Waste and Recycling

Statewide Waste Characterization Study
Client: CalRecycle
Cascadia has managed and implemented three statewide waste characterization studies for the California Integrated Waste Management Board. For the first study, Cascadia surveyed 2,000 vehicle drivers and 1,280 businesses and apartment complex representatives over two seasons as part of an effort to determine the amounts and composition of waste from five generating sectors (single-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, residential self-haul and commercial self-haul). For the second study, Cascadia conducted driver surveys and collected waste samples from randomly chosen self-hauled vehicles at 22 landfills and transfer stations distributed among five regions of the state. The third study entailed quantifying and characterizing specific waste streams from four areas of focus that were identified during the second study as containing relatively large amounts of recoverable material. These studies have provided much of the fundamental data that is used by the CIWMB and by jurisdictions throughout California to identify opportunities for additional waste diversion.

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Cascadia began to immediately overhaul the way Resource Venture services were marketed, delivered, and tracked; ultimately resulting in superior outcomes. Among the dramatic changes we noted were (1) an increased level of accountability; (2) a more strategic focus; and (3) service documentation that demonstrated a more effective and efficient program. In particular, Cascadia’s “targeting and tracking” database made it possible to focus on the biggest commercial resources users with the greatest potential for conservation, and then measure their progress over time. The program’s unique targeted approach is extremely cost-effective; Cascadia has helped reduce the City’s program costs from about $100/ton diverted in 2006 to about $45/ton in 2008.


- Phil Paschke, Seattle Public Utilities