CONTINUING

PROGRESS

While COVID-19 dominated daily life through most of 2020, the OCWR landfill system remained fully operational, with the exception of the Silverado Fire situation. (See Year in Review, October) OCWR implemented Best Management Practices to comply with all COVID mandates and follow guidance, protecting employees, customers and contractors.

SYSTEMWIDE OPERATIONS HIGHLIGHTS

Buried waste

5,129,048 tons

Total fee booth transactions

621,007

Total operational hours of heavy equipment

109,952

Habitat plantings

More than 1,500

HHW pounds collected/visitors

5,736,212 pounds

from 202,086 visitors

Scrap metal recovered

586 tons

Calls handled at HQ reception

43,818 calls

Greenwaste reused for operations/erosion control

7,340 tons

Greenwaste repurposed for composting

530.96 tons

Soil received (used to support daily operations)

2,415,916 tons

Asphalt received (used to build wet weather decks)

375,087 tons

Mattresses recovered

3,470 = 95 tons

Preserved the capacity of cubic feet equal to 40 school busses

Hours recorded by OCWR employees

462,317 hours

OCWR continued its progress in maximizing the beneficial use of landfill gas produced at the landfills through its energy partners. Landfill gas was used to power generators, which in turn produced more than 410,000,000 kwh of electricity, which is the equivalent of taking more than 63,000 cars off the road.

OCWR also continues to examine the best ways to utilize landfill gas including upgrading the gas for injection in the Southern California Gas pipelines. Renewable Natural Gas, as it is called, reduces carbon emissions and represents a greener alternative to regular natural gas. OCWR also is examining other novel strategies that minimize the environmental footprint of controlling the landfill gas while providing significant overall benefits.

Demo/Pilot Projects

Demonstration projects at the sites provide opportunities for innovation toward continuous improvement, as the Kaizen philosophy encourages. Demonstration or pilot projects launched at the sites in 2020 that have since been adopted to standard operating practices toward enhanced safety or other efficiencies include:

All Active Sites

All three active sites conducted metal recovery pilot projects. All were successful, and each site launched full-scale programs in 2020. Other pilots focused on safety, operations and composting:

Olinda

Solar-powered LED systems for barricade flashers and traffic signs to:

  • Enhance safety through greater visibility
  • Greater cost-effectiveness, saving money on replacement bulbs

High visibility, water-filled versus concrete barricades to:

  • Increase job efficiency, as they are easier to maintain, move and place
  • Enhance safety for landfill drivers, as they are painted orange and more highly visible

Three-foot tall traffic barrels, versus cones, to:

  • Increase visibility, which enhances safety by making them easier for drivers to see
  • Increase job efficiency, as the heightened visibility requires placement of fewer pieces
Prima

Alternate Daily Cover (ADC) Tarp to:

  • Preserve onsite soil and landfill capacity
Bowerman

Compost efficacy trial to:

  • Test and showcase how common backyard plants responded to varying amounts of compost application.

Safety

Among highlights reflecting progress and continuing improvement, OCWR received a major safety program award from the waste industry’s leading professional association, SWANA (Solid Waste Association of North America). Our OC Safety program was recognized as the nation’s best safety program for improvement and innovation. OC Safety brings all safety-related administration together in a single, automated system. We use it to document training, safety inspections, near misses, incidents, and injuries. It enables easy and instantaneous tracking of near misses, incidents and injuries, providing valuable trend analysis systemwide.

We also saw the positive impact of a program conceived in 2018 and launched in 2019 to codify and make consistent our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The SOPs are compiled in the OCWR Playbook, which is available as a digital tool. Its purpose is to provide a clear, simple and standardized method for every job that is performed by every landfill position.

Number of SOPs created

241

Number of team members who participated in building the SOP program

128

Number of record submissions to the safety tracking system

10,750

Simulator hours

456

Number of staff trained on simulator

52

Root cause analysis is a major component of OCWR’s safety culture. All incidents are investigated to identify the root cause. This includes near misses – incidents that could have happened but didn’t – which are a key leading indicator. Detailed investigations allow the implementation of effective corrective actions that result in safety operations.  We expanded on the convention by including a review of any SOP related to the incident. In addition to answering the basic why questions of an effective root cause analysis, we determine if a new SOP is needed or an existing one needs revision whenever a new hazard is identified.

Capital and
major projects

8

Eight Capital Projects – $8.6 million spent to construct greeneries, groundwater protection and stockpile infrastructure, viewsheds, odor control misting systems and storage facilities.

24

24 Major Improvements – $3.2 million spent for such projects as wetlands basin repair, fee booth and scale upgrades, asphalt rehabilitation, slope erosion repair, trash fence replacement, odor management.