City of Polaris
Residential Recycling Program
Background
Polaris prides itself on being an evolving urban city. It supports a balanced combination of
residential, industrial, and commercial developments. For its efforts, Polaris was named an "AllAmerica City" by the National Civic League in 1988, and many of its innovative programs
attracted state and national recognition.
Polaris is located near four major freeways, the Los Angeles International Airport, and the ports
of Long Beach and Los Angeles. It has a population of roughly 58,000 in 11,678.3/sq mi.
Recycling Program
Today, landfills are quickly reaching capacity. Collection rates for trash are increasing. In 1989,
California adopted AB, the Integrated Waste Management Act. This Act established the
California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) to help California reduce sources of
pollution, to recycle and compost, and to provide environmentally safe landfills and
transportation of trash. This bill mandated that cities divert at least 50% of all solid waste away
from landfills by January 1, 2000, through source reduction, recycling, and composting
activities.
The City of Polaris has an exclusive franchise agreement with a refuse hauler, All-Haul Services.
This company is the only one authorized to serve the residential disposal needs of the community
of Polaris.
Although modern in many respects, Polaris was slow to move to reduce the waste going to
landfills. During the years in which they did not have a recycling program (2000-2007), Polaris
was obligated to pay fines to the state.
In October 2007, the city rolled out its new automated curbside trash and recycling collection
program for residential properties (of four units or less). The purpose of the program is to divert
waste from landfills. The city provides all the information about the program, while All-Haul
provides the actual collection services.
The automated curbside program provides each residence with three, 96-gallon containers: a
blue one for recyclable items; a green one for yard waste; and a black one for all other trash (see
Table 1). All-Haul uses modern trucks with robotic arms to collect the contents of these
containers.
However, any trash or other materials not placed into the official containers is not collected. For
oversized items that will not fit into the containers, the city offers a free service twice a year. By
making an appointment in advance, the trash hauler will pick up household appliances, furniture,
carpet, mini-blinds and so forth.
Table 1. City of Polaris Residential Curbside Recycling Program
BLUE
• Clean paper (computer, notebook, white or
colored, copier and construction paper,
sticky notes, ads and junk mail, catalogs,
flyers, envelopes, letters, newspaper,
magazines, phone books, etc.)
• Plastic (bottles, containers, jugs, plastic
dinnerware, plastic bags, clear film bags,
etc.)
• Metal (aluminum cans, steel, tin, bi-metal,
metal hangers, etc.)
• Glass (bottles, containers, jugs, jars, etc.)
• Cardboard and chipboard (file boxes, cereal
boxes)
• Clean Styrofoam (plates, cups, trays,
packing material)
GREEN
•Grass clippings
•Leaves
•Tree trimmings
•Brush
•Hedge trimmings
BLACK
•Normal Trash
•Food waste (fruit and
vegetables)
•Non-recyclable items
The city offers separate opportunities for recycling electronic waste, such as TVs, VCRs,
computers, monitors, stereos, DVD players, cell phones, and printers. Used motor oil can be
recycled at Kragen Auto Parts or Texaco Xpress Lube locations in the city.
The city does not provide free service for lumber, concrete, auto parts, paint, batteries, or
pesticides or other household hazardous wastes. These materials can be taken to monthly
collection events held by the County of Los Angeles. These events accept brake fluid, paint
thinner, cleaners with acid or lye, pesticides or herbicides, car batteries, pool chemicals, expired
pharmaceuticals, anti-freeze, fluorescent light bulbs, and other similar items.
Program Evaluation
It is now nearly three years since the city launched its residential curbside recycling program,
and the city wants to know if the program is meeting its objectives. Is the residential recycling
program diverting waste away from landfills through the Blue and Green bins?
A researcher for the city conducted a search for evaluations of similar programs in other cities.
In some other cities there were large increases in recycling at first, followed by slow declines as
people lost enthusiasm. In other cities, people recycled less than expected because they were
unclear about what or how to recycle and needed a constant educational campaign.
Case Study Instructions
Write a proposal for a program evaluation of the residential curbside recycling program of the
City of Polaris. The proposal should contain the following elements:
a. Cover letter to the Mayor summarizing the proposal
b. Identification of the variables to be studied (independent and dependent), with their
operational definitions and levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, or interval/ratio)
c. Explanation of the design of the proposed program evaluation (experimental, quasiexperimental, or non-experimental)
d. A description of the sampling plan (random or non-random)
e. A description of all of the data collection instruments that would be required (questionnaires,
interview guides, focus group questions, observation data sheets, scales for weighing, etc)
f. A description of all of the data collection methods that will be employed to gather data (review
of existing records, interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, weighing amounts of trash,
etc.)
g. Suggestions for analysis of data (types of descriptive statistics to be used or other statistical
tests)
h. A summary of the proposal, listing its strengths and weaknesses