Bridgewater Case Study

Appendix A

Bridgewater, located on the South Shore of Nova Scotia (Region 6), is the only area of the province that has an organized and sustained effort to promote recycling and composting for customer-generated waste in quick-service restaurants. For this reason, the Bridgewater area was examined to gain insight into its “best practices” for successful waste management. The Bridgewater Case Study may help other regions overcome challenges to introducing in front-of-the-counter recycling and composting programs.

In the Bridgewater Case Study, the following stakeholders were consulted to determine factors necessary for successful source-separation of waste:

The Bridgewater Case Study examines the source separation strategies used in the South Shore region and emphasizes the successes and on-going challenges. This case study is divided into 4 sections:

In August 2000, Richard Wilson, Recycling Coordinator from the Lunenburg Recycling and Composting Facility, approached the Bridgewater Mall about separating their food waste into organics and recyclables streams. He began working with mall management and food court staff to create a program designed to meet the specific needs of the mall. The food court includes an A&W, Dairy Queen, Tim Hortons and a Chinese food outlet. An education campaign for staff and customers began well before the launch of new source-separation containers in the Mall in January 2001. The new way of handling food waste at the Bridgewater Mall received extensive local media coverage.

Dairy Queen located nearby, soon followed the Mall’s lead and introduced source-separation containers for their customers. The Tim Hortons stores in the town, owned by Barb O’Kroneg, used a different approach to front-of-the-counter source separation. They sealed all waste receptacles and asked customers to leave waste on the tables to be collected and sorted by staff at a recycling area in the kitchen.

Organic waste from in front-of-the-counter at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen and the Bridgewater Mall Food Court was audited in January 2002 to determine the quality of the waste and the contamination levels in the organic waste stream (see Bridgewater Waste Audit Report). At the time of the audit, the “greening” program had been in effect in the Bridgewater Mall for about a year, at McDonalds and Wendy’s for about three months and at Dairy Queen for about one month. A level of less than 10% contamination by volume is used to indicate acceptable rates of contamination at the compost facility in Lunenburg.

2) Current Practices:

Currently, Richard Wilson is working with other quick service restaurants in the community to encourage similar programs. He is also working to improve the quality of waste separation in restaurants previously sampled. Wilson is working with food establishments including, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Big Reds, Egg Roll King, SGM Pizza, Pizza Delight and Subway. Plans are underway to repeat the waste audit done in 2002.

3) Factors Contributing to Success:

Staff Involvement

Staff members who were involved in the implementation of source-separation of customer waste from the beginning can be credited with its success. At the Bridgewater Mall, the food court supervisor and her staff were featured in media articles and were rewarded for their hard work by winning a trip to the casino paid for with the earnings from redeemable beverage containers. In addition, their role as “leaders” was emphasized. They took pride in the success of the program and did everything they could to encourage positive results by educating their customers, sometimes even sorting the waste for them.

Waste Educator Involvement

Support from a waste reduction educator was key to the implementation of this program in Bridegwater. All participating restaurant owners and managers mentioned that Richard Wilson’s assistance was integral to their waste separation practices. He started by making the necessary contacts in the restaurants and “talking, talking, talking.” He was available for ongoing consultation from restaurant owners and helped promote their efforts in the media.

Establishing a positive working relationship with the owner and manager of the restaurant was a key factor to success. Richard Wilson noted that it was essential to make management a willing partner in the program and to understand any barriers that might limit their participation. For instance, many restaurants were limited by stringent franchise dictates on waste bin colour and location.

Many restaurants need to be given a good reason why they should implement source separation of customer-generated waste. To encourage participation, Richard Wilson emphasized the benefits of waste source separation programs that include:

Good Communication and Feedback

Ongoing monitoring and feedback was an important element to the success of the program in Bridgewater. Internal waste audits enabled participating restaurants to assess the waste generated before the program began and to set waste reduction targets. Ongoing monitoring of the program through waste audits at the municipal compost and recycling facility clearly demonstrated the amount of waste that was diverted from landfill through the program. First year audit results show that over 20 tons of organics from the Mall and Dairy Queen were diverted from the landfill and turned into compost. These favourable results were given media attention, allowing front-line workers and owners to celebrate the success of the Bridgewater program. Many staff members wanted good measurable results on the waste audits and encouraged participation in their stores. In the words of Rose Baxter, the food court supervisor at the Bridgewater Mall, “We wanted to get a good report card.”

Public Education

Public education was a key component to successful customer-based source separation in the Bridgewater areas. In the Bridgewater Mall, a public education campaign was conducted well in advance of the official “launch” of the new containers. Cardboard tents were placed on tables, staff wore buttons and there were signs proclaiming that the mall was “going green.” In addition, advertisements were placed in local papers. Regular customers were also kept aware of the program. Many residents of the South Shore identify themselves as provincial “leaders in recycling and composting”. They are proud of the program’s success and motivated to take the extra time to sort their waste appropriately.

Containers and Signage

The Bridgewater Mall has some of the best examples of containers and signage that promote good source-separation of waste. Containers and signs are colour-coded to send a clear message.

The choice of signage and containers used by quick-service restaurants is critical to the success of source separation of waste (seeBridgewater Mall photos). The most successful quick-service restaurants used waste containers that had the following characteristics:

Flexibility and adaptability during the implementation stage of a new waste management system is important. For instance, when containers or signs seem to be ineffective, they should be modified. Flexibility in the degree of staff or customer involvement also contributed to the program’s success.

Barb O’Kroneg, who owns the Tim Hortons restaurants in the Bridgewater area, decided that rather than ask customers to sort their own waste, staff would sort the waste as part of their clean-up duties. She felt that since her staff already spent time gathering dishes, and wiping tables, they could also sort the food waste into the appropriate streams. All waste containers were sealed and customers were asked to leave their trays and waste on the tables. Staff took the trays and waste behind the counter of the restaurant to a well organized sorting area and put the materials in the appropriate waste containers. O’Kroneg was pleased with this method of source-separation and did not find it a substantial cost burden. Staff members were well-trained and the waste was separated properly resulting in very little contamination of the organics and recyclable waste stream.

4) On-Going Challenges:

Not all restaurants were enthusiastic partners in the new source-separation of waste. Restaurants had significantly poorer results if the restaurant lacked a “champion” to advocate for greening the restaurant.

Head Office

Corporate head office policies restricted many restaurants’ participation in composting and recycling in the front-of-the-counter. Corporate policies for waste bins and signage continue to be significant impediments to success. For instance, in the Subway restaurant, signs are not allowed on the walls. This meant that the “garbage” sign had to be placed low on the side of an existing container, out of sight of the average customer. Consequently, garbage waste ended up contaminating the more prominent recycling and composting bins (see photographic record file of Subway). Other restaurants chose to use existing garbage bins that were simply re-labeled. This was not a very effective strategy and the amount of contamination increased. (See photographic record of Arby’s). Based on waste audit findings, bins that are not designed and labeled properly yield poor source-separation results and higher levels of contamination.

Lack of Awareness

Some of the restaurant owners and managers interviewed could not name materials that were banned from landfills in the province. In some restaurants, there was some confusion over where each type of waste belonged. For instance, in Arby’s, the managers and staff were bringing milk cartons back to the local ENVIRO-DEPOT™ with their other refundable beverage containers.

Hauler Issues

Involving the waste hauler in the planning process for effective waste management is essential. Developing a good working relationship with the waste hauler will help prevent problems before they arise. In some cases, the storage containers offered by the haulers were not appropriate for recycling and composting. In other cases, the pick-up schedules were inadequate. Additional charges for recycling and composting seemed unreasonable to some owners and posed a barrier to recycling and composting efforts. For instance, some owners felt that the extra expense levied by haulers to include composting and recycling was too high.

The Bridgewater experience with source separation of food waste in the quick-service restaurant sector can serve as a “best practices” model for other areas of the province. Challenges encountered in Bridgewater are similar to the challenges faced elsewhere when waste source-separation is introduced in public places.