Responsible City Agency: Sustainability Department
Keywords: Sustainability, climate change, air quality, environment, building, cleaning products, conservation, hazardous material, pesticide, procurement, purchasing, recycling, waste, garbage, water bottles, Styrofoam.
1. General
1.1 Waste minimization shall be prioritized in materials management for the city. The department’s director or their designee will ensure that regulations are followed and that waste minimization is considered before procuring, using, or requiring supplies and printed materials. Disposal should be employed only as a last resort.
1.2 All solid and hazardous waste sent for recovery, recycling, storage or disposal will be handled in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.
1.3 The Sustainability Director, Airport Director, Public Utilities Director, or their designee(s) must approve recovery, recycling, storage, disposal vendors and landfills before awarding a city contract or allowing use under other circumstances allowed by city purchasing rules.
1.4 Copies of all waste disposal manifests and paperwork will be retained on-site by the department director. The use of electronic copies is considered sufficient and preferred when it avoids making and filing extra paper copies. Electronic files must be available and accessible by the Sustainability Director, Airport Director, Public Utilities Director, or their designee(s).
1.5 Definitions
A. Green Waste: Yard waste and fruit or vegetable food waste that have not been mixed with or coated by any other type of food or waste.
B. Hazardous Material: Any chemical that is listed as hazardous by OSHA or the EPA, as a product or waste.
C. Hazardous Waste: A solid waste, or a combination of solid wastes that, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness or may pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when it is improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed, or any solid waste listed as a hazardous waste under Utah administrative code sections R315-261-30 through 33, Utah hazardous waste management rules, or any solid waste that exhibits a characteristic of a hazardous waste as defined in Utah administrative code, Utah hazardous waste management rules. The definition for "hazardous waste" in Utah administrative code section R315-261 is hereby incorporated by reference.
D. Pesticide: Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.
E. Petroleum: Gasoline, diesel, motor oil, transmission oils, or lubricants.
F. Practicable: Sufficient in performance and available at a reasonable price.
G. Recyclable item: A product, which, after its intended end use, can demonstrably be diverted from the city’s solid waste stream for use as a raw material in the manufacture of another product. An item that otherwise would be abandoned or discarded, but that can be utilized in the secondary material market. Such items include newspaper and inserts; corrugated cardboard; telephone books; paperboard (cereal boxes, paper towel and toilet paper tubes, shoe boxes); magazines home office paper; bulk rate mail; aluminum, steel and tin cans; plastic coated milk and juice cartons; plastic grocery bags; plastic containers with the number 1 through 7 recycling symbol on the container; and recyclable glass.
H. Recycled material: Material and byproducts that have been recovered or diverted from solid waste and that can be utilized in place of raw or virgin material in manufacturing a product. It is derived from post-consumer recycled material, manufacturing waste, industrial scrap, agricultural waste, and other waste material, but does not include material or byproducts generated from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing process.
I. Recycled product: A product containing recycled material.
J. Yard waste: Vegetative matter resulting from landscaping, land maintenance, or land clearing operations including grass clippings, prunings, and other discarded material generated from yards, gardens, parks, and similar types of facilities. Yard waste does not include garbage, paper, plastic, processed wood, sludge, sewage, animal wastes, manure, or agricultural waste.
2. Waste Minimization
2.1 Whenever possible, employees shall minimize waste by:
A. Storing and sharing files electronically rather than printing;
B. Printing necessary hard-copy documents double-sided, with 0.75 inch margins;
C. Using durable products in break rooms;
D. Minimizing the purchase of the following items for meetings and events:
(1.1) Disposable plates, cups and utensils;
(1.2) Single serving beverages and packaged food, including creamer and sugar;
(1.3) Disposable table cloths; and
(1.4) Single use bags.
3. Recycling
3.1 Recycling and reuse shall be considered before anything is disposed of as waste. The department’s director or their designee will ensure that regulations are followed, and that recycling and reuse opportunities are considered for all materials no longer needed by the department.
3.2 All city facilities shall comply with City Code 9.08.200, and a minimum of 50% of recyclable items shall be recycled with the goal of zero waste.
3.3 Green waste shall be composted to the greatest extent possible.
3.4 All electronics shall be reused or recycled using city approved electronic waste recycling vendors.
3.5 Events sponsored, permitted or held on public property shall submit a waste management plan to the special events office and comply with City Code 9.08.200.
3.6 City construction and demolition projects shall comply with City Code 21A.36.250 requiring, in part, that a waste management plan be submitted demonstrating how at least 55%, by weight, of new construction waste materials and demolition waste will be recycled or reused.
4. Hazardous Materials
4.1 Departments shall minimize or eliminate the use of toxic or hazardous chemicals by using non-toxic alternatives to the greatest extent possible.
4.2 Hazardous materials and petroleum products shall be used, stored and transported in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
4.3 Departments shall avoid procuring products containing neurotoxic chemicals, mercury, flame retardants, pesticides and lead, and will use hazardous chemicals only when no alternative is available or allowed under local, state or federal regulations. Alternatives will include process changes, product changes, recycling and material substitutions.
4.4 When hazardous materials are needed, it should be recognized that the purchase price of a product does not reflect the true cost to the city. To minimize the chance of excess chemicals requiring disposal as hazardous waste, quantity discounts should only be used when all chemicals are expected to be consumed within one year when used conservatively.
4.5 City departments shall maintain a current list of hazardous chemicals used, in accordance with Utah OSHA regulation.
4.6 Any new product containing hazardous materials shall not be purchased without approval from the Sustainability Director, Airport Director, Public Utilities Director, or their designee(s), as applicable.
4.7 No samples of chemicals or cleaning products containing hazardous materials may be accepted from vendors. Vendors may offer product demonstrations, but may not leave any samples on-site after the demonstration is completed.
4.8 Unused hazardous materials should be returned to the supplier or offered to other city departments for use whenever possible.
4.9 The Sustainability Director, Airport Director, Public Utilities Director, or their designee(s) will include chemical safety issues (storage, handling and disposal) in compliance assessments performed.
4.10 Compact fluorescent light bulbs and batteries must be disposed of in accordance with waste disposal regulations.