District of Columbia

Waste Statistics

With an estimated population of 599,657, the District of Columbia disposed of 899,608.96 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) and 169,831.67 tons of construction and demolition debris for a total of 1,069,440.63 tons in 2009. However, since D.C. has a ban on private landfill sites in the district, its MSW is collected by truck, taken to transfer stations and then hauled to Virginia, accounting for 7 percent of Virginia's annual MSW disposal. The residential recycling program run by the Department of Public Works (DPW) diverts 33,414 tons of material, or 24 percent of MSW to recycling from the 103,000 residential dwellings from which it collects, matching the national recycling rate. However, residents of the district produce 1.78 tons per capita of refuse, well over the national average.

Population and Labor

The district grew substantially after World War II, and between 1940 and 1970, the African American population became a majority, growing from 30 to 70 percent of the total population. The 1,700-member waste management workforce employed by the city was largely African American by 1970. Two years after the Memphis Public Works Department went on strike in 1968, the district's sanitation workers struck for the right to a comprehensive contract, which was won after a five-day strike.

Recycling and Composting

The district mandates that 45 percent of the total waste stream be diverted to recycling under the D.C. Solid Waste Management and Multi-Material Recycling Act of 1988. To aid in achieving such ambitious goals, the DPW adopted single stream (commingled) recycling and issued larger recycling bins for residential and commercial properties starting in 2005. The core government buildings for the District of Columbia already surpass the mandate by 10 percent, while the overall city rate for recycling is estimated to be only 34 percent. One incentive used by the DPW to increase compliance is the issuance of citations. The 3,114 commercial inspections conducted in 2009 resulted in 1,409 violations.

The district's DPW has expanded collection sites and materials in an attempt to stimulate greater participation in the recycling program. Residents dropped off 173 tons of electronic waste, 1,155 tons of scrap metal, and 93 tons of shredded paper at district transfer stations in 2009. On-site composting is strongly encouraged in the district for residences and commercial buildings, but no large-scale composting facilities are yet available. During 2009, the DPW composted 4,577 tons of leaves as part of the seasonal leaf collection program.

Environmental and financial incentives are driving the recycling and waste diversion program in the district. Hauling and processing fees for MSW cost D.C. $60 per ton, where a ton of recycled [Page 193]materials comes in at $25 per ton. In an effort to better understand the types and quantities of materials being recycled after the introduction of single stream collection, the DPW conducted a study across the city analyzing data from all of the city's eight wards. The result showed that D.C. residents were much more likely to recycle newspapers and green and brown glass than the rest of the nation, but much less likely to divert steel cans, corrugated cardboard, or clear glass.

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