Funworld November/December 2010

Sometimes, waste management responsibilities fall squarely on the shoulders of the maintenance department; other times on the facility operators. But quite often, everyone has a hand (sometimes literally) in the process. Regardless of who’s in charge, the process is crucial to an attraction’s cleanliness and efficiency. Here, park operators and manufacturers and suppliers walk through scenarios and steps of effective waste management programs.

A Common Struggle
Open since 1971, Ocean Lakes Family Campground in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has collected its own garbage. But for more than 12 years, the resort-style campground has struggled to efficiently handle its refuse while still emphasizing recycling efforts.

“Due to the size of our facility, several private companies saw potential to help provide a solution but would eventually become overwhelmed,” says Barb Krumm, director of marketing and public relations at the attraction (www.oceanlakes.com). “And our old recycling center was abused and used for all kinds of trash—not just recyclables. It became a health and safety concern, so we removed it.”

Previously, a variety of trash receptacles were scattered throughout the property—some were handled manually by workers and the larger bins were lifted automatically by trucks. The process was physically taxing on Ocean Lakes’ teammates and an ineffective use of time. Something needed to be done.

Ocean Lakes (www.oceanlakes.com) implemented a selfdesigned program called iCare, which involves the park using its own garbage trucks for collecting and hauling garbage and recyclables to necessary dump and processing sites, thus circumventing the need for a private collection vendor. Since the program’s implementation in 2009, more than 59,000 pounds of garbage have been successfully collected, and the 400-plus-person staff at Ocean Lakes has embraced the program.

Attractions throughout the country are beginning to pay closer attention to how their waste affects their surrounding environments. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (www.beachboardwalk.com) focuses mainly on its recycling efforts and since 1995 has won California’s Waste Reduction Award (WRAP) for its commitment to environmental preservation. While the accolades and results are inspirational, other operators and maintenance directors can best learn from the practical steps taken by these facilities.

Out with the Old, In with the New
Ocean Lakes started its iCare program by commissioning a private company to build its on-site recycling stations. “After that, there was no going back,” says Krumm. “We knew if a separate company didn’t work out, we would have to commit our resources to the program. And by December, we had to weigh the cost of a private collector versus using our own resources.”

The park went with the latter option. And while the iCare project requires a concerted effort—the facility committed to building the stations, retrofitting its garbage trucks with lift systems, and supplying the manpower—in the end, Ocean Lakes’ internal waste management is more cost-efficient than relying on an outside vendor.

“This will be tough on our teammates who are responsible for waste collection in the peak summer months,” Krumm says. “It’s a long drive to the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) center and will take two or more hours to dump the load. But our team agrees we made the right decision.”

Ocean Lakes says a large part of its solution was wisely choosing trash receptacles to fit the park’s needs. The attraction now features a uniform roll-cart system that speeds trash collection, and management invested in 96-gallon cans.

“The trucks now lift the heavy cans, which is much easier on our teammates,” says Eddie Wood, shop manager at the facility. “Also, the new cans have attached lids to prevent rainwater from collecting inside.”

Hauling and Scheduling
Receptacles come in all shapes, sizes, and prices. While utility bins are generally more cost-efficient, purchasing a decorative bin is typically a larger investment. Decorative bins are typically made of metal or resins that are more highly stylized. They often have improved aesthetics and enhanced ergonomic features that simplify removal, like front or side doors and slide out retainer bands for bags.

Jarret Chirafisi, product marketing manager for the refuse category at Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) (www.rcpworksmarter.com), says while container types certainly make a difference in the process, it is equally, if not more, important to know how many trash streams a facility will sort—common streams include office paper, cardboard, bottles, plastic, and aluminum. “The number of streams will drive the complexity of your solution,” Chirafisi says. “Consider where your points of collection are—typically it’s food areas and major intersections where you have the highest volume of foot traffic where you need the most containers.”

“Mobility is also at the heart of the matter,” he adds. “It’s not just about collecting the waste, but about getting it out of the park.” Operators should consider what transport system works best for facility grounds; RCP offers the Mega BRUTE, which quickens the process by helping to service multiple collection points and can help workers avoid back or repetitive motion strains. Other options include retrofitting park trucks to handle waste, using an outside vendor to make the rounds, or employing manual pickup, which is less expensive but more physically strenuous on staffers.

When using an outside vendor, timely communication is of the essence, especially when scheduling pickup for full trash compactors. Jay Simon, vice president at One Plus Corp. (www.onepluscorp.com), says facilities often overspend on hauling lessthan- full containers. “Most companies have their compactors picked up on a schedule,” Simon says. “Over time, schedules increase. If they were being picked up once per week and they find that they had more trash than the compactor could hold, management increases the frequency to twice a week, and then to three times per week. Throughout the year, they are being over-serviced, and too many of the containers are less than full.”

One Plus’ monitoring systems resolve this problem. The electronic, automated monitor is mounted on or near the compactor, measuring its fullness level and alerting facility management or the hauler only when compactor containers are full. Such a setup allows as-needed pickup and pay ment plans for the facility, with a “green” incentive of fewer runs and less fossil fuel used by the hauler’s trucks.

Facility Overload
“Get involved,” Ocean Lakes’ Wood says, adding that he’s learned the importance of integrating oneself in the process and decisions of waste management, instead of just outsourcing jobs. In turn, he and his staff are familiar with requirements from city, county, and state facilities. Wood says it’s important that facilities familiarize themselves with these local service stations; they often handle different types of trash and employ different collection procedures.

Aside from delivering its recyclables and the contents of cardboard trash to the Horry County Solid Waste Authority, Ocean Lakes works with the Myrtle Beach transfer station and various other vendors for equipment like deodorizers, chemicals, and trash bags.

Similarly, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (SCBB) built relationships and coordinates with several collectors in the area. On its own, the SCBB hauls its plastic and aluminum to a recycler; nonrecyclable trash and construction materials like wood and steel to the city landfill; and makes old concrete available to local contractors for reuse. The facility also involves the city of Santa Cruz, which picks up the boardwalk’s office paper, and another company directly recycles the attraction’s cardboard materials.

The number of processing, recycling, and landfill facilities may seem overwhelming, but they’re necessary to executing the process correctly. Wood says to ease intimidation, facility workers should request a tour of the facilities to understand exactly where they fit in the puzzle. “An MRF is a huge, almost living machine,” he says. “Touring the facility helped our teammates understand where trash goes and how the process works—from weighing in the truck for records to what happens once they drop the load.” The experience helps those involved understand why certain items are collected, how they are processed, and the value of their repackaging and resale.

The Recycling Effect
Each year, SCBB recycles approximately 180 tons of material, and its water reclamation project reuses more than 1 million gallons of water. “We think winning the WRAP reflects our commitment to environmental preservation, and each year we look for new ways to improve our recycling efforts,” says Kris Reyes, director of community relations at the attraction.

Almost equally important to a park’s efforts is for operators to develop guest-targeted messaging to promote those efforts and get guests involved. Beach Boardwalk takes a multilevel approach, occasionally posting messages for its 45,000 Facebook fans, adding an informational page (www.beachboardwalk.com/eco) to the website on ecofriendly measures, and increasing on-site signage.

Chirafisi with RCP says, as a rule of thumb, on-site sign - age should include a variety of visual clues and be located on or close to trash receptacles. “Typically, it’s best to include some combination of words, colors, restrictive openings, and images,” he says. “When it comes to recycling, it’s important to get patrons to stop—ever so briefly—and think about what and how they are going to need to sort when depositing.”

Facilities also have the option of using multistream recycling stations, with individual containers for each different material stream, or using comingled bins if they have access to a service provider that allows comingling. “Comingling has been shown to garner increased recycling rates among adopters,” says Chirafisi. “However, we’re beginning to see some evidence that suggests comingling may not always be best for the recovery and reprocessing of all commodity materials. This is important because the ultimate goal for recycling is to have the item you are depositing be recycled into a new product.”

This challenge is similar to the dilemma faced by Beach Boardwalk, as guests often place items other than cans and bottles in recycling containers, creating a contaminated stream. This often leads to workers hand sorting containers at the end of the day and managers testing a variety of recycling bins. “In the past year we created an internal ‘Green Team’ to get together and discuss how to solve challenges like these and improve our program,” Reyes says.

Contact Departments Editor Marion Hixon at mhixon@IAAPA.org.