The Zero Waste How to Kit Web

8/12/2019 The Zero Waste How to Kit Web

1/17600+ local businesses taking action for a healthy community.

TOWARD ZERO WASTE CAMPAIGN HOW-TO KIT


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Table of Contents:

Toward Zero Waste Overview.............................................................................................................2 Introduction Background The Need and Opportunity for a Toward Zero Waste Campaign

Planning a Toward Zero Waste Campaign..........................................................................................4 Develop a Steering Committee Determine Program Partners Marketing and Communication Planning

Develop a Toward Zero Waste Toolkit Determine Evaluation Methods

Implementing a Toward Zero Waste Campaign................................................................................13 Funding Your Campaign Launching Your Campaign

Adding to Your Already Established Marketing Toolkit

Building Case Studies On-going Toward Zero Waste Events and Education Media Communication Survey Your Participants

Reporting Lessons Learned

Appendix (See Attached) Executive Summary of Toward Zero Waste 3yr Survey Data........1 Toward Zero Waste Introduction Packet Materials.............3 Toward Zero Waste Posters and Stickers............6 Sponsorship Letter and Benefits Grid....................13 Participating Business Benefits Matrix........15 Sample Press Releases......18 Sample Waste Audits...........26 Toward Zero Waste Workshop Program and Survey............30 Pioneer Participant Survey..........34 Sample Annual Surveys...40 Construction Waste ToolKit.........47 12 Case Studies.....56 Toward Zero Waste Recycling Handbook.........68

Toward Zero Waste Event Planning Guide...79 Coupon Book Proof to Illustrate the Toward Zero Waste Glyph.91

Written by Mariah Ross, Sustainable Business Development Manager, Sustainable Connections, 2011Edited by Alie Walker

Toward Zero Waste is a campaign of Sustainable Connections, www.sustainableconnections.orgContact Mariah at [email protected] or 360 647-7093.


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1. Toward Zero Waste Overview

Introduction

This How-to Kit is intended as a resource and reference for those interested in developing andimplementing a Toward Zero Waste campaign in the small business sector. It details the Toward ZeroWaste program developed by Sustainable Connections that provides waste reduction guidance and

support to small businesses in Whatcom County, Washington, and how much of its success relieson a strong partnership with our local waste hauler Sanitary Service Company. This kit provides theinformation needed to build on our experience and develop similar programs in other communities.

Toward Zero Waste was carefully chosen as the title for Sustainable Connections waste reductioncampaign as it clearly illustrates the journey or process needed for waste reduction, and is an achievablegoal for all. By moving toward zero waste we can easily make a sizable reduction in the amount ofwaste produced and then recycled or disposed of. In our community we have found that recycling up to80 percent is obtainable and in most instances quite easy and even profitable. We have found that theprofitability story is much larger than simply a smaller garbage bill. A business joining the Toward ZeroWaste campaign is making commitments and actions to reduce waste significantly. This speaks to the

community values of that business and helps to build tremendous employee and customer loyalty, thuscreating a very compelling business case for TZW.

Background

Sustainable Connections (SC) is a not-for-profit network of morethan 600 businesses in Northwest Washington. SC works withlocal, independently owned businesses that have the autonomyto make any transformational change in their business that they

can imagine, including reexamining where goods and services are sourced, how energy is consumed,

how food is grown and distributed, how homes are built, how they handle their waste, and even howsuccess in business is defined. Sustainable Connections is supporting a community of innovators ingreen building, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, supporting independent businesses intown centers, and mentoring a new breed of entrepreneurs that have designed their business with asustainable vision.

In 2007, Sustainable Connections asked one of their SustainingMembers to present at the Future of Business Conference abouttheir tremendous success in reducing waste from their business. Thepresenting business, an electronics manufacturer, had removed allbut one garbage can from their 360-employee operation. Sustainable

Connections was approached by many conference attendees thatwanted to implement the same recycling plan into their business, buthad no idea how to get started. The Toward Zero Waste campaign ideawas hatched.

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The Need and Opportunity for a Toward Zero Waste Campaign

Initially, recycling in a community can be complex for many reasons, but once a community is aware ofthe available resources waste reduction becomes a reality. A Toward Zero Waste campaign is a great wayto gather up all the available recycling resources in your community for a central hub of information.

Different Service Options: There are usually several businesses offering recycling services in an areaand recycling options can vary greatly from hauler to hauler.

Marketing of Services: How those businesses market their available services can also vary greatly aswaste management companies dont typically have large marketing budgets devoted to explanation ofrecycling services and education. For example, a curbside hauler might offer compost services, but onlyadvertise the ability to recycle yard waste.

Reduction in Waste Costs:Recycling is often more cost effective than just sending waste to thelandfill, but there are usually some steps involved for a small business to actualize those savings. Initially,

setting up recycling may be more expensive as waste has not decreased and there are additional costsin adding recycling bins. But as recycling increases and garbage decreases, if the business is coached toreduce their garbage pick up and frequency, recycling will become more cost effective.

Promotion of Recycling Education:Decreasing waste in a business is usually consistent by similarbusiness type and the ability for businesses to learn from each other about recycling and waste reductionstrategies is absolutely crucial. This process speeds up the spread of best practices among businesses.Hearing other businesses ideas and thoughts on the program was the most important resource to

significantly reduce our waste in our business. - A TZW Participating Business

Knowledge Share from Experts:It is much more effective for recycling experts in the community toshare their knowledge with a group rather than business by business. Your campaign can gather togetherall these experts in your community to help businesses most effectively reduce, reuse, and recycle.These industry experts will also be able to share knowledge for best practices on reducing waste, bestcontainers for organic items, and how to reduce items like bags for waste.

Probably the most important technique we utilized was just making recycling so easy for our employees.We've followed through on suggestions from Sustainable Connections in how to push closer to our zerowaste goal, so the follow up from SC has been vital to our continued success. - A TZW ParticipatingBusiness


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2. Planning a Toward Zero Waste Campaign

Good upfront planning will be critical to the success of your Toward Zero Waste campaign. Corecomponents of the planning phase include a steering committee, determining critical partners, anddeveloping your marketing plan and budget.

Develop a Steering Committee

A steering committee can be responsible for a variety of activities from strategic planning to fundraisingfor your campaign. Your steering committee would ideally be primarily composed of leaders of themost successful recyclers including manufacturers, builders and architects, retailers and restaurants,farmers markets and neighborhood coffee shops. Local business people trust other local business peopleand when you start to recruit businesses to the campaign everyone else will want to know who else isinvolved. Plus, this steering committee will be best positioned to know which ideas will be well receivedby participating businesses.

Determine Program Partners

Recycling can be complicated and establishing partners early on will be tremendously helpful for asuccessful campaign. A big part of the success of the Sustainable Connections Toward Zero Wastecampaign is a close partnership with a local hauler that also provides recycling services. Other partnersmay include haulers and recyclers of all types (organic waste, construction and demolition waste, etc.)local government, large event directors, large institutions, a business that has implemented recyclingsuccessfully, and any other local programs that are also working to reduce waste in your community.Partners will help with tours of their facility for other community members to illustrate successfulrecycling and best practices. Partners will be willing to participate in a host of events to help educatebusiness leaders and community members about Toward Zero Waste specific to your community.

The right partners can ensure much more rapid adoption and greater success for the campaign. Partnerscan help with financing, provide in-kind campaign services, help you reach your audience(s), and can givethe campaign credibility.

Other good partners may be able to trade campaign sponsorship benefits for services you need. Thesecould include independent media (offering ad space) or a printer or graphic designer. Many of these firmstarget their services at the same business owners that benefit from the campaign.

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Sanitary ServiceCompany+ =


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Marketing and Communications Planning

With your steering committee in place and your partnersestablished you are off to a great start. The next steps for youand your committee are to develop the communications and

fundraising plans for the campaign.

1. Campaign Goals:The first set of questions to ask is related to your goals:

What are you trying to accomplish through yourcommunications? Example: This is an extremely easy program tosign up for and participate in.

Who does this issue affect? Example: Business of all industriesincluding home-based businesses, residents, employees, large

events, and institutions

Who do you want to reach out to? Example: All businesses, independent businesses, specific industrybusinesses, etc.

What are the tangible outcomes you would like to achieve through a communications process?Example: Our goal is for businesses to reduce their waste by at least 50 percent, which can be relativelyeasy and even profitable. These businesses are in turn marketing their waste reduction success to theiremployees and supply chain creating a waste reduction ripple effect in our community.

2. Pre-Campaign Research:Before determining the specifics of your campaign, it is important to talk to businesses in yourcommunity. You may think you know why businesses make the waste choices they do and what isrealistically possible in your community. However, without local research you could be significantly offbase. A founding group of businesses that excel at waste reduction will most likely be your best resourcehere. These businesses should be from a variety of industries as waste produced can vary dramaticallyfrom business to business.

3. Establish Founding Partners:Before beginning your campaign, you will want to reach out to your membership to recruit a list ofmembers who would be good candidates to help kick start your Toward Zero Waste campaign. These

Founding Partners will likely have progressive waste reduction strategies already in place that you canglean good ideas on what is possible for other businesses to implement. These Founding Partners willreceive the benefit of exposure in the community as a leading business in waste reduction while at thesame time providing leadership to other businesses who choose to participate in the Toward Zero Wastecampaign. This encourages other businesses to sign up as they see other businesses already reducingwaste successfully, and participating businesses have access to best practices in your community.


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600+ local businesses taking action for a healthy community

Strong Community Healthy Environment Meaningful Employment Buying Local Firstwww.SustainableConnections.org 360 647-7093 119 N. Commercial #350 Bellingham, WA 98225

100% post consumer paper, made with 100% renewable energy

Thank you for signing up as a Founding Partner PIONEER of the Toward Zero Waste

community campaign!

Youve just taken the first stephelping other businesses capitalize on the reductions youve already made and learnfrom what youve done keeping more waste out of local landfills, increasing what is reused and recycled in ourcommunity, rewarding those creators of waste-free products and technologies, decrease costs associated withhauling garbage, boosting employee and customer loyalty! Hundreds of businesses are now sayingwere all doingTHIS!to inspire our whole community to move Toward Zero Waste in large part THANKS TO YOU!

We will officially kick things off April 1st

, with marketing and promotional materials made available to yourbusiness in soon to help build visibility and momentum for the campaign.

HOWYOU PARTICIPATEAS A PIONEER:

1. Take the TZW Pioneer surveywhen I email it to you in the coming days. This helps us document thechanges youve made and helps increase our institutional knowledge and share it with others.

2. Communicate your involvement. Talk to your managers and staff about the campaign and brainstormways to share your learning and accomplishments with participating businesses AND your customers. Usematerials including decals, posters, logos through customer newsletters, window displays, email and othercommunications with those who interact with your business. We could use your help to increase residentialparticipation too! Youll hear more about how residences are encouraged to participate soon.

3. Brainstorm what your business can doto capitalize on the campaign visibility during Toward Zero WasteWeek, April 13

th-19

th. The week will include extra advertising and visibility of the campaign and its partners,

and we want to see a whole host of special marketing and promotions, fun events, open houses, mediareleases from participants, and other activities your business can use to showcase waste-reducing productsyou sell or produce, the changes youve implemented, etc. for customers and employees alike to see.Inserts in the Weekly and Herald will direct shoppers to visit businesses with special promotions and/orevents during this time much like Buy Local Week every year. Festivities will culminate that weekend,

Earth Day Weekend, with Toward Zero Waste Dayat the Bellingham Farmers Market on the 19th.

Please feel free to contact me with ANY questions, large or small, as we move this community Toward Zero Waste!And thank you SO much for being an innovator, and continuing to take steps that increase the sustainability of yourbusiness. Your actions keep this community an incredible place to live, work and play, and make it a model of whatspossible in the world.


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going to TRY to keep is simple as the whole idea is to reduce waste! And of course youll also receive TONSof community recognition and excitement for the good work youre doing.

8. Hear from us monthly by email and quarterly by phoneto give you tips and inspiration, briefly check inon how its going, and ask about barriers youre encountering, success youve achieved, and if we haveresources for you that can help.

9. Get ideas from us about how to capitalize on campaign momentumthrough in store displays, customernewsletters, email and other communications with those who interact with your business. We could use your

help to increase residential participation too! Youll hear more about how residences are encouraged toparticipate soon.

10. Be asked to submit your TZW Week/Day special event or promotion. Remember, inserts in the Weeklyand Herald will direct shoppers to visit businesses with special promotions and/or events during April 13

th-

19th, and festivities will culminate that weekend, Earth Day Weekend, with Toward Zero Waste Dayat the

Bellingham Farmers Market on the 19th. Well promote any special TZW-related event or activity your

business comes up with that week!

Please feel free to contact me with ANY questions, large or small, to let me help you on this journey Toward ZeroWaste. And thank you SO much for being an innovator, and continuing to take steps that increase the sustainabilityof your business. Your actions keep this community an incredible place to live, work and play, and make it a modelof whats possible in the world.


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Special Thanks to our Founding Partner Businesses!

Founding Partner Businesses have made a commitment to at leasta 50% reduction in waste by 2009.Pioneers are businesses that are already achievingextremerates of waste reduction (i.e. 80%+).

PIONEERSA-1 Builders, Inc.

A-1 Shredding, Inc.

Aiki Homes

Apollo Geophysics Corporation

Appliance Depot

Bellingham Farmers Market

Boccemon

Cascade Cuts

Cascadia Mushrooms LLC

City Organics

Colophon Caf

Common Threads FarmCommunity Food Co-op

Computer Source of NW WA, Inc.

Dandelion Organic Delivery

Ease Around Problems

Fiamma Burger

La Fiamma Wood Fire Pizza

Mallard Ice Cream

Meucci Consulting

Meucciworks, Inc.

Myna IT Consulting

NW Recycling

PastzzaQuicksilver Photo Lab

Reclaim Your Time

Ryzex

Samuel's Furniture

Sanitary Service Company

Sound Shredding & Recycling

T&T Recovery

The RE Store, a Project of RE Sources

WFA/Pickford Cinema

Zervas Group Architects

PARTNERS

2020 ENGINEERING, Inc.

Adventures NW magazine

Allied HR Consulting

Applied Research Northwest, LLC

Bay City Supply

Bayport Financial AdvisorsBellingham Public Market

Bellingham Roller Betties

Bellingham Technical College

Brenthaven

Brown & Cole Stores: Cost Cutter, Food

Pavilion, Everson Red Apple

Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen

Cia Thyme

City of Bellingham

Classic Health Apparel

Common Ground Construction, LLC

David Evans & AssociatesDowntown Emporium

Dream On Futon

Esteem, Inc.

Fairhaven Mortgage

Fairhaven Runners & Walkers

Flow Products Inc.

Greg Aanes Furniture

Louws Truss, Inc.

Moka Joe Inc.

Nimbus Restaurant

Oasis Physical Therapy and Pilates

Pioneer FordPlantas Nativa, LLC

RMC Architects

texture clothing

The Cascade Joinery

The Daisy Cafe

Urban Design Group LLC

Vacationland RV

Village Books

Whatcom Community Foundation

Whatcom County County Courthouse


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4. Crafting Your Key Messages:What are you trying to tell people?

Key messages make up the information you want your target audience to take in. If your messages areeffective, sometime in the future your target audiences will be repeating your key messages on their own,creating a wonderful ripple effect.

Messages are simple, general themes, but differ from slogans.

Example:

Nearly everything that goes to landfills has an alternative and better destination. Lets find it!

An 80 percent reduction in waste from your business can be relatively easy and even profitable!

Slogans are short, catchy phrases that help your audience understand and remember your message.We have built our Toward Zero Waste slogans on the success of the Think Local First campaign.

Example: Think Local Be Local Be Waste Free

5. Reaching Your Audience:Now comes the fun part! Quite often people want to skip right to this step but its important to have

first determined whom your target audience is and what you want to say to them! Now you cancreatively, and most effectively, think about how to reach them.

When considering different communications venues consider the following:

Prominent Locations:Where or from whom does your audience get its information? Whom dothey find credible? Where do they spend most of their time? Where are they most likely to give youtheir attention? Example: Local bookstore or coffee shop, company newsletter, other businesses in yourcommunity, local paper or radio station, etc.

Promotional Materials:After selecting different venues, identify more specific activities. Example:

Posters and window clings at store entrances and signs for recycle and garbage bins.

Initial Campaign Participants:Encouraging your entire membership to join the Toward Zero Wastecampaign is a great way to spread the campaign and a great starting point to engage your members insustainable practices for their business. Promoting those participating businesses in your membership willencourage other members to sign up.

Venues to Promote your Campaign:Example methods to reach your audience:You could target media with a variety of different activities.

o Write a press release or have a live news conference.10


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o Ask your local radio and television stations to be campaign sponsors in return for running free public service announcements or ads. o Participating businesses could run a story or include information about their Toward Zero Waste

campaign in their internal and external newsletters and/or publications. o Offer promotional materials like posters and stickers for all Toward Zero Waste campaign

participants. o Participating businesses can add your campaign slogan/logo to their website and newsletters. o Promote participating businesses through your membership by adding a Toward Zero Waste

icon next to business names in all your membership publications. o Events and workshops to promote your campaign and educate members on best practices.

6. Establishing a Timeline and Project Plan:Once you have decided on your core activities, you will want to create an action plan for implementationStart by listing all the activities you have decided to pursue. Under each activity outline the steps, in orderthat will lead to its completion, assign a budget estimate, and assign a point person.

7. Creating a Budget:Depending on the size of your Toward Zero Waste campaign expect to budget for a quarter- to full-

time employee for about three months to explore feasibility and develop the program a rough cost of$8,000. This role includes time to research models/best practices, local barrier identification, partnershipdevelopment, establishing pioneers and best practices, planning key activities and budget developmentfor campaign. Once you have an action plan, you will easily budget out what is needed for yourcampaign including:

Materials: logos, printing, postage, ads and inserts, banners, table top displays for conferences,brochures, promotional give-aways, etc.

Staff/services: personal, graphic design, website development and maintenance, phone, etc.Sample budget from Sustainable Connections TZW campaign is shown below:

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8. Develop a Toward Zero Waste Toolkit:

There are many great resources included in the appendix to build up your Toward Zero Waste Toolkit.You will likely find many local resources to properly adapt to your community. Local waste haulers andcity government have provided much input on recycle signage in our community. Many cities have nowdeveloped recycle signage that is available to anyone. Make sure to look before you create from scratch.Please contact us for our permission if you would like to use our materials.

Offering businesses a ready-to-use marketing campaign for their waste reduction is crucial to theirsuccess. This allows businesses to easily promote waste reduction to their employees, customers, andmaybe even suppliers. Consider the following components for your toolkit:

Website:A Toward Zero Waste webpage outlining how to sign up and participate in the campaignwith links to great resources. Campaign sponsors and participating businesses can also be listed.Example: http://sustainableconnections.org/bizdev/tzw

Instruction Document:A clearly defined set of instructions on what is needed to sign up is veryhelpful for businesses interested in the Toward Zero Waste campaign this can be posted on your website

and created into a stand alone flyer to use when introducing the campaign see appendix.

Sign Up Sheet:Display Toward Zero Waste sign up sheets to use at all your events.

Flyer:Create a simple list of ways you can reduce waste in your community and offer this informationas a tool in your toolkit and hand out at events see appendix.

Signage:Professionally designed recycle signage that businesses can use to help mark their recyclebins see appendix.

Welcome Letter: A welcome letter about joining the campaign and what you might expect as a

participant see appendix.

Promotional Materials:Offer Toward Zero Waste posters and stickers for participating businesses toproudly display in the entrance of their business see appendix.

Logos:Offer Toward Zero Waste logos for participating businesses to proudly display on their websitebusiness cards, print ads, etc. see appendix.

Press Release:A sample press release for participants to use to promote their waste reductionsuccesses see appendix.

Set Evaluation Milestones

As you proceed you need to take stock of your progress. It can be helpful to set evaluation methods witha regular schedule of gathering that data from your participants. You will want to ask your participantswhats going well, and where the campaign could use improvements. Use those opportunities to collectanecdotal evidence of your campaigns effectiveness as well.

Change your plans based on what you learn in your evaluations. If you have learned that some activitiesare less well adopted than others, redesign or cut your losses. If you are have unexpected successes,incorporate the causes into your plans.

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3. Implementing a Toward Zero Waste Campaign

Funding Your Campaign

There are many options for funding your Toward Zero Waste campaign. The best is self-financing thecampaign from a combination of business, local and state government sponsorship. Luckily, if youhave put together a well thought out and professional looking campaign plan with good partners and

support, this combination should not be hard to come by.

The amount of funding required is obviously related to what you plan to do. Additionally, the percentageof volunteer and in-kind support you have will greatly influence what you can do at any given budget.Sustainable Connections has created many Toward Zero Waste tools over the past three years that couldsave you thousands and greatly reduce some of your biggest potential expenses. Please see the appendixfor these examples.

Sponsorship Fees: It is likely that your earliest campaign sponsors could be either members of yoursteering committee or pioneers in the campaign.

Participation Fees:You will be signing up local, independently owned businesses to participate inyour campaign and providing them with materials. Pricing these materials and services is likely to bea balancing act.Sustainable Connections has never charged a participation fee for the Toward ZeroCampaign even though participating businesses receive promotional opportunities, excellent resources,and the ability to network with other participants. We have always included the Toward Zero Wastecampaign and promotion of their participation as a benefit of membership. Although we only promotemember businesses, we also extend the Toward Zero Waste campaign and campaign materials to non-members as the goal of the campaign is to get as many businesses reducing waste as possible.

In-kind and Volunteer Support:Many people are highly interested in reducing waste in theircommunity and will want to help.

Launching Your Campaign

Launching your campaign with a Toward Zero Waste Week or Day, or lining up a workshop can be agreat way to start your campaign for several reasons. Businesses typically like visiting other businessesto learn and network. Consider a first event at the site of a pioneering Toward Zero Waste participantbusiness with refreshments and networking. See the appendix for program outlines and marketingresources.

Event Creates a Deadline: A tangible date in time with activities and publicity is a great incentive for

new businesses to sign up and participate in the campaign. Without a deadline, even important activitiesin which we want to participate can slip to the bottom of an inbox and remain there indefinitely.

Media Coverage:A date in time also provides a great media focal point. Most media publicationswill want to write a story about a Toward Zero Waste Day, Week or an event like a workshop. Withoutthis focal point, some media may never get to writing about the campaign and others will certainlyfeel less urgency to get out a story. This could also include a print deadline to promote your event forpublications like a newspaper insert. Once those deadlines pass the exposure opportunity is lost.

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Build Excitement:A workshop provides a great forum to bring together a number of experts inreducing waste with many businesses who are interested in getting started. This is a great way to giveyour campaign an initial burst of energy as businesses will walk away with tools on how to implementtheir waste reduction campaign right away. Businesses will also gain marketing tools to promote theircampaign thereby promoting the Toward Zero Waste campaign throughout the community.

Adding to Your Already Established Marketing Toolkit

You have already built up your basic marketing toolkit. As you are implementing your campaign, you wilwant to modify or add to your toolkit materials specific to the business you are sending information to.

Service Provider Sheet:Some businesses will find it helpful to have a complete listing of recyclingoptions available. This information might already be available through your county solid wastedepartment. If not, consider creating a list. See appendix for sample.

Construction Waste Toolkit:A resource specific to builders to help reduce construction anddemolition waste. See appendix for sample.

Case Studies:Success stories of Toward Zero Waste participants on how they have reduced wasteand saved money.

Relevant Media Pieces:Choose a relevant magazine or article on waste reduction.

Including Tools your Participants have Developed:You might find as your participants initiatetheir Toward Zero Waste campaigns within their respective businesses that they might develop toolsyou will want to share with other members. One of our members developed a great document toimplementing Toward Zero Waste and was happy to share with every other Toward Zero Wasteparticipant.

Building Case Studies

Sharing case studies as businesses sign up for your campaign or look to your website for additionalinformation can be inspiring. Showing a retail business a case study on how to reduce waste canempower another retail business to say I can do that too. Success stories can be important to sharewith potential funders to illustrate the success of your campaign. Businesses will be happy to sharetheir stories as they will most likely be proud of their accomplishments and thankful for the promotion.Showing one or two statistics about waste reduction or its impact with a concise list of how the businessachieved their waste reduction is a powerful message. See appendix for samples.

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Comingled recyclingbins replacedgarbage bins on-site

Jobsite recyclingplans are posted on-siteensuringthe propersortingof allconstruction materials

Prioritization of recyclable and recycledproducts and supplies

Trackrecyclingstream chain of custodyto ensure downstream compliance

Participate in workshops and events toeducate otherbuilders and communitymembers on construction waste streammanagement

Developed awaste management planincludingwaste management goals,wasteprevention planning,communication andeducation,motivation plan and methodsforevaluation

Use advanced framingtechniquesto reduce waste

Call the Whatcom County Recycling Hotline at 360-676-5723.QUESTIONS? www.sustainableconnections.org/bizdev/tzw | 360.647.7093 | 1701 Ellis StSte 221, Bellingham, WA 98225

TOWARDSZEROWASTEPROFILE

70% jobsite recycling rate

Aiki Homes, Inc.

Bellingham, Washington

47,316 lbs ofwaste recycledinone year

TZW ActionsAiki Homes,Inc.

Business Waste Recycling Efforts - 2009

{

Sustainable ConnectionsTowardZeroWaste(TZW) campaign has

enlisted the partnershipof local governments andover 135 local

businesses that have made significant commitments to reduce

waste. With these businesses leadership,we aim to reduce the

amountof wastegoing to thelandfill,increasereuseandrecycling

of existing resources, and increase purchasing of recycled and

environmentally preferable products. Together,we aremovingthis

community Toward Zero Waste! For more details abouthow your

business canparticipate,visit www.sconnect.org/bizdev/tzw

www.aikihomes.com

Aiki Homes is a green building f irm dedicated to reducing their

environmental impactandmovingtowardzerowaste. Inevery facetof

the company,wastereduction is aprimary goal. Inthe office,garbage

has beenreduced to7 gal lons amonth andonly recycledpapermade

from post-consumer waste is used. Out in the f ield, subcontractors

arecontractuallyrequired to reduce,reuse, and recycle. Commingled

constructionrecyclingbins have replaced garbage bins andover 70%

of jobsitewasteis recycledorreused. Waste is also reducedthrough

constructionefficiency,eliminating waste,saving trees,andmoney.

online ticket purchases and willcallvs.

printed tickets

hand stamps forentry vs.plastic

wristbands

food vendors used allcompostable and

recyclable materials

food waste and recyclingtoters rentedfrom SSCand placed plentifullythroughout the event

programs printed on recycled paperletattendees knowthey were in aTowardsZero Waste Zone

skaters brought reuseable waterbottlesvs.usingmultiple plasticbottles

created anewmascot: Johnny Trash,who spreads support of sustainabilityand recycling

online bout announcements linked towww.sconnect.org/zerowaste showingothers howto join the campaign

TOWARDSZEROWASTEPROFILE

1,400 attendees

BELLINGHAM ROLLER BETTIES

Waste Not, Want Not Roller Derby

75% waste reduction

TZW ActionsBellingham RollerBetties

Waste Not Want Not - April 12, 2008

On April12,2008, the Bellingham RollerBetties (alocalnon-

profit organizationbasedi n Whatcom County) helda Waste

Not,WantNo t bout attheSportsplexArena. Eventpromotion

includedthe TowardZero Wastelogo throughout.Thebout was

asuccess,and theoverall wastewas reducedbyroughly 75%!

Call the Whatcom County Recycling Hotline at 360-676-5723.QUESTIONS? www.SConnect.org/zerowaste | 360.647.7093 | 1701 Ellis StSte 221, Bellingham, WA 98225

{

Sustainable ConnectionsTowardZeroWaste (TZW) campaign has

enlisted the par tnershipof local governments andover 100 local



amount of waste going to local landfills, increase reuse and

recyclingof existingresources,andincreasepurchasing of recycled

and environmentally preferableproducts. Togetherweare moving

this communityTowardZero Waste!Formore details abouthow your

business canparticipate, visitwww.sconnect.org/zerowaste.

Oilfrom fryer is reused and convertedto biodiesel

Use compostable straws and to-gocontainers,and 100%compostableservice ware in the beergarden

Spent grain from brewingis sent to aneighboringflockof chickens and localdairy farms to feed livestock

Recycled cardboard,bottles,cans andplasticwrap used forkegpackaging

100%of kegs purchased are recycledExcess beerin brewinglines is used by alocalbakery forbeerbread

Diningtables milled from salvagedflooring

Employees encouraged to bringreusablebottles forwater-no plasticwaterbottles on oroff-site

Call theWhatcom County RecyclingHotli neat 360-676-5723.QUESTIONS? www.sustainableconnections.org/bizdev/tzw | 360.647.7093| 1701Ellis St Ste221,Bellingham,WA 98225

TOWARDSZERO WASTEPROFILE

70% waste diversionfrom landfill

Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro

Bellingham, Washington

56,000 pounds ofwaste compostedinone year

TZW Actions

BusinessWaste RecyclingEfforts - 2009

{


enlisted the partnershipof local governments andover 165local



amountof wastegoing to thelandfill,increase reuseandrecycling


environmentally preferable products. Together,wearemoving this



www.bbaybrewery.com

BoundaryBayBreweryandBistroopenedin1995andhas strivedtoprovideheartyfood

andaward-winningbeer. As a 100+employeebusiness,theyhavemadestrides towards

waterandenergyefficiencyandarealeadingparticipantof theTowards ZeroWaste

campaign. Spentgrains from thebrewingprocess goto localfarms forlivestockand

chickenfeedandtheoilfrom theirBeerGardenfryeris convertedtobiodieselbyalocal

vendor. Over70% of BoundaryBays wastehas beendivertedfrom thelandfill.

100 employees dedicatedtozerowaste practices

BoundaryBayBrewery& Bistro

Call theWhatcom County RecyclingHotline at 360-676-5723.QUESTIONS? www.sustainableconnections.org/bizdev/tzw | 360.647.7093| 1701Ellis St Ste221,Bellingham,WA 98225

TOWARDSZERO WASTEPROFILE

Samson

Ferndale, Washington

TZW Actions

Business Waste RecyclingEfforts - 2010


enlisted the partnershipof local governments andover200 local



amountof wastegoing to thelandfill,increasereuse andrecycling


environmentally preferable products. Together,wearemoving this



www.samsonrope.com

Samson

Forwellover100 years,Samsonhas beenrecognizedas aworldwideleader

inthedevelopmenta ndmanufactureof high-performanceropes. Samson

hada visiontoexpand theirrecyclingintheirmanufacturing business of

150employees. Samsons initialgoalwas toreducethe amountof solid

wasteby50% in thefirstyear of theprogram.This goalwas achievedin the

firsttwomonths! Theirnextstep willbetoimplementFoodPlus!,f urther

theirleanmanufacturingprocesses,participatein theCommunityEnergy

Challengeandcontinue theirTowardZeroWastejourney!

One yearrecyclinggoal met in 2 months

Removed equivalent weight of 12.5 carsout of the landfillin first 2 months

Support from Management and KaizenGoverningCommittee and employees

Created arecyclingcommittee &developingan officialrecyclingpolicy

Created metrics to monitorrecyclingprogress

Recycle ALL metal,cardboard,electronics,batteries,tonercatridges,clean poly &nylon fibers,stretchfilm,wood,and allbottles and cans

Promotes the use of reusable cups andimplemented paperreduction strategies

$20,000 inreducedwaste costs peryear150 employees dedicatedtotoward zerowaste practices{50% waste reductioninfirstT WOmonths


16/17

On-going Toward Zero Waste Events and EducationConsistent and regular workshops and events offer an opportunity to promote the successes of yourparticipating businesses and an opportunity for interested businesses to gain knowledge about whatis working for those businesses. Regular workshops also offer the opportunity for experts in reducingwaste to offer their knowledge to numerous businesses at once.

Sustainable Connections has offered the following Toward Zero Waste workshops and eventsopportunities over the past three years.

Member Directory and Coupon Book:We send out notification to members about updating thebusiness directory. Promote this as a great time to sign up for the Toward Zero Waste Campaign andensure businesses have a logo next to their name in the directory.

Member Lunches:Each month, Sustainable Connections members have the opportunity to attenda lunch meeting focusing on an aspect of sustainable business practices. We offer a member lunch witha Toward Zero Waste focus bringing in experts and participating businesses to talk about their successesand best practices. We run this in parallel with our member directory and coupon book updates.

Participants are required to attend a workshop when they sign up for the campaign. Member Lunchesare also a great time for members to connect with each other in general. Businesses that are not awareof the campaign might also attend the Member Lunch and consequently sign up and participate.

Future of Business Conference: This annual business conference attracts about 250 attendeesevery year. Sustainable Connections ensures that the conference is a model Toward Zero Waste event. Theconference includes a business expo where there is a Toward Zero Waste table with information aboutthe campaign and a sign up sheet for interested businesses. The conference has included a Parade ofToward Zero Waste Heroes for the past couple of years where several businesses promote their successesto all conference attendees.

Other Events:Sustainable Connections ensures that all their events throughout the year are modelToward Zero Waste events and offer the opportunity for businesses and community members to learnabout the Toward Zero Waste Campaign. This may include how to sign up for the campaign, wastereduction strategies, networking with other businesses who are already reducing waste, tours of modelToward Zero Waste participants and access to experts in the field. We promote the Toward Zero Wastecampaign every chance we get.

Media Communication

An important part of your Toward Zero Waste campaign will be regular informative reports in your local

media. See appendix for samples.

Survey Your Participants

Once you have launched and implemented your campaign, you will want to survey your participants on aregular basis. They will be able to give you great information about best practices, provide an opportunityto gather potential case study candidates, tell you what they would like to see in the campaign, give youfeedback on marketing materials, and if there is anything missing in your campaign. See appendix forsurvey examples.

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17/17

Reporting

Surveys are a great source of data on how your campaign is progressing. Partnering with yourlocal waste haulers could be another great resource in gathering waste data about your campaignparticipants. Ensure that all participants agree to release their waste data to you when they sign up forthe program. Decide what waste indicators work best for your community and then measure those itemsthrough reporting. For example, you can measure the amount of garbage a business creates, typesof recycling a business has implemented, waste reduction measures businesses have in such as duplexprinting, etc.

Lessons Learned

Getting the Data:Measuring overall waste reduction can be very tricky. In many communities wasteis paid for and measured by volume. Businesses that are actively reducing waste may not be able tomeasure their success and those networks supporting a Toward Zero Waste campaign may also have atough time measuring depending on how waste haulers are set up in your area. Waste haulers most likelyhave the most accurate waste and recycling numbers in your area, but getting a hold of this informationcan be challenging. Waste haulers may provide data for those businesses participating in your campaign

as they have agreed to release their data when signing up for the campaign, but they will not releasedata of all businesses in your community as that is confidential information.

Right Size Your Service:We have found that following up with businesses to remind them to rightsize their service after beginning the Toward Zero Waste campaign is crucial. This means businessesneed to take a look at their dumpsters the day before pick up and see how much room is still available.If there is significant room, they need to reduce their dumpster size and hopefully reduce to a bin. Oncethey have reduced to a bin, they should go through the same process and see if they can reduce theirfrequency of pick up. This will allow the businesses waste reduction to be more accurately measured andthe business will also save money by decreasing their service levels. This will also ensure the business doesnot experience garbage creep.

Garbage Creep:Toward Zero Waste requires an ongoing commitment and training with eachbusiness otherwise they may notice an increase of garbage or garbage creep. As new employees arehired hopefully the participating business has been able to work waste reduction strategies into the fabricof the company so newbies can see how it is done. If the employee engagement is strong, an ongoingToward Zero Waste campaign will be no problem. For businesses with higher turnover or seasonalemployees, keeping a Toward Zero Waste campaign going may require more ongoing work and training.

4. Appendix

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