RecycleSmart SB 1383 Route Review Methodology Pilot (February 2022)
​and Route Review Monitoring Assistance (November 2022)

​​​Client: RecycleSmart & SCS Engineers
Date: February 2022 - November 2022
Key Personnel: Juliana Gerber Project Principal

Background
Envirolutions Consulting, LLC was hired as a subcontractor to SCS Engineers to conduct “Route Reviews,”  or contamination monitoring, of residential, multifamily and commercial accounts on the garbage routes in the RecycleSmart service areas of Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Walnut Creek, Danville and select communities in unincorporated Contra Costa County (Alamo, Blackhawk and Diablo), in February and November of 2022. The purpose of this project was:
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1. to design a route review methodology and pilot to be in compliance with SB 1383 and;
2. later to conduct the route review some time later in 2022.

This fulfilled the SB 1383 requirement that hauler routes be audited annually to monitor for contamination and that feedback and educational materials be provided to generators when issues are found. The Route Review Pilot project in February was designed by SCS Engineers and the Envirolutions team provided support in conducting the lid flips. Envirolutions was also instrumental in providing overall recommendations for the methodology of the project based on our experiences in the field.

The pilot took place February 7-11th, 2022 and included reviewing 2-4 routes daily over the course of 5 days for a total of 627 containers audited. The streams audited were trash, mixed recycling, and mixed organics. The Route Review Monitoring Assistance activities took place November 7-11th, 2022 and included reviewing 2-4 routes daily over the course of 5 days for a total of 480 containers audited. The streams audited were trash, mixed recycling, and mixed organics. 

​​Results
√  240 Residential sites audited
√  127 Commercial/Multi-Family sites audited
√  1,107 containers audited
√  Team of 2 Fields Contractors headed out each day at 5 AM or earlier, rain or shine
√  Project completed on time and under budget

The data from the contamination monitoring was captured directly into the Recyclist app or written on audit sheets manually in the event the app was not available.  A list of recommendations based on field activity experience with the app and with the route review protocol was provided to the SCS Engineers  at the conclusion of the project.