TESTIMONY
of
Catherine Plume
DC Chapter of the Sierra Club
before the
D.C. Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment on
DC Department of Public Works
March 8, 2018
I’m Catherine Plume, a lifelong environmentalist, a board member and Conservation Chair of the DC Chapter of the Sierra Club, a member of the Chapter’s Zero Waste Committee, blogger and tweeter for the DC Recycler, and a 20-year resident of Ward 6.
In broad terms, the DC Chapter of the Sierra Club is pleased with Department of Public Works performance as there has been movement to document, address, and improve the District’s waste diversion rate. We’ve seen even more movement on this front since 2015 when Director Shorter came on board and the Office of Waste Diversion was established. We will focus on three areas in this testimony: Commendations; Concerns; and Requests.
Commendations:
The Sierra Club DC Chapter would like to commend the Department for their efforts on the following initiatives: the establishment of protocols and methodologies for measuring and documenting waste and the publication and dissemination of these documents; the creation of a Mayor’s list of recyclables that standardizes what can (and cannot) be recycled across DC residential, office and government buildings; the establishment of a ZeroWaste DC website; the creation of a District-wide food waste drop-off program; support for a residential composting bill that will provide incentives and training for residents to compost a/o vermicompost; and the addition of new staff.
We would also like to acknowledge the positive role that we feel the DC Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment continues to play in spurring DPW’s movement on these issues.
Concerns:
While we sincerely appreciate DPW’s and OWD’s efforts, we also have several areas of real concern. In general, we feel that there is a focus on very low hanging fruit for waste diversion – as we mentioned in our December testimony, while we appreciate the above-mentioned activities, it’s difficult to see that their sum will ever increase the District’s diversion rate significantly. We see a focus on gathering baseline data versus implementing progressive programming for waste reduction. While baseline data is important, we wonder if there is too much focus on this issue at the expense of designing and implementing creative programming to reduce waste. We also see a lack of evidence of creative programming to reduce waste.
There are three areas of great concern:
1) the lack of movement (and likely loss of funds) for the Pay/Save As You Throw (P/SAYT) program. The DC environmental community lobbied hard to have funds for a P/SAYT pilot reinstated and secured in the FY18 budget. We understand that OWD will not be able to implement this program in FY18 and that these monies will likely be lost. As there is still time in this FY, we hope that DPW will reconsider and begin some parts of this pilot.
2) a lack of enforcement measures for waste reduction in DC businesses and events. Chapter members have found that their workplaces in DC are lacking in signage to show which items are recyclable (and compostable). Accordingly, the bins show high rates of contamination. We've also noticed that many DC restaurants do not appear to have the proper recycling (or composting) setup. Anecdotally, we've heard businesses say that recycling costs too much, so they’d pay the fine if they were audited (but they aren’t). The Chapter asks that DPW to do more to enforce the recycling requirement at these establishments and exercise the authority provided by the Council to require source separation plans.
The Chapter has found similar problems at events in DC with many not having proper recycling infrastructure. We ask that the DC Council strengthen the law requiring recycling at events by dictating more specific requirements. We have found that even greened themed events such as Rooting DC would not have appropriate recycling and composting without the help of the Sierra Club. While we are pleased that we are able to provide these services, it is not sustainable in the long run. The Club’s ZeroWaste committee members help monitor waste stations and encourage proper infrastructure where we can, but there's only so much we can do. We do appreciate DPW's work to make the Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival zero waste, but much more work needs to be done.
3) questions about this past season’s street leaf collection. More specifically, we question whether these leaves were in fact composted, or if they ended up in a landfill or were incinerated.
We respectfully request a response to each of these three concerns.
As we reach the mid-point of FY18, there is still time to do good work. We have four specific requests for this year:
Requests:
1) As mentioned, the Food Waste Drop-Off program has been incredibly successful – even spurring cross-town contests as to which site gathers the most food waste on any given weekend. In addition to re-establishing these drop-offs in each Ward, we ask that this program be expanded to include more drop-off sites with at least one year-round drop-off site established in each Ward.
2) Again, and while there is time in this year’s budget, we urge DPW/OWD to implement a P/SAYT pilot.
3) With the all but certain passage of the B22-0501 - Residential Composting Incentives Amendment Act of 2017, we urge DPW to immediately coordinate with the DC Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to design and implement a pilot residential compost program that includes training. We would like to get this composting started as soon as possible and during this growing season.
4) We ask that DPW coordinate with DPR and their community compost program to ensure that there is a ready and steady supply of “browns” for each community compost site. These “browns” are essential for good and vermin-free compost and while DPW has a steady supply of these through their maintenance programs; there is a dearth of these in most community gardens especially during the growing season.
As we look forward beyond 2018, we ask that DPW/OWD focus on creative programming to ensure the year-round collection and composting of yard-waste, the establishment of a curbside composting program, and the establishment of a polystyrene packaging drop-off at Fort Totten in association with the “first Saturday of the Month” drop-off programs.
The DC Chapter of the Sierra Club stands ready to work with DPW to develop and implement all of these programs.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak today.