2016 Excellence Award Entry
Integrated Solid Waste Management System
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
2016 Excellence Award Entry
INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Name:
Contact:
Title:
Email:
Phone:
Entry Title:
Population:
Jurisdiction:
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Costa Mesa Sanitary District
Scott Carroll, SDA, ICMA-CM
General Manager
[email protected]
949-645-8400
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
116,700
Region/Special District
$216.00 annually per single family household
$11,889,000 (operating)
2016 Excellence Award Entry
Integrated Solid Waste Management System
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District (CMSD) is an independent special district that provides
solid waste and wastewater collection services to 116,700 people residing in the City of
Costa Mesa, small portions of the City of Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange
County. Since 1956, CMSD has been providing curbside solid waste collection services to
residential households, while commercial and industrial collections are managed by the
cities. However, CMSD does much more than just curbside collection. We provide CMSD
residents with a variety of waste diversion and educational programs, using strategic
planning and key performance indicators to map our future and evaluate our effectiveness
and efficiencies. We believe that innovative waste diversion and educational programs,
driven by a results oriented staff and strong private and public partnerships have made
CMSD one of the top performing sanitary districts in the United States.
1.0
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
CMSD is committed to protecting the environment and
our principals are guided through the Strategic Plan.
First adopted in 2010 and revised in 2015, the Strategic
Plan is the blueprint to our future, which is why it is
entitled, “Planning for a Better Tomorrow.” The Plan
serves as a framework for decision making over a five
year period and helps produce fundamental decisions
that shape CMSD into a high achieving, results-oriented
and cost-efficient organization.
The following is our Mission and Vision Statements:
Mission Statement: “Protecting our community’s
health and the environment by providing solid waste
and sewer collection services.”
Download at www.cmsdca.gov
Vision Statement: “Promoting a sustainable environment through innovation and
cost effective sewer and solid waste services.”
To achieve the District’s mission and vision, the Board of Directors approved an integrated
solid waste management system that includes the following facilities and programs:
CURBSIDE COLLECTION
Since 2006, CR&R Waste and Recycling Services have provided curbside collection
services for 116,700 CMSD residents through a mutual and binding agreement. Today,
CMSD collects 41,823 tons of solid waste and recycling materials from nearly 22,000 single
family households and is successfully diverting 60% of materials away from landfills with the
goal of diverting 75% (http://cmsdca.gov/images/trash/diversion_2009-2016.pdf). CMSD
residents became the first community in Orange County to co-mingle their waste stream,
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also known as single-stream recycling. Transitioning from the
traditional three can system where residents were required to
separate their refuse, recyclables and green waste. Each
household received two 64-gallon automated carts to dispose
of their refuse, recyclables and green waste into one or both
carts.
The materials are collected from eight side-loading automated
refuse trucks owned and operated by CR&R. All eight trucks are
fueled by Compressed Natural Gas. Once collected, they are
transported to CR&R’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and
Transfer Station in the City of Stanton, which is approximately 15
miles from CMSD. The MRF sits on 17.7 acres of land and is
permitted to accept 3,600 tons a day of solid waste materials. Recyclables are picked out
of the waste stream and placed on conveyor belts where the materials are separated, bailed
and shipped to various markets. The refuse and green waste are transported to landfills
where the green waste is issued as alternative daily cover. CMSD achieved 57% diversion
rate using the single-stream recycling system.
COMPOSTING
Composting is an effective way to reduce the amount of solid waste from entering landfills.
It also converts organics into a product that is useful for gardening, landscaping or house
plants; however, composting bins can be cost-prohibitive. For instance, the cost to purchase
one composting bin at The Home Depot ranges from $40 to $315. Recognizing the
importance composting has to reducing the waste stream to landfills, CMSD offered two
different types of composting bins at a substantially reduced price of $30. Residents had
their choice of the FCM Dual Chamber, which is a rotating tumbler or the 80 gallon Earth
Machine composter. The regular price for the tumbler at The Home Depot is $99 and $109
for the Earth Machine. This was made possible through grant funds ($40,000) from Orange
County Waste and Recycling (OCWR) which offset the cost difference and allowed CMSD
to provide free composting workshops to residents. Monthly weekend workshops were held
at a local park where residents learned the “do’s” and “don’ts” of composting. Since this
program began in 2008, CMSD has sold 1,116 composting bins and coordinated 128 free
composting workshops.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) such as paint, motor oil, cleaning products, pesticides,
etc. pose a serious threat to the community’s health and the environment, which is why it’s
illegal in California to dispose HHW materials at landfills. Fortunately for CMSD residents,
there are three options to safely and legally dispose of their HHW:
1. Permanent HHW Collection Center. Located just 9 miles from CMSD, Rainbow
Environmental Services (a private solid waste hauling company) operates a
permanent HHW Collection Center in the City of Huntington Beach for all residents
residing in Orange County. The Center collects all kinds of HHW including e-waste.
The Center is funded by OCWR, which receives its funding from landfill tipping fees.
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2. CMSD HHW Collection Event. If residents do not
want to drive to the Center, they can participate in
CMSD’s biennial HHW Collection Event. CMSD
partners with Orange Coast College, a community
college that hosts the event in their parking lot, and
OCWR, who provides staffing and splits the cost
with CSMD for the event at $30,000 each. In the
most recent event, 236 cars dropped off over
20,000 pounds of unwanted HHW. The next event
is scheduled for Fall of 2016.
Unwanted Paint at HHW Event
Unwanted paint dropped off at CMSD
HHW Collection Event
3. Door-to-Door HHW Collections. For senior and disabled residents that cannot drive
or fear driving with HHW materials in their vehicles, CMSD offers home collections.
The service is provided by CR&R Waste and Recycling Services. Residents contact
CR&R to schedule a collection and provide information on the type of materials to be
collected. Prior to the collection date, CR&R will mail residents a container box for
the HHW to be stored for pick-up. On the collection day, residents simply place the
container box with their unwanted HHW in front of their home for CR&R to collect.
No one has to be home during collection and no money is exchanged for the service
because the program is fully funded by CMSD. Since the program was implemented
in 2012, 161 residents have participated and CR&R has collected and safely
disposed of 28,320 pounds of unwanted HHW.
LARGE ITEM COLLECTIONS
Items that are too big to be thrown away in automated carts can be picked up by CR&R as
special large item collections. Items such as refrigerators, sofas, mattresses, washers and
dryers can be placed on the curb for pickup. However, what makes CMSD’s large item
collection program different from all the rest is that our residents can dispose of up to 30
large items a year. Each household can receive 3 pickups with 10 items per year or they
can combine the items with less pick-ups. Since 2008, over 2,938.69 tons of items have
been collected and recycled.
SHARPS COLLECTIONS
Since September 2008, it has been illegal in California to dispose of home generated
sharps, including syringes and lancets, in the trash or recycling containers. The law requires
all sharps to be disposed in a heavy-duty puncture resistant container with a tight fitting lid
and then transported to HHW Collection Center. If needles are not properly disposed of,
solid waste workers can potentially get pricked and catch fatal diseases (sharps are also
dangerous to wastewater workers when needles are flushed in toilets). To ensure the
safety of solid waste and wastewater workers, CMSD implemented a sharps collection
program. Residents can receive a free 2.5 gallon sharp container by visiting CMSD
headquarters. The containers are specifically designed to store sharps. The containers can
be dropped off at a local pharmacy and then Waste Management (a private solid waste
hauling company) will collect the sharps and legally dispose of them. Typically, first
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responders like paramedics and fire department
personnel, see people who use sharps when
responding to emergencies. In order to reach out
to more residents, CMSD partnered with Costa
Mesa Fire Department (CMFD) to provide sharp
containers on their fire apparatus and distribute
the containers to those in need. Since partnering
with Waste Management, CMFD and local
pharmacies, CMSD has collected and diverted 5.0273 tons of home generated sharps
through its sharps disposal program.
CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING
CMSD’s Christmas Tree Recycling Program collects Christmas trees from residents and
recycles them into mulch. CR&R is responsible for collecting and mulching the trees.
The mulch is then distributed throughout California and used to enrich the nutrients in soil.
This program is made available to residents three weeks after Christmas, which is longer
than other Christmas tree recycling programs, to accommodate those who celebrate Three
Kings’ Day. In 2015, CR&R collected 4,719 Christmas trees, totaling 82.48 tons.
2.0
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND INTEGRATION
ENHANCEMENTS
In the past year, two significant enhancements were made to CMSD’s integrated solid
waste management system: the implementation of a curbside Organics Recycling Program
and the Alkaline Battery Recycling Program, which replaced CMSD’s popular Telephone
Book Recycling Program.
ORGANICS RECYCLING PROGRAM
When California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 341 into law, it required the
State of California to divert 75% of its waste stream away from landfills. The law also
required California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to
develop a plan on how the State will achieve the 75% diversion. On May 9, 2012,
CalRecycle published a report called, “California’s New Goal: 75% Recycling,” which
identified ten areas the State should focus on to achieve the 75% goal.
One specific area of concern was Organics, which suggested repealing California PRC
Section 41781.3 which established that green waste can be used as alternative daily cover
(ADC) at landfills and constitute as diversion through recycling. The list also included
phasing out organics (e.g. food waste) from entering landfills. Repealing ADC would have a
significant impact to every public agency in California that provides solid waste
management services because ADC is the major reason why agencies are complying with
the 1989 law (AB 939) that requires cities and counties to divert 50% of the waste stream
away from landfills. CMSD’s diversion rate would fall to 41.90% if the law was repealed.
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In anticipation that the State legislature would
repeal ADC and ensure that CMSD stays in
compliance with AB 939, CMSD staff negotiated
with CR&R to utilize their state of the art $100
million anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in the City of
Perris. This is the largest AD facility west of the
Mississippi River and it will process 335,000
tons/year of green waste, food scraps and used
cooking oil into renewable natural gas (RNG). The RNG will be used to fuel the refuse
trucks that service CMSD. In fact, CMSD is the first public agency in Southern California to
finalize an agreement with CR&R to use this advanced technology. As a result, CMSD is
guaranteed the lowest AD rate at $71.50 per ton. For instance, the City of Los Angeles
generates 500,000 tons of green waste and their AD rate is $72.50 a ton versus CMSD rate
of $71.50 a ton for 14,000 tons of green waste. By utilizing CR&R’s AD technology, CMSD
will be able to divert 75% by 2020 and stay in compliance with state regulations.
The challenge CMSD faced is changing resident’s behavior from a single stream recycling
program to a semi-source separating program. In order to overcome this challenge, CMSD
actively promoted the program through community outreach. More details about CMSD’s
successful community outreach program are described in Section 4 below.
ALKALINE BATTERY RECYCLING PROGRAM
For 17 years, CMSD provided an innovative way for local
schools to raise money for the classroom while teaching
students the importance of recycling. CMSD’s Telephone
Book Recycling Program was a friendly competition among
participant schools on which school could collect the most
telephone books. Each school that participated received
$300, but the school that collected over 20 pounds of phone
books per student received an additional $800 for a total of
$1,100. CMSD has donated nearly $150,000 to schools for their efforts to collect and
recycle telephone books. In 2011, CMSD received
the Bronze Excellence Award for Educational
Program from SWANA for the Telephone Book
Recycling Program.
Despite the initial success of the program, a steady
decline became apparent due to telephone books
being replaced by the Internet, only 962 phone
books were collected in 2012 versus its peak year
in 2002 when 16,200 books were collected. To
continue increasing recycling education and
provide monetary incentives for schools, CMSD Director James Ferryman presenting $1,000 check to Davis
Elementary School
implemented the Alkaline Battery Collection
Program. The school that collects the most household batteries would receive $1,000 and
the second and third place schools would receive $600 and $400. All other schools would
receive $300 for participating. The program works as follows:
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1. Mercury Disposal Systems, Inc. (MDS), a CR&R vendor, will deliver a 5-gallon
battery recycling bucket to participating schools. Additional buckets will be available
upon request.
2. MDS staff will collect the batteries upon request from participating schools.
3. MDS will tag and weigh the battery buckets and send CMSD the total tonnage
collected per school.
4. MDS will bill CR&R for recycling the batteries and CR&R will then bill CMSD. This
allows CMSD to take advantage of CR&R’s low battery disposal cost of $0.76 per
pound.
5. At the conclusion of the program, a CMSD Board Member will present the prize
checks to each of the schools.
In the first year of the program, 5 schools participated and collected 4,453.9 pounds of
alkaline batteries. During the second year of the program, 8 schools participated and 5,345
pounds of batteries were collected. In the current third year of the program, 9 schools
participated and collected 4,525 pounds of batteries. CMSD awarded a total of $9,600 to
local schools from 2013 to 2015.
LONG TERM GOALS
In 2010 the CMSD Board of Directors adopted a
five year Strategic Plan that was used to achieve
priorities and goals that better serve the needs of
the community.
The 2010 Plan had 59 strategic goals in which 39
goals were completed by February 2015. The
remaining goals are considered “on-going” goals.
To continue the momentum and the framework for
the future, the Board adopted a new five year
strategic plan through 2020. During the two
special Board of Directors meetings in 2015, the
Board, staff and the public discussed the District’s
mission, vision and core values as well as the
strategic elements. Goals for each strategic
element were discussed by Board members, staff
and the public and then brief narratives and a
work plan for each strategic goal were developed.
The Board of Directors adopted seven solid waste
strategic goals to achieve by 2020. They are:
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
Behavior Study for Organics
Recycling Program
Annual contract audits
Comprehensive Education Program
Develop strategies for 75% waste diversion
Monitor advancement and technology in the solid waste industry
Apply for waste diversion grants
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2.7
7
Continue code enforcement presence
The complete Strategic Plan can be found on CMSD’s website at
http://www.cmsdca.gov/index.php/about-us/strategic-plan. Every quarter, a report was
presented to the Board of Directors regarding the achievement status of every strategic
goal.
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PROGRAM
As the demand for local government service continues to grow, so does public insistence
that services be provided efficiently and effectively. The public also wants to know how well
their local government is performing by producing results.
In the pursuit of service quality, efficiency and enhancing public communications, CMSD
uses performance measurement as a useful tool that confirms our success and alerts us to
programs that need greater scrutiny. CMSD’s solid waste performance indicators can be
found at http://cmsdca.gov/images/transparency/swana_performance_indicators_20122015.pdf.
ORGANICS RECYCLING BEHAVIOR STUDY
In 2015, CMSD partnered with a doctoral candidate from University of California Irvine to
conduct an eight week experiment with 352 CMSD residents to better understand and
improve household organics waste separation behavior. CMSD became one of the first
public agencies to incorporate social science into organic waste management policy and
specifically, to test communicating social norms to increase food scrap separation.
The experiment sought to answer two questions:
1. How are households responding to CMSD’s Organics Recycling Program?
2. Do simple norm communication tools increase food scrap separation?
Below are the findings of the experiment:
 30% of residents used repurposed containers to separate their food
waste (e.g. baby formula container, canisters, milk cartons), but when
residents were given a kitchen pail, the separation increased to 45%.
 Maintenance of the organic cart and kitchen pail, odors and flies were
the biggest concerns among residents.
 The program gave residents more awareness of how much food is
wasted, which changed their shopping behaviors to waste less food.
Kitchen pail
 Of the 352 residents participating in the experiment, 66% were separating their food
scraps, but after residents learned others in the community are separating their food
scraps the participation increased to 77%.
 When communicating the new norms of food waste separation the following
occurred:
o Significant increase in resident participation
o Greater percent of food waste in organic carts
o Increased positive perceptions
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o Reduced concerns
o Increased support for Organics Recycling Program
CMSD learned that effective communications can change people’s behavior, as evident in
the participation level increasing from 66% to 77%. The study also found that if residents
have a kitchen pail, participation increases. The lessons learned will strengthen our
community outreach messages for increasing participation in solid waste diversion
programs. To read the full report, visit
http://www.cmsdca.gov/images/organics/organics_behavior_study_final_report_2016.pdf
3.0
FINANCIAL, EMPLOYEE AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
FINANCE
CMSD’s Strategic Plan Element 7.0 is Finance. The objective of the Finance Element is to
ensure the short and long term fiscal health of CMSD. The strategy used to achieve this
objective is that CMSD will forecast and plan revenue and expenditures and maintain
appropriate reserves and investments to provide financial resources to fund current and
planned operations and projects. Seven strategic goals were created for this element and
are described below in a sample quarterly report presented to CMSD Board of Directors.
7.0 FINANCE
Completion
Timeline
Objective
Strategic Goals
Accomplishments
To ensure the short
and long term fiscal
health of the District
7.1 Perform long term
solid and wastewater
rate projections
7.2 Develop a long
term CIP
7.3 Evaluate the
District’s investment
policy
Long term solid waste projection is complete.
Rate increase is projected in FY 2019-20. Staff is
working on wastewater rate projections.
On March 8, 2016, a five year CIP budget for the
Wastewater Division was presented to the Board
This goal is complete. On August 25, 2015, the
District Treasurer presented the District’s
Investment Policy to the Board of Directors. On
September 17, 2015, the Board of Directors
adopted Resolution No. 2015-875 authorizing the
District Treasurer to invest in CalTRUST.
The CAFR is complete and available on the
District’s website for public access. Award
application submitted to Government Finance
Officers Association.
This goal is complete. The Board of Directors
evaluated the reserve program on July 14, 2015
and on August 27th the Board adopted Ordinance
No. 108 that increases the Solid Waste Operating
reserves from 15% to 30% and the Wastewater
Reserves from 10% to 25%.
Asset management plan is being monitored and
was used to develop the five year CIP budget for
Wastewater Division.
This report is in the process of being developed.
7.4 Produce a
Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report
(CAFR)
7.5 Evaluate an
appropriate reserve
program for all District
funds and develop an
inclusive reserve policy
7.6 Monitor the asset
management program
7.7 Create a popular
report and upload
document on the
District’s website
In-Process
Completed
Ongoing
On-going
On-going
On-going
On-going
On-going
2016
2016
Not scheduled to begin yet
Delayed
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9
RATE STABILIZATION PLAN
CMSD has had a rate stabilization plan for the past ten years. The last rate increase was in
2006. In fact, within the last five years CMSD residents experienced rate decreases.
CMSD has no solid waste assets (e.g. trash trucks, automated carts, recycling center,
Material Recovery Facility, etc.), and therefore, the organization was able to build up its
reserve fund to over $5 million. However, because CMSD has no solid waste capital
expenses, having a reserve fund that is 150% above the minimum balance is not
necessary. In 2012, the Board of Directors approved a rate decrease from $19.95 to
$19.00 a month and then in 2013, the Board decreased the rate again from $19.00 to
$18.00 a month. The Organics Recycling Program is estimated to cost CMSD an additional
$500,000 a year.
A long term rate analysis was conducted that included all costs and revenue sources as
well as using excess reserve funds to offset over expenditures. CMSD revenue sources are
stagnant, but they are reliable because 91% of CMSD revenues come from assessment
fees that are on property tax rolls. CMSD does not incur traditional costs associated with
solid waste collection services such as creating an invoice, mailing costs, and collection
services for unpaid fees. CMSD also does not require additional accounting staff because
no residential bills are mailed or received for solid waste services. By 2019-20, CMSD is
projected to have its first rate increase in fifteen years!
CMSD Rate Stabilization Plan
Annual
Monthly
07
06
05
17.42
08
209.13
09
18.82
10
225.86
11
19.95
239.41
19.95
19.95
19.95
19.00
12
19.95
13
Fiscal Year
239.41
14
19.95
15
239.41
16
239.41
17
239.41
18
239.41
19
228.00
18.00
216.00
18.00
216.00
18.00
216.00
18.00
216.00
18.00
216.00
18.00
20
216.00
259.08 21.59
21
18.00
259.08 21.59
22
216.00
265.80 22.15
Assessments
Projected Rate Increase
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SOLID WASTE BUDGET
CMSD has adopted a two year (FY 2015-17) solid
waste budget totaling $11,889,000.
On the
expenditure
side,
only
9%
of
expenditures
are
Operations
dedicated to salaries and benefits ($1,071,400).
CMSD’s residential rates are competitive in Orange
Salaries &
Benefits
County. Rates are not the lowest or the highest in
the County. In fact, CMSD rates are the median
when compared to 33 agencies in Orange County.
Reserve funds are nearly $6 million. Due to CMSD adopting a solid waste reserve policy of
30% (see Goal No. 7.5), excess reserves are being used to offset organics recycling costs
and
maintain
rate
stability.
To
review
CMSD’s
budget,
visit
http://www.cmsdca.gov/images/finance/final_budget_2015-2017.pdf.
CMSD 2015-17 Expense Budget
COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
Each year, most local governments prepare a financial report on assets,
liabilities, revenues and expenditures in a standardized format that must
conform to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
accounting and financial reporting standards. This financial report is called
the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and it plans and
authorizes the spending of money. The CAFR describes what was
actually spent and the status of assets and liabilities at the end of the
fiscal year. For the last five years, CMSD has prepared an annual CAFR
in which CMSD has been recognized for excellence in financial reporting
from the Government Finance Officers Association for the past four
consecutive years. To view the most recent CAFR, visit
http://cmsdca.gov/images/finance/costa_mesa_sanitary_district_cafr_2014_15.pdf.
POPULAR ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
For most people, the CAFR can be difficult to read and understand, so CMSD created its
first ever Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR). It is the “Reader’s Digest” version of the
CAFR, summarizing the financial activities of CMSD and highlighting many
accomplishments. CMSD is the only special district in Orange County and one of a few
independent special districts in California, to produce this report. To view the PAFR, visit
http://www.cmsdca.gov/images/finance/pafr.pdf
EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT AND RECOGNITION
COACHING & MENTORING PROGRAM
Coaching and mentoring programs are a cost-effective way to provide on-the-job training
and staff development opportunities by capitalizing on the knowledge, skills and abilities of
existing employees. These programs partner employees who have different backgrounds,
experiences and skill sets with other employees to collaborate and learn from each other,
with the ultimate goal being career growth and knowledge transfer. Nearly half of CMSD
employees are participating in CMSD’s Coaching & Mentoring Program. Employees pick
their coach/mentor from a city or special district and employees can spend up to two hours
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per month with their coach/mentor to help support their personal career growth and/or their
long term professional development.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
CMSD Strategic Goal No. 3.4 is to “Participate in the activities of professional associations.”
Professional associations provide an enormous amount of access to resource information,
professional development, seminars, webinars, and/or certification classes that can
enhance Board of Directors and staff knowledge and skills for the betterment of the
organization and the community. CMSD budgets nearly $50,000 a year to ensure staff can
actively participate in the following professional associations: Solid Waste Association of
North America (SWANA); California Special Districts Association (CSDA); Special District
Leadership Foundation (SDLF); Special District Risk Management Authority (SDRMA);
International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC); Government Finance Officers Association
(GFOA); California Water Environment Association (CWEA); California Society of Municipal
Finance Officers (CSMFO); International City/County Management Association (ICMA);
California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED); Municipal Management
Association of Southern California (MMASC); Orange County Human Resources
Consortium (OCHRC).
EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION
CMSD understands the importance of continually recognizing employees for their work
contributions. CMSD has several employee recognition programs:
Acknowledgment Jar – During the course of every month, employees can
acknowledge a colleague or subordinate by writing a few words of appreciation on a
notecard and placing the notecard in a jar. During CMSD’s monthly “All Hands”
meeting, the notecards are removed from the jar and the general manager reads the
acknowledgment aloud so that all staff hear their colleagues and/or subordinates
being praised.
Employee Appreciation Day - The first Friday in
March is National Employee Appreciation Day. To
honor this day, CMSD employees are treated to
lunch and participate in a raffle to win gift cards
from restaurants, department stores and/or movie
tickets.
Employee “Spotlight” in CMSD Newsletter Every quarter, CMSD issues a newsletter to all
22,000 household customers. In every newsletter,
an employee spotlight describes the work an
exemplary employee performs for CMSD and thanks
the employee for his/her dedication and commitment
to the organization and the community. View District
newsletters at: http://cmsdca.gov/index.php/medianews/newsletters.
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Employee of the Year Award – CMSD’s year-end banquet is the
annual event where the Board of Directors and staff hear about all
the organization’s accomplishments during the past year. Awards
are also announced at the banquet, such as service year pins for
employees that have worked at CMSD for five, ten, fifteen, twenty
and twenty-five years. Safety Person of the Year is awarded to the
person that has demonstrated consistent safety practices and the
event ends with the announcement of Employee of the Year. This
award is given to employees that have performed superior services
while at the same time achieving all his/her goals. The employee
Employee & Safety Person of the Year
receives an award, a $100 gift card and an embroider logo
business wear item. All past Employee of the Year winners have their names on a
plaque that is placed in the front lobby for the public to see.
Anniversary Gift – To recognize organizational loyalty and dedication to service,
every employee receives an embroider logo gift on his/her anniversary hire date.
Past gifts have included a backpack, blanket and a collapsible trunk organizer.
SAFETY PROGRAM
Every year, CMSD’s goal is to have zero work-related injuries. CMSD has adopted an
Injury Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) to ensure a safe working environment is adhered to
at all times. CMSD has monthly safety meetings that are facilitated by a safety consultant.
Occupational Safety Training Systems (OSTS) provides trainings on fire extinguishers,
bloodborne pathogens, heat stress, back safety, driving safety, etc. OSTS also reviews
CMSD’s safety programs annually such as Hazards Communications, Heat Illness
Prevention Program, Lockout Tagout Program, etc. to ensure compliance with CalOSHA
and OSHA. Once a month, CMSD recognizes an employee as Safety Person of the Month
for demonstrating and practicing safety measures. Employees who are awarded Safety
Person of the Month are eligible to receive the Safety Person of the Year award along with
a $50 gift card. In the past five years, there have only been three work related injuries. In
addition to CMSD’s excellent safety record, the California Workers’ Compensation
Experience Rating Bureau gave CR&R an Experience Modification Rate (EMR) below
100% for the past three years (2013-70%, 2014-94% and 2015-86%). California’s workers’
compensation experience rating system is a merit rating system intended to provide
employers a direct financial incentive to reduce work-related accidents. Generally, an
experience modification of less than 100% reflects better than average experience (fewer
work related accidents), while an experience modification that is greater than 100% reflects
worse-than-average experience (many work related accidents).
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2016 Excellence Award Entry
Integrated Solid Waste Management System
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
4.0
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COMMUNITY RELATIONS
ORGANICS RECYCLING PROGRAM
The Organics Recycling Program required a change in behavior for
CMSD residents because they would be required to separate their
green waste and food scraps. To ensure a smooth transition and
avoid confusion and frustration among residents, CMSD
implemented its most comprehensive community outreach effort in
the organization’s 71 year history.
CMSD used traditional forms of education such as newsletters,
flyers and CMSD’s website to get the word out about the new
program, but the best form of outreach was meeting with the public
face to face. CMSD sponsored eight town hall meetings. Prior to
the meetings, postcards with the date, time and location of the
meetings were mailed to every CMSD customer. Days before the
Organics Town Hall Meeting
meetings, residents would receive a phone call with an automated message reminding them
about the upcoming town hall meeting. The advertising method worked because hundreds
of CMSD residents attended each meeting.
At each meeting, residents received two presentations; one from CR&R officials that
described how anaerobic digestion works, the cost of the project and the environmental
benefits. The second presentation was made by CMSD staff and it described why the
program is being implemented, how the program works, costs of the program, and the
future of landfills. After both presentations, the presenters conducted a Q&A session and
did not leave until every question was answered. CMSD staff transcribed every question
and provided a written FAQ document that was uploaded on the website. One of the town
hall meetings was videotaped and uploaded on CMSD’s website for those who could not
attend the meeting. To view the recorded meeting, please click on the following link:
http://www.cmsdca.gov/index.php/org/town-hall-meeting
Residents picking up kitchen pails at a special
event
To increase the community outreach and accessibility, CMSD
created a webpage dedicated to the Organics Recycling Program.
CMSD believes this webpage is a great resource for information
about organics recycling: http://www.cmsdca.gov/index.php/org
Available on the webpage is an organics “How To” video. The
video, at a cost of $7,800, was created by a professional
production company and demonstrated how the organics recycling
program works. The video was shown at town hall meetings and
is available on CMSD’s website and YouTube account. Click on
the
following
link
to
watch
the
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_aXvD9Uvts
2016 Excellence Award Entry
Integrated Solid Waste Management System
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
CMSD actively participates in community events such as Concerts in the Park and the
Costa Mesa Community Run. At these events, CMSD has a booth where organics
recycling materials are on display and staff is available to answer questions. To view
articles
about
CMSD’s
Organics
Recycling
Program
at
http://cmsdca.gov/images/press_releases/swana_media_clips.pdf.
SCHOOL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
VERMICOMPOSTING
In 2012, CMSD entered into an agreement with a company
called, Environmental Education Services and Programs
(EESP) that provides school presentations on how
earthworms can reduce food waste at school and produce
rich soil amendments for school gardens. At the end of
the presentation CMSD donates vermicomposting school
kits to the classroom so that the school continues
vermicomposting after EESP leaves. To date, EESP has
given 113 presentations and 131 vermicomposting kits to elementary schools throughout
CMSD’s service area.
WASTE FREE LUNCHES
CMSD residents, as well as most Americans, have come to depend on the many
convenience products that are available to them. Most parents pack lunch items in singleuse plastic bags, aluminum foil, or wax paper, or they purchase single-serving items that
come in their own disposable package. Admittedly, these products are extremely
convenient, but they are leading to landfills reaching their capacities.
Much of the trash we generate comes from the packaging on the food we buy, and lunch
foods are no exception. In fact, it has been estimated that on average, a school-age child
using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to
18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. In 2012, CMSD
entered into an agreement with Inside the Outdoors (ITO), an environmental education
program administered by the Orange County Department of Education, to provide students
with education about reducing lunch waste. In addition, ITO assists students and teachers
with a baseline waste audit and service-learning project plan to reduce lunch waste on
campus. ITO then assists students and teachers with a follow-up waste audit and project
review to analyze the impacts of the service learning project. To date, ITO has provided
waste free lunch presentations to 6,859 Costa Mesa students.
ECO CHALLENGE
Eco Challenge is an interactive education program provided in
partnership with Discovery Science Cube for 6th grade students
about the importance of recycling, with a greater emphasis on
identifying organic waste.
Students receive a booklet
summarizing key recycling concepts and exercises designed to
assist in identifying organics suitable for recycling. In addition,
students take home a survey that provides information about the
new organics recycling process and in-home behaviors required
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Integrated Solid Waste Management System
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
to maximize its value. Students also have the opportunity to take a field trip to the nationally
recognized Discovery Science Cube in Santa Ana where students have the opportunity to
participate in interactive recycling games that promote sustainability practices. For more
information about the Eco Challenge, visit http://www.discoverycube.org/oc/exhibits/ecochallenge/.
SMART PHONE APP – GOCMSD
Local governments are taking advantage of the digital age by creating their own apps
to improve communications with their residents, boost the transparency of their
operations and add a bit more efficiency to their form of government. CMSD created a
smart phone app to improve the public’s access to their local government, enhance
communications and customer service. GoCMSD, which can be downloaded for free
from iTunes or Google Play, gives residents the opportunity to report issues or
requests regarding wastewater odor, large item pick-ups, missed trash pick-up,
scavenging, replacement carts, trash carts stored in public view, etc. CMSD has
established goals for the maximum number of days to resolve each issue and when
the issue is resolved, the resident is notified through email or text. To date, there have
been 531 issues reported through the GoCMSD app.
CONCLUSION
CMSD is committed to sustaining and protecting the environment through the highest and
best use principles and practices. By exploring innovative approaches to preventing waste,
we can truly make a difference for future generations to come. Through our active citizen
engagement and transparency, we establish a sense of cohesiveness and empower our
residents to be involved with community matters.
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