residential Recycling* 3. "Don't Bag It" Lawn Program* 4. Backyard Composting 5. Centralized Community Composting 6. Public/Private Workplace Recycling* 7. Used Oil Collection* 8. Tire Clean-up* Denotes existing Fort Worth programs. The proposed projects will have quantifiable results to help in determining the cost efficiencies of each in accomplishing the requirements of SB 1340. The following is a brief explanation of each of the planned projects: Source Reduction and Reuse - The plan provides for a study (and implementation at some level) of a variable rate price structure for solid waste. It is anticipated that residential solid waste volumes can be reduced through more recycling and initial product selection choices if a variable rate based on demand is developed. Similar to a utility system, the customer will pay based on their actual volume rather than a flat monthly fee. OFFICIAL RECORD CRY SECRETARY FT. WORTH,-TEE X. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS ' ` INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.7697 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 11, 1993 Page 2 of 3 Subject: PROPOSED CLEAN CITIES 2000 PROGRAM Ion Commercial haulers (including multi-family accounts) could likewise be encouraged by levying a franchise fee based on volumes of non-residential waste. A positive incentive could then be provided by credits against gross revenues for encouraging waste reduction through recycling,composting and other alternatives. (Both of these proposals could mean some changes in contractual terms and commitments between the City and Waste Management, commercial haulers and their customers. At present there is no franchising of commercial haulers in Fort Worth). Residential Recycling -This element of the plan is to further the understanding of and obligation to the mandatory recycling requirements. Emphasis on this educational and promotional effort will be given to non-English speaking neighborhoods. Potentially billboards and transit system advertisement as well as Public Service Announcements may be utilized to achieve a broader market. "Don't Bag It" - This program has already been successfully implemented in the City. The program is voluntary and primarily geared to residential customers. The proposed Clean Cities grant would target commercial lawn care and professional maintenance companies. The municipal waste load could be reduced by approximately 9% if grass clippings were not routinely carried to the landfill. The grant will provide for increased public awareness of the cost and alternatives for grass clippings. Backyard Composting - This proposed project will compliment the "Don't Bag If' program by offering an alternative to residential customers for composting grass clippings and certain other household waste. Cenbalized Community Composting - This element represents the largest single component of the grant not presently being addressed by the City's environmental program. The composted materials will be utilized by the Park Department at various locations throughout the city. It is anticipated that the pilot progTam will provide an impetus for wide acceptance of beneficial reuse in the community of composted material;- and, citywide implementation of this program is anticipated to reduce the solid waste load by approximately 9%. Public/Private Sector Workplace Recycling-This element will promote and expand the present efforts of the Tarrant County Corporate Recycling Council (TCCRC) through collaborative efforts in developing a "how to" handbook to encourage other businesses to recycle and reuse materials in the workplace. In addition, the City of Fort Worth will increase current efforts at City Hall and other public buildings to maxket recycled materials. OFFICIAL RECORD CITY SECRETARY ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER ------: - FITM; EXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7697 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 11, 1993 Page 3 of 3 X Subject: PROPOSED CLEAN CITIES 2000 PROGRAM Used Oil Collection and Tire Disposal - Neither of these two on-going projects are e ligi ible for grant funding; however, they are important projects in the City's environmental programs. The City proposes to coordinate with private businesses the development of a public awareness campaign including identifying existing used oil collection sites. Funding for the tire dean-up element will be requested under a different grant proposal which will be utilized to supplement the City's present efforts. The City's proposed plan has been developed to address a wide variety of public policy issues. At the state level, the Texas Water Commission has provided the City with the following evaluation criteria for the grant waste diversion impact, long term viability, technology track record,economics,ease of implementation,lead time and marketability. Locally, the staff has been judicious in avoiding commitments which might require significant increases in local expenditures in future years until the impact of the programs can be evaluated. The 1992,93 budget, as approved, allocated $3,962,,888 in the City Services budget, to specifically support the program as outlined, with Fort Worth Clean Cities adding an additional$12,,500. It is anticipated that this funding level will at least remain constant in succeeding fiscal years if no new or increased programs are added. The City Council Privatization Committee has strongly encouraged increased contracting of municipal services and exploring zero based alternatives to traditional governmental management practices. This two year TWC grant plan provides the opportunity to assess the impact and cost effectiveness of the waste reduction measures outlined, and will permit a business evaluation an olicy decision opportunity by subsequent city councils. Bob Terrel City Manager Attachment OFFIC71AI REC1111 S7 CITY E Y SECRETARY FT, WORTH, TEX. L!� ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS The Environment and the City of Fort Worth In 1849, when a U.S. Army team journeyed to North Texas where Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River meet to build a new outpost, the wilderness was a greater challenge than the warring Indians which the soldiers were to control. Nevertheless, the outpost developed into a community which named itself "Fort Worth." Today, Fort Worth is the nation's 37th largest city. The wilderness which once was a threat to the life and property of Fort Worth was tamed long ago. But Fort Worth's deep roots in the western heritage of this country preserved its care for the natural world which its forefathers found. And so, Fort Worth has been committed to preserving the environment long before it became trendy and long before environmental regulations mandated protection of the environment. Parks were an early focus of the city, and nothing testifies to Fort Worth's commitment to the environment than the creation of Trinity Park along the Trinity River in the early 1900s. A crowning jewel came in the 1930s when old rock quarries near the Trinity and adjacent Trinity were transformed into one of the country's best Botanical Gardens. After urbanization turned the West Fork of the Trinity into a raging river responsible for devastating floods in 1948, the Fort Worth community and the federal government channelized the river. But rather than leave miles of river bed and mounds of dirt, the City of Fort Worth and its citizens, through a newly formed group named Streams and Valley, transformed the river plans into beautiful natural areas with jogging and walking trails, wilderness areas and other attractions. While parks, river channelization and planting trees help preserve Fort Worth's nature, such efforts do not deal directly with the stress that urbanization inflicts on the environment. Almost 50 years ago, Fort Worth began "recycling" resources by providing wastewater sludge to the Texas Highway Department as fertilizer for vegetation in rights-of-way. Sludge recycling has advanced to an art in Fort Worth. A sludge dewatering facility process 70 dry tons of sludge per day. The material is applied to farm and pasture lands in lieu of chemical fertilizer. Today, Fort Worth continues to protect and improve the environment. Programs include: --TRINITY RIVER MONITORING: For more than 30 years,Fort Worth has closely monitored the Trinity River's water quality upstream and downstream of its Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The river monitoring detect early any potential problems and has reflected in improved water quality as op", the city implements programs to protect the river. OFFICIAL RECORD CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTH, TEX. -LAKE WORTH RESTORATION: To restore and improve Lake Worth, a 00' 79-year-old lake which is a source for half of the city's drinking water, the city joined with the federal government in 1987 on the task. The $3.4 million matching fund project is using a multi-task approach over three years to improve the lake's water quality. Tasks include restoration and maintenance such as stump and weed removal, wetland protection and innovative community sewer systems. --VILLAGE CREEK WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT ODOR CONTROL: For more than a decade, the Village Creek plant has controlled odor and volatile organic compound emission at the facility. Today, many sewerage treatment units are domed and equipped with air scrubbers to eliminate the odor and compound discharges, using award-winning original engineering advancements. --STORMWATER QUALITY: Beginning in the 1980s, before federal regulations required cities to address stormwater quality, the city became a leader the stormwater management. Recognition of the city's proactive efforts occurred in 1987 when the Ford Foundation Award for Innovations awarded the city $100,000 for a low-cost pollution testing device and promoted the device worldwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Fort Worth a grant to write a "how-to" guide for testing biotoxicity in municipal storm drains. Today, Fort Worth is part of a seven-city North Texas consortium to develop plans for reducing pollution in storm water runoff through education and to meet the federal permitting requirements. --WATER CONSERVATION: Since 1984, the city has encouraged water conservation among citizens. To reduce water usage to an average of 200 gallons per day per citizen, the city built and actively promotes a Xericape Garden, supported by a citizen newsletter focusing on water conservation landscaping. The conservation effort is supported by a rate structure which increases as water usage increase and a plumbing code which stresses the value of low water usage plumbing fixtures. The Texas Water Development Board recently commended Fort Worth's conservation program. —EVAPOTRANSPIRATION INDEX: In cooperation with other cities,Texas A&M University and the local news media, evaporation/transpiration information is provided daily to enable citizens to calculate when to water their landscape. OFFICIAL RECOPIO CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTH, TEX. —UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK REMEDIATION: Since 1989, the city has aggressively undertaken a remediation program for its more than 125 underground storage tanks. Already$1.3 million in removal or upgrading work has taken place. The effort will be completed in 1994, more than three years before the state deadline. --FLEET MANAGEMENT: To service more than 3,500 vehicles, the city operates six service centers which utilize the latest technology to produce clean burning motors. From selling old oil and oil filters to recycling vehicle freon and recapping old tires, the city is conscious of conservation. --HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT: Because of its extensive operations, the city has managed its own hazardous waste for a number of years. Biological and medical waste from health clinics and fire stations are stored and disposed of properly, as are oils, solvents, pesticides, PCBs and other compounds. The management also oversees proper disposal of drugs seized by police and hazardous waste spills. —ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS--Growing concerns with potential environmental problems on properties the city considered buying nudged Fort Worth to create one of the state's first environmental assessment programs. Today, a specialist not only assesses the potential environmental problems on proposed property purchases, but also problems at existing city facilities. -­AIR QUALITY: Since 1968, Fort Worth's air pollution control program has served as a link between the community and state and federal regulations aimed at improving air quality. Through review of air quality permits, inspections and complaints,the city has made major advances in controlling air pollution from business and industry. To attack the major source of air pollution in North Texas--vehicles--the city joined with the North Central Texas Council of Governments in developing and implementing a vapor recovery system and auto emissions reduction program. --MASS TRANSIT FUEL CONVERSION: Because Fort Worth's mass transit system uses buses, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority started converting the vehicles to cleaner burning natural gas. The alternate fuel, combined with smaller, more efficient vehicles on low volume routes, already are improving air quality. OFFICIAL RECORD op", CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTH, TEX. --RIDESHARE: Since the 1970s, the city and its public transportation agency have promoted mass transit as means of reducing fuel consumption and improving the air quality. RIDESHARE, a car and vanpooling matching services, has linked thousands of residents and provided seed funds to vanpool operators to purchase vehicles. --GLOBAL RELFAF: In cooperation with national and community groups, the city planted more than 3,000 seedling trees at the Village Creek plant, where they will be nourished with treated wastewater and sludge until they are ready to be replanted throughout the city by volunteers. --RAILTRAN--Although rail transit has not been viable in the South, Fort Worth and Dallas in the early 1980s took advantage of a once-in-a-life time opportunity to bank 30 miles of existing rail between the two downtowns. The purchase of bankrupt Rock Island Railroad tracks between the two cities is enabling Fort Worth and Dallas public transportation agencies to plan affordable rail services which will take thousands of citizens out of vehicles. In addition, the Texas High Speed Rail will use the RAILTRAN rails for its service to Texas cities. --CITYWIDE CURBSIDE RECYCLING: In October 1992, Fort Worth started the largest citywide curbside recycling program in Texas. A weekly recyclables collection day was added to the twice-a-week garbage collection and once-a-month brush and bulky waste collections. More than 40 percent of residents participated during the first month and now an estimated 80 percent of residents participate each month. The recycling of newspapers, certain glass, aluminum and plastics is reducing the waste stream to the landfill by 25 percent. Complementing the city's recycling effort is a special clean-up crew which works with businesses and neighborhoods to clean-up illegal dumps sites. The city also operates a state-of-the-art landfill. The city landfill is used in tandem with landfills owned by private contractors who have or who now are collecting the city's garbage. --CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING: When Christmas is over and the sharing of gifts is forgotten in most cities, Fort Worth residents continue the spirit of the holidays by recycling their Christmas trees. From a modest start five years ago, the city now collects more than 35,000 trees each year, saving an estimated six days of landfill space each year. The trees are composted and used as mulch at city parks and facilities. OFFICIAL RECORD CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTH, TEL --PUBLIC WORKPLACE RECYCLING--The City of Fort Worth has recycled office paper since the 1970s. The type and volume has varied as markets changed. Beginning in 1991, the city began buying recycled papers, when available. Today, more than 50 percent of the paper used by the city is recycled. --PROJECT REDIRECTORY: For more than five years, the city and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. have conducted an annual drive to collect old telephone directories. Old directories are taken from collection points to recycling centers. --DON'T BAG IT: Because grass clippings account for 25 percent of the landfill volume during summer months, the city's Clean City Commission joined with the Tarrant County Agricultural Extension Office and private firms several years ago to launch "Don't Bag It" lawn care. Through proper watering, fertilizing and mowing, grass clippings are returned to the lawn where they become nutrients rather than garbage. --FORT WORTH CLEAN CITY, INC.: For almost a decade, Fort Worth Clean City, Inc., a non-profit organization created by the city and affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, has led the Fort Worth effort to promote a clean and beautiful city through litter pick-up, recycling, waste reduction and other programs. Clean City coordinates such efforts as Project ReDirectory, Don't Bag It and the Spring Glad Bag-a-thon. This organization has won numerous awards for its efforts. --USED TIRE DISPOSAL: Because of the difficulty with used tire disposal and the volume of old tires dumped illegally,the city sponsors special clean-ups of used tire dump site and special prosecution efforts. The city contracts with a private firm to collect and shred and dispose of the tires. The city seized an opportunity to develop new programs or to expand existing excellent programs by accepting a $500,000 "Clean Texas 2000" grant from the Texas Water Commission. Under Phase I of Clean Texas 2000, Fort Worth will start programs which enhance the city's already extensive environmental program. As stated by the Clean Texas 2000 Commission, Clean Cities 2000's goal is to implement municipal recycling and composting programs which will reduce the amount of garbage going to the landfill by 50 to 60 percent. 001k OFFICIAL CITY ITY SECRETARY TEX. OFFICIAL WORTH TEX To accomplish this goal, Fort Worth will do the following- —RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING: Specific recycling problems in certain communities will be targeted. A public education effort using non-English materials and other communications will be used to increase participation. --PRIVATE WORKPLACE RECYCLING: This effort will revise and re-publish a workbook to help companies to do waste audits to identify recycling opportunities. In cooperation with the Tarrant Corporate Recycling Council, the effort will work existing communication channels to encourage workplace recycling. --PUBLIC WORKPLACE RECYCLING: A new audit will be conducted to identify potential new recycling areas within the municipal government. Any expanded public workplace recycling program will be marketed to other governmental entities such as Tarrant County and the Fort Worth Independent School District. —RESIDENTIAL SOURCE REDUCTION AND REUSE: To reduce residential solid waste and to encourage use of reusable containers, a new volume-based rate structure will be considered. Such rates would encourage a change in purchasing habits, create recycling incentives and minimize the OP volume of garbage. —COMMERCIAL SOURCE REDUCTION AND REUSE: Commercial sources,including business and multi-family residential properties, account for 70 percent of the solid waste in Fort Worth. Commercial source reduction would require commercial haulers to provided information on all solid waste and recycled material collected. To encourage reduction programs, a franchise fee will be charged for a commercial hauling permit. --DON'T BAG IT: The popular residential Don't Bag It program will be expanded to commercial lawn care providers. Through public education and marketing, a marked reduction in grass clippings dump by commercial lawn care operators can be realized. --BACKYARD COMPOSTING: To encourage backyard composting,the city will launch a program to teach composting to citizens and will provide interested citizens with backyard composting units at low or no cost. In cooperation with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, public seminars on composting and how to build compost bins will be conducted. op, OFFICLAL RECORD CITY SECRETARY Try L R.WORTH, TEX, OP, —CENTRALIZED COMPOSTING: A centralized composting program for grass and leaves is also planned. Once-a-week collection of grass and leaves in kraft bags will be delivered to the compost site. The compost may be used by citizens and the city. --USED OIL COLLECTION AND RECYCLING: A comprehensive directory of all Tarrant County businesses which accept used oil from do-it-yourselfers will be printed and distributed. The program would advertise and promote the recyclers.In areas where no existing businesses provide the service,businesses would be recruited. —RECYCLING COORDINATOR: A recycling coordinator is on staff to develop, implement and coordinate the Clean Texas 2000 goals and objectives. OFFICK RECORD i CITY SECRETARY FT. WORM, TEX.