SOLID WASTE BUREAU

PROGRAM MISSION: To protect and enhance the environment as well as community attractiveness by planning and providing solid waste management and community cleanliness services.

The Solid Waste Bureau consists of the following programs: Customer Service/Administrative, Environmental Management Office (EMO) and Operations.

• Customer Service/Administrative Program provides high quality customer service by processing service requests and work orders, providing information on Solid Waste Bureau, Transportation Engineering and Operations, and Utility Service programs, performing as the Bureau's quality assurance agent and providing administrative support. In addition to supporting Solid Waste Bureau programs, support is provided to Traffic Engineering programs to include streetlights, traffic signals, traffic signs, parking meter and right of way permits. Customer information is provided for residents twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week through the automated Customer Service telephone system resulting in greater convenience, and minimizing waiting time. The Administrative Program's functions include administering the Bureau's and policies and procedures, initiating and tracking personnel/payroll documentation and conducting training activities.

• The Environmental Management Office (EMO) supports the County's solid waste and recycling programs by providing professional and technical expertise to the County Board, residents, businesses, and County employees. EMO programs include weekly curbside refuse and recycling collection for single-family homes, recycling program for businesses and multi-family properties, waste contract administration, Refuse Code administration, education, and planning. Programs include:
  
  
  • Refuse & Recycling Collection for Single-Family and Duplex Households. Oversees weekly curbside refuse and recycling collection services for approximately 32,000 single-family and duplex households in County using private contractors. Services also include backdoor collection program for the disabled and collection of bulky items from the curbside.
    
    
  • Administration of Refuse Code / Mandatory Recycling for Business and Multi-Family. The program is responsible for administering the Refuse Code including mandatory recycling program for businesses and multi-family properties. Also includes enforcement of the County Refuse Code, waste hauler inspection and permitting, collecting annual refuse/recycling reports from waste collectors serving the county, and completing the annual state recycling report.
    
    
  • Contract Administration. Administers refuse and recycling waste service contracts including weekly curbside refuse and recycling collection (single-family and duplex), collection of refuse and recyclable materials from approximately 50 County government buildings, waste-to-energy disposal, recyclable material processing, refuse carts and parts, and recycling containers. Also responsible for administration of other waste-related contracts.
    
    
  • Education & Outreach. Provides coordination of special events, and waste reduction/recycling outreach and education efforts, such as America Recycles Day, Earth Day, and Environmental Extravaganza special events.
    
    
  • Solid Waste Planning. Provides short-term and long-range solid waste planning and oversees the implementation of the County's Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), which was adopted on June 12, 2004. Also responsible for permitting County recycling facilities (including the Quincy Street and Columbia Pike recycling centers).
    
    

• The Operations Section of the Solid Waste Bureau consists of five individual programs: Earth Products Yard, Resident Services, Sweeping/Litter Control, Columbia Pike and Leaf Collection.
  
  
  • Earth Products Yard Program is responsible for processing and recycling material from various residential collection programs, inert materials drop-off program, the Department of Environmental Services, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Resources, and Arlington Public Schools. This program produces leaf mulch, wood mulch, screened dirt, and crushed concrete. The program also monitors and maintains the Quincy Street and Columbia Pike recycling centers.
    
    
  • Resident Services Program is responsible for special collection on a request basis for brush, appliances, scrap metal and auto batteries, as well as on a non-request basis of spring yard-waste bag collection not collected by regular refuse trucks. Mulch and dirt delivery requests are provided in this program. Holiday trees are collected for recycling during the first two weeks in January. This program is also responsible for refuse cart replacement/repair and recycling bin replacement.
    
    
  • Sweeping/Litter Control provides cleaning of County streets and commercial corridors such as Crystal City, Columbia Pike, and the Trades Center area. The Program also provides hand and vacuum litter collection for commercial areas, bus stops and heavily traveled pedestrian routes. The residential street sweeping program cleans residential streets, removing debris and winter sand. The staff of this program is redirected in the fall of the year to provide leaf collection services. During leaf collection, street cleaning services continue to be provided in commercial areas throughout the County but only by request in other areas.
    
    The Street Sweeping program also serves as a central component of the County's watershed management programs by removing sediment and associated pollutants that accumulate on streets before they wash into streams. The Street Sweeping and Urban Operations Initiative (UOI) programs help ensure compliance with the County's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit and Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Act regulations and support the goals and pending mandates of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement.
    
    
  • Columbia Pike Program is a collaborative effort between the Departments of Economic Development (DED) and DES. Enhancing the appearance and cleanliness of the public environment is a key component of DED's marketing effort. DES resources dedicated to the Columbia Pike Corridor are primarily street cleaning, litter collection, and similar community cleanliness services, as well as an enhanced snow removal effort for pedestrian walkways.
    
    
  • Leaf Collection Program provides fall collection of loose leaves raked to the curb and bagged leaves put out for collection. The program uses specialized vacuum trucks that collect loose leaves from County streets and provides biodegradable bags for curbside pickup by leaf collection crews the day after the residents' regular refuse collection day. Biodegradable bags are available beginning in October and continuing throughout the leaf season or until the supply is exhausted.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Decreased personnel and FTEs are due to the contracting out of the remaining refuse collection routes (3) at the end of FY 2004 which was not reflected in the FY 2005 budget, resulting in a savings of 7.0 FTEs.  2.0 FTEs remain in the Solid Waste Division; 1.0 FTE was transferred to Transit Program; 1.0 FTE was transferred to the Planning Program; 1.0 FTE was transferred to DMF and 2.0 FTEs were eliminated.  In addition, 1.0 FTE was transferred from Transportation Engineering to the Solid Waste Bureau call center and 0.5 FTE was transferred from the Solid Waste Bureau to the Office of the Director.
  
  The savings from contracting out have been reallocated within the Solid Waste Bureau for various non-personnel costs associated with contracting out for refuse collection as well as costs related to the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) including a Solid Waste Planner position.  The Bureau took this opportunity to realign all available resources by shifting FTEs and funds for a new organizational structure that factored in contract management efforts and the emphasis on the SWMP initiatives.

• The changes in non-personnel expenditures include increases for contract services ($553,501) for the contracting out of the remaining refuse routes plus the contractual increases in the existing refuse and recycling contracts, and increased consulting costs ($85,000) for implementation of SWMP initiatives. There are also some operating costs decreases for county vehicles due to contracting out refuse collection ($50,337), and related fuel ($11,361) and for the disposal costs at the Waste-to-Energy plant due to a projected decrease in the TIP fee ($31,180).

• The increase in revenue is primarily the result of a proposed increase in the total Household Solid Waste Rate (HSWR) of $3.12 or 1.3 percent over the FY 2005 rate, for a new annual rate of $248.76.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Customer Service/ Administrative Program

• Customer satisfaction was a new performance measure in FY 2003. The measure reflects the percentage of customers ranking the service as good or excellent (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale).

Environmental Management Office

• FY 2003 actual recycling rate is lower than expected due to a decision by the state to disallow inclusion of land applied sludge in recycling calculations.

Single Family and Duplex Refuse and Recycling Collection

• Customer satisfaction was a new performance measure in FY 2003. The measure reflects the percentage of customers ranking the service as good or excellent (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale).

Environmental Management Office – Multi-Family and Commercial Recycling Program

Earth Products Yard Program

Resident Services Program

• Customer satisfaction was a new performance measure in FY 2003. The measure reflects the percentage of customers ranking the service as good or excellent (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale.)

Leaf Collection Program

• Customer satisfaction was a new performance measure in FY 2003. The measure reflects the percentage of customers ranking the service as good or excellent (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale.)

Sweeping and Litter Control Program

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS: The following programmatic considerations may significantly affect the program performance or budget in the next one to two years.

• There may be future budget increases associated with implementation of components of the Solid Waste Management Plan.

• A significant number of the County's Refuse Carts are well beyond their service lives and are in need of replacement. The cart welding initiative, which extended the service life of many carts well beyond the 10 year warranty, can no longer repair the types of failures currently being experienced. It is anticipated that the number of refuse carts purchased will have to double beginning in FY 2007 to meet the anticipated refuse cart failure rate.

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