Phoenix,
Arizona

"Building a sustainable environment is a long range goal for the city of Phoenix. Achieving this goal will require significant commitment and effort, but the considerable benefits for the community will be well worth the investment" - Pat Manion, Deputy City Manager, City of Phoenix

ABSTRACT

Phoenix, Arizona is promoting urban sustainability through a variety of programs that conserve energy and water resources, develop energy and transportation alternatives and reduce the volume of the city's waste stream through source reduction and recycling. As a collector of large quantities of recyclable materials the city of Phoenix developed an interest in the availability and development of markets for recyclables and products using recycled materials. In 1992, the city of Phoenix passed Resolution No. 18054, which that set guidelines for the purchase and use of recycled paper, reconditioned tires, compost and mulch, and other miscellaneous products such as recycled plastic park benches. The resolution also called for the creation of a formal pollution-prevention program.

STIMULATING RECYCLING MARKETS AND RAISING LOCAL AWARENESS

The city of Phoenix, Arizona, is striving to become a model for municipal pollution prevention and recycling promotion. Starting with only a pilot curbside recycling program in 1989, Phoenix now boasts an aggressive pollution prevention program and a growing commitment to sustainable city management. The city's focus on minimizing the environmental impacts of its operations is the outgrowth of a landmark resolution for municipal procurement, management, and use of recycled and environmentally sensitive products.

The Phoenix City Council passed the resolution on July 8, 1992, acting on the recommendation of the city's Environmental Quality Commission (EQC). The resolution not only established preferences for recycled-content products in city purchasing decisions, but also called for expansion of existing recycling and reuse programs, pilot programs to test new uses of waste products in municipal services, and studies of potentially beneficial product reconditioning programs.

The resolution and the process of crafting its guidelines have broadened awareness of recycling among city department managers and motivated them to embrace environmentally sensitive practices and products. Further, implementation of the resolution has demonstrated that financial savings can go hand in hand with environmentally conscious procurement. The resolution has also led to the adoption of a city-wide pollution-prevention program that will reduce the Phoenix's need to process and dispose of dangerous wastes by slashing the amount of waste the city generates.

Recognizing Recycling Opportunities

When the city of Phoenix began a curbside recycling program in 1989, it became acutely aware of the economics of recycling. While recycling programs must pay the costs of collection and sorting of recyclable materials, those costs are offset in two ways: recycling programs eliminate disposal costs by diverting recyclables from landfills and incinerators, and, especially important in this case, they generate income from the sale of recyclable materials.

As a collector of large quantities of recyclable materials, Phoenix quite naturally developed an interest in the availability of markets for recyclables and in the development of markets for products containing recycled materials. The stronger these markets are, the greater a city's recyclable materials-income stream. City leaders saw a role for Phoenix in the demand side of this equation. To get the ball rolling, Phoenix's mayor asked the city's EQC to develop a recycled-products procurement proposal.

Acting on the mayor's request, the EQC seized the opportunity to promote purchases of recyclables in the broadest possible spectrum of city services and to call upon the city to develop a formal pollution prevention program. The commission used two criteria in suggesting opportunities for city purchases of recycled-products. First, in order to maximize market impact, the city should seek recycled-content alternatives to items it already purchased in very large volume. Second, the city should select products that promise significant reductions in environmental impact. To identify specific target products the EQC drew on the expertise and experience of city purchasing managers, suppliers of recycled products, and potential users of recycled products.

The EQC issued its findings and recommendations in the Procurement Report of the Land Use and Solid Waste Committee of the Phoenix Environmental Quality Commission. In suggesting municipal procurement standards, the report identified the following goals:

• To help the city develop markets for recycled products;
  
• To reduce the city's usage of environmentally harmful products; and
  
• To encourage and acknowledge significant private-sector participation in procurement of recycled products and other products that do not contribute to environmental degradation.
  

Elected officials, answerable to city residents, also voiced concerns about cost. When the EQC report was first presented to City Council, the council's Natural Resources Subcommittee briefly discussed its recommendations, then directed the city's Budget and Research Department to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before taking further action. The subsequent study determined that many of the recommendations could be implemented at little or no cost. Of the few programs with identified start-up costs, the analysis indicated that these costs would be offset by future cost savings.

Producers and suppliers of recycled products, who also had a stake in the EQC's recommendations, supplied only technical information to the commission's fact finding efforts.

You Say You Want a Resolution...

After considering the final EQC report along with the Budget and Research Department's findings, the Phoenix City Council adopted the recommendations as Resolution No. 18054. The formal resolution establishes guidelines for the following:

Paper. The resolution sets guidelines for post-consumer waste content and labeling and establishes a 10 to 15 percent price preference for city-purchased recycled paper. It also encourages double-sided copying in city offices and submission of bids printed double-sided on recycled paper.

Fertilizer. The resolution sets guidelines for the optimal use and application of compost and mulch, and calls for studies of two other waste-reuse opportunities: use of city sludge as compost, and commercial sale of city-collected and -processed yard waste.

Tires. The resolution urges the city to consider expanding the use of recapped tires on city vehicles and test rubberized asphalt in new road construction, and establishes a preference for rubberized asphalt made with waste tires over that made using newly manufactured synthetics.

Miscellaneous Items. The resolution directs the city to expand its use of recycled automobile batteries and test the performance of re-refined automotive oil; purchase recycled plastic products subject to a 10 percent price preference; test the durability of recycled-plastic park benches; and study the feasibility of adopting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recycled-insulation materials procurement standards.
Pollution Prevention. The resolution directs the city to develop a formal pollution prevention policy or program to limit city use of products which could have an adverse impact on the environment.

Two important factors have shaped the impact of Phoenix's procurement resolution. First, the resolution enjoys the support of high level managers and officials. It began with a mayoral suggestion, and its development involved the people with the authority and responsibility for its implementation. Second, it recommends a course of action rather than mandating one. These characteristics tend to encourage fairly rapid government response; they involve relatively few actors in the decision-making process and do not require new layers of administration or dedication of additional budget resources. Both, however, can present obstacles in implementation.

As Phoenix attempted to implement the resolution's guidelines the primary obstacle it encountered was a lack of communication of procedures to lower levels of management and to staff in general. The city had relied on department heads to disseminate procurement guidelines to employees. In actual practice these communications were inconsistent. Without an institutionalized implementation plan, Phoenix discovered, new purchasing managers and department heads in particular were not always aware of purchasing guidelines and consequently might fail to continue practices consistent with the procurement resolution.

In November 1994, the Phoenix Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) conducted a study to assess the impact of the resolution on department purchasing behavior. The survey underscored the need to improve communications. To address that need OEP has recently begun to publish a newsletter which addresses a variety of environmental issues of concern to the city, including procurement. In addition, as part of the Pollution Prevention program championed by the resolution, the city has created several new staff positions that promote awareness of pollution-prevention opportunities, procurement of more environmentally sensitive products among them.

As a set of guidelines rather than directives, the procurement resolution did not prescribe any financing measures to offset the costs of implementation, nor did it specify provisions for potentially necessary administrative change.. Each affected department head was responsible for securing the funding necessary to carry out the tasks outlined in the resolution. Over time, this burden may hinder sweeping change in Phoenix's procurement practices; for now, however, the resolution is implicitly tailored to activities that can be undertaken within existing budget constraints and in some cases actually yield cost savings. The recommendations for both tire recapping and use of recycled automobile batteries had been deemed cost-effective on financial merit alone and were already underway or completed before Phoenix's city council passed the resolution.

Cutting Costs and Raising Consciousness

Recommendations of the Phoenix resolution have achieved varying degrees of success. In some instances progress has been slow, while in others, gains have been more immediate.

In the case of recycled-paper purchases, the 1993 OEP assessment showed little impact on city procurement. Although the resolution established a 10 to 15 percent recycled-paper price preference, vendor bids for recycled paper submitted in the spring of 1993 were on average 25 percent higher than those for virgin paper. Nearly three years later, however, vendors are now providing quotes for recycled paper that are very close to the established guidelines--only 16 percent higher than those for virgin paper.
Fertilizer and compost recommendations did not have great immediate impact, but continue to influence practices and policies of Phoenix's Parks and Public Works Departments. The Parks Department has responded to the resolution by purchasing a new tub grinder, expanding its capacity to recycle vegetative material. Both departments continue to evaluate the benefits and cost effectiveness of using recycled vegetative material in various applications.

Expansion of the Public Works Department's Sanitation-Truck Tire Recap Program, by contrast, has clearly proven its benefits both in cost reductions and in environmental impact. Fiscal year 1994-95 savings from this program totaled $94,160, with a waste-stream decrease of 409 tires. In an effort to expand use of waste tires, the city is testing the suitability of rubberized asphalt in new road construction. Results of the test, which recycled 15,000 tires, will be available in 1996 or 1997.

Other motor-vehicle-related procurement activities include a 1993 expansion of Phoenix's battery reuse and recycling program. That program has reduced the city's new-battery purchases by 19 percent. A test of re-refined waste oil in city vehicles, begun in 1992, will yield results in 1996.

In what is perhaps the resolution's greatest impact, Phoenix has answered the call for development of a city-wide pollution-prevention program. In 1995 the city instituted a program that commits substantial financial and personnel resources to the cause of pollution prevention. Under the program the city seeks to alter the mix of inputs and methods it uses in delivering city services in order to reduce the amount of hazardous waste it generates. The procurement resolution paved the way for this more rigorous and comprehensive approach to sustainable urban management. (see sidebar)

Assessing Performance and Replicating Results

Although implementation of the resolution has not dramatically increased procurement of recycled products in all target areas, the effort remains an important one for the city of Phoenix. Its principal effect has been in focusing the attention of department heads and procurement officers on more environmentally sound alternatives to traditional procurement strategies. The resolution also catapulted Phoenix into a role of environmental leadership, setting an example for other jurisdictions, and its own residents, businesses, and institutions. By providing a test bed for environmentally sensitive products, the city has fostered confidence in such products among other potential purchasers.

In doing all this the resolution advances Phoenix's goals of promoting recycling and establishing markets for recyclables, especially those with potentially dire environmental consequences such as waste tires and automotive oil. In cases where such products are not generally available in the region the Phoenix resolution may encourage their penetration of local markets ice-breaker purchases.

With the proper buy-in from high-level elected officials and public service professionals the resolution strategy adopted in Phoenix is replicable in almost any jurisdiction. As an approach that sets out non-binding guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules, the resolution did not require broad public consensus-building. Further, it did not require allocation of additional budget resources for its implementation, enhancing its political appeal.

Creating and ratifying a list of recommendations, however, does not ensure success. Aware, Phoenix's EQC took steps to match its proposal to the interests and concerns of the departments and department heads that would be responsible for implementation. It invited these stakeholders to participate in guideline development, encouraging them to identify opportunities for greater use of more environmentally sensitive products in their operations. In a non-mandatory program, such an approach is critical to advancing program goals. Jurisdictions considering a resolution-oriented strategy to problem-solving would do well to foster similar stakeholder involvement.

In replicating Phoenix's strategy, others should also be mindful of the limitations of this approach. While a resolution can be passed with a minimum of conflict and controversy, its implementation can be problematic. When several departments are affected, as in the case of Phoenix, implementation may be inconsistent. Without clearly defined administrative and implementation procedures any local government will find it difficult to incorporate a program's values into departmental behavior and assess, refine, and sustain the program into the future.

If a jurisdiction's principal goal, however, is to use a resolution as a consciousness-raising tool - a role it played effectively in Phoenix - these issues are of lesser concern. In Phoenix, a resolution focused attention on an important environmental issues, and people responded to shape workable solutions and steps for future action. These gains would have come far less quickly under stricter mandate.

Location
The semi-arid Salt River Valley in south central Arizona.

Size
450 square miles

Population
1,051,515

Per Capita Income
$14,096

Form of Government
City Manager/Mayor-City Council

Context
Although the area has an average rainfall of less than eight inches, extensive irrigation projects on the Salt River served as a catalyst for Phoenix's rapid post WWII growth. Today, Phoenix boasts a diversified manufacturing base, which provides the bulk of the income for the area's residents.

The process of crafting procurment guidelines has broadened awareness of recycling among Phoenix city department managers and motivated them to embrace environmentally sensitive practices and products. Implementing the procurement resolution has demonstrated that financial savings can go hand in hand with environmentally conscious procurement.

The city of Phoenix has created several new staff positions that promote awareness of pollution prevention opportunities, procurement of more environmentally sensitive products among them.

The Benefits

The primary goal of Phoenix's procurement resolution is not to provide immediate, direct benefits to the city. Rather, it is an effort to boost markets for recyclable materials in Phoenix and beyond. Several of the resolutions recommendations, however, have yielded substantial cost savings or show strong potential to do so, and demonstrate clear environmental benefits.

Fiscal Benefits

Realized
$180,000 in annual savings from tire recap, automotive battery recycling, and rubberized asphalt programs

$980,000 in landfill space saved each year by recycling vegetative materials

Potential
$450,000 per year from producing mulch at city landfills, using it as fertilizer in city operations, and sales to commercial distributors.

$74 per recycled plastic park bench per year in maintenance and repair costs

Environmental Benefits

40,000 tons of vegetative materials diverted from the waste stream annually

70,000 tires recycled each year

1,300 automotive batteries recycled annually

Increased environmental and recycled product awareness among city employees and vendors.

Pollution Prevention in Phoenix

In a 1992 resolution, Phoenix City Council, proposed that the city adopt a formal pollution prevention program to limit City use of products that harm the environment. In April 1993, the city manager acted on the resolution creating an inter-departmental Pollution Prevention Team with representatives from 16 city departments. The team presented its Pollution Prevention Plan in December 1994. Phoenix is currently implementing the plan.

The polution prevention program will reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated by altering production methods and inputs to city products and services. The concept's emphasis on source reduction and 'upstream' innovations often results not only in environmental benefits, but also in improved process efficiency and cost savings. Pursuing these benefits, the Phoenix Pollution Prevention Program commits the city to conduct the following activities: