Jurisdiction: City of Shoreline, WA
Plan Year: 2013
Background:
In 2008, City of Shoreline staff developed an Environmental Sustainability Strategy, based on the City Council’s goal to “create an environmentally sustainable community.” The City’s interdepartmental Green Team completed 42 of the 50 Sustainability Strategy recommendations by 2012. That same year, Shoreline began tracking the progress of City initiatives through forevergreen [http://forevergreen.shorelinewa.gov/], a website that publishes metrics for the five focus areas defined in the Sustainability Strategy. The Climate Action Plan was developed following this new emphasis on helping residents and businesses make sustainable choices.
Shoreline’s CAP was developed with three goals in mind:
1. Share and quantify the benefits of actions the City has already taken
2. Establish GHG emission reduction targets and actions to achieve them
3. Provide information on how individuals and businesses can help address climate change
The plan’s GHG emission reduction targets include 11 climate action objectives centered on four main areas:
1. Energy and water
2. Materials and waste
3. Transportation, land use, and mobility
4. Urban trees, parks, and open spaces
Materials Management Goals:
Materials and waste goals make up two of the 11 climate action objectives included in the plan.
Objective 4. Increase recycling and reuse to reduce solid waste sent to the landfill
Objective 5. Reduce GHG emissions embodied in materials and food consumed
Strategies:
Shoreline has developed recommendations for further action for all 11 objectives includes in the plan. Some recommendations for increasing recycling and reuse include:
- Implement construction and demolition (C&D) waste reduction outreach and incentives through the permitting process
- Promote and encourage food scraps and yard debris recycling by residents and businesses through current education programs and the development of a new rate structure in the solid waste contract
- Consider establishing a recycling store that offers reusable items and products made from recycled materials
- Intensify collaboration and outreach with second-hand stores and King County to promote textile collection and recycling
- Support and promote efforts to extend the useful life of products through repair and reuse
Recommendations for reducing GHG emissions from materials use and food consumption include:
- Select new electronics that meet Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standards and consider becoming an EPEAT purchasing partner when possible
- Investigate the use of recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) or other recycled products in asphalt used for City paving projects
- Consider seeking grant funds to launch a “Food: Too Good to Waste” campaign (supported by the EPA) to encourage food waste reduction by residents
- Promote the use of the City’s mini-grant programs to support “collaborative consumption” community projects like tool libraries and repair cafes
Find the complete list of recommendations [http://www.shorelinewa.gov/home/showdocument?id=14091] on pages 45-47 (recycling and reuse) and 50-51 (materials and food).
Progress Report:
Although Shoreline has not yet issued a progress report for its 2013 plan, it highlighted actions the city was already taking in each category to reduce GHG emissions. To reduce waste and increase recycling, Shoreline has already taken the following actions:
- Provides organics recycling at several municipal facilities
- Provides solar-powered recycling containers at some parks and bus stops
- Provides residents with Green Cones, backyard composting bins, kitchen food scraps collection buckets, and compostable bags
- City Council uses iPads instead of printed meeting packets, avoiding 85 reams of paper used and half a metric ton of CO2e emissions annually
- Washington State Recycling Association named Shoreline the 2012 Public Agency Recycler of the Year for city partnerships that increase recycling
- Expanded recycling and organics collection in 2008
- Hosts two collection events annually for residents to turn in difficult-to-recycle items like carpet and Styrofoam
To reduce GHG emissions from materials used and food consumed, Shoreline has taken these actions:
- Adopted Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Guidelines in 2012 – “to reduce the potential adverse environmental impact of City purchasing decisions by buying goods and conducting business with manufacturers, vendors, contractors, and consultants who share the City’s commitment to the environment”
Next Steps:
At the time of this writing, Shoreline was less than one year into its Climate Action Plan and working on implementing the strategies originally outlined in the plan.
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