Two Months Remain for CVSan's "Less Than Weekly"“ study

CASTRO VALLEY, CA - Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) residents in over 800 homes have been voluntarily participating in setting out their brown garbage carts less often – such as every other week, rather than weekly. Just two months remain for CVSan’s “Less Than Weekly” study, which began in June 2016 in an effort to increase recycling and composting behavior and progress toward CVSan’s goal of Zero Waste to landfill by 2029. Residents have been particularly encouraged to compost food scraps and food-soiled paper in their green organics cart every week.

CVSan’s “Less Than Weekly” pilot has been an optional program for residents living on designated routes. The recycling, organics, and garbage trucks that operate under CVSan’s contract with Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. (WMAC) have continued to service these routes every week. Residents have had the option of putting their brown garbage carts out either each week or less than weekly. Service levels and rates remained unchanged during the pilot. The results of this pilot will help to analyze potential costs, savings, and participation estimates and are anticipated to be reported to CVSan’s Board of Directors in April 2017.

“This pilot is designed to determine if every other week garbage collection is feasible in Castro Valley, and if so, how that might affect future service rates,” said CVSan General Manager Roland Williams. “We are conducting this study so that we have that information leading into the next solid waste collection agreement, scheduled to be in place in 2019. Resident participation will greatly help us in this process.”

The success of CVSan’s “Less Than Weekly” pilot will be determined by audits that CVSan will conduct throughout the pilot period to measure the amount of recyclable and compostable material that is being disposed of in brown garbage carts along pilot routes. A significant reduction of recyclable and compostable material in garbage carts, along with an increase in residents who hold back their brown carts from weekly set outs, will provide valuable information about whether less than weekly garbage collection will work for Castro Valley.