King County Housing Authority
Sustainability Project Final Report
September 10, 2004
Prepared by O’Brien & Company
P.O. Box 10705
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Tel: 206-842-8995
Fax: 206-842-8717
www.obrienandco.com
info@obrienandco.com
Executive Summary
In September of 2003, King County Housing Authority (KCHA) contracted with O’Brien & Company (the Consultant) to:
1. Assess and rank environmental impacts of KCHA’s operations from a “sustainability” perspective;
2. Assist in setting short-term sustainability objectives and long-term sustainability goals;
3. Develop a framework for monitoring environmental performance and reviewing objectives;
4. Create a Report Card to track and communicate progress towards sustainability objectives and goals;
5. Propose a selection of short and long-term strategies to make progress towards those goals; and
6. Provide a methodology for evaluating and prioritizing alternative strategies in the future, including calculating cost payback where unit cost information is readily available.
The Consultant assessed and ranked the environmental impacts of KCHA’s operations, narrowing the scope of the project to focus on the aspects of operations with the most significant impacts (aspects covered by concurrent energy and water consumption studies, activities where KCHA does not have significant control and influence, and the Greenbridge HOPE VI project were also excluded). Table 4.1 summarizes these Aspects and Impacts.
These aspects were grouped into the following categories of Sustainability Performance:
Aspirational goals and long- and short-term objectives were identified for each of these categories, based on the identified environmental impacts of operations. These categories, goals and objectives provide the basis for a framework to monitor and manage organizational performance. Indicators and metrics were established to monitor progress towards objectives, and a cyclical process for managing performance was developed:
START HERE --> Set and refine policies and objectives --> Select strategies to achieve objectives --> Implement strategies --> Monitor results --> Review performance --> Consult with stakeholders
Current Performance
Overall, KCHA is already taking a number of steps to reduce its environmental impact (such as eliminating the use of potable water for irrigation during the summer, identifying and sourcing less toxic janitorial products, and analyzing energy and water consumption to identify locations with conservation opportunities). Individual departments and maintenance locations have implemented recycling and other waste reduction efforts. However, few of these efforts were being implemented in a systematic way, making them difficult to maintain and replicate toward continuous improvement.
Furthermore, very few environmental impacts are tracked with consistent and comparable metrics. Without this information, it is difficult or impossible to benchmark performance, or to track progress towards objectives, and assess the effectiveness of impact reduction strategies. Several recommendations are made to address this situation.
A Sustainability Report Card was developed to track and communicate performance to stakeholders.
Recommendations
As a result of the work completed for this project, the Consultant has recommended a series of strategies to KCHA. These strategies are broken down into three groups:
Here is a brief summary of the recommended strategies. They are explained in more detail in Section 6 of the report.
Strategies Underway
Compliance Monitoring Program – This strategy involves identifying known and potential aspects of the Authority’s activities that may fall under legal and regulatory requirements; analyzing whether it is feasible to eliminate the regulated activity from Authority operations (e.g. replacing a regulated hazardous material used in maintenance operations with a non-hazardous, non-regulated alternative); establishing operational controls and a performance monitoring system to ensure compliance. It has been initiated through participation in the King County EnviroStars Program. However, other areas of regulatory compliance have yet to be identified.
Fleet Vehicle Maintenance – Through the new vehicle maintenance contract with ARI (the new fleet maintenance contractor), employees will be able to track fleet vehicles to a variety of approved service locations throughout the region. The tracking system offered by ARI will include detailed information on fleet vehicles that are out of compliance with their scheduled maintenance requirements. This should help to improve the routine maintenance of vehicles in the fleet, thereby improving their gas mileage and reducing emissions. Total annual non-compliance will be tracked in the Report Card.
Mold/IAQ Inspection – The Maintenance Division is adding a service code to their annual inspections to screen for potential mold and indoor air quality issues, before they arise. This will institute the practice of looking for warning signs of moisture issues related to leaks or inadequate ventilation and allow earlier intervention or remediation. Total annual instances of mold identification will be tracked in the Report Card.
Surplus Disposition – KCHA has signed up to participate in Washington State’s Surplus Exchange System. This will serve to provide an avenue to find a user for capital items that the Authority no longer needs, and, as such, could potentially generate some income while reducing disposal costs. The Authority can also purchase items through the surplus system and exchanges should be checked for appropriate items before buying new.
Short Term Strategies
Construction Waste Recycling – The Authority generates construction-related waste during unit turnovers, repairs, major renovations and new construction. These each present opportunities to increase the amount of waste that is diverted from the landfill. This strategy involves ensuring that best practice standards are applied to all construction waste management, by both KCHA staff and construction contractors. The strategy will utilize existing resources, such as the King County Construction Works Program, and the material salvage services of ReStore and other vendors.
Inventory Purchase Substitution – To pilot use of the Cost Calculator as part of a full Environmentally Preferable Procurement Program, the Consultant has identified 10 inventory items, from the top 50 annual purchase by expenditure, for possible substitution with alternatives that are cost-comparable and have lower environmental impact. These items are:
Packaging Waste Prevention – A waste prevention focus group among Maintenance Supervisors identified primary and secondary packaging materials on inventory purchases as a significant source of waste. Additional labor cost is also incurred to remove the packaging, or else additional storage space for products in bulky primary packaging is required. This strategy involves analyzing the sources of over-packaged products by vendor, and approaching vendors directly to negotiate a reduction in both primary and secondary packaging in KCHA purchase shipments. The number of products included in the “packaging waste prevention program” will be tracked in the Report Card.
Residential Waste Prevention – Residential Solid Waste represents significant cost and environmental impact. However, there are many challenges to managing the Authority’s residential solid waste prevention program, tracking and rewarding performance and capturing cost savings. It is important to share current internal and external best practice, invite bids or rebids from contractors to include waste volume tracking and engage residents in developing pilot waste prevention projects as soon as possible to begin the process of meaningful change.
Unit Turnover Waste Prevention – Doors, countertops, and carpet have been identified as items that make up a significant percentage of the waste generated during a unit turnover. They also represent significant procurement, installation, removal and disposal costs. In this strategy, the EPP process and Cost Calculator tool (provided) will be used to identify viable alternative product selections that will increase materials efficiency and reduce waste generated through increased service life. Secondary benefits, such as improved indoor air quality and reduced unit turnover time are also anticipated.
Simultaneously, through the “Steps to Sustainability” program, staff will be empowered to identify and implement their own environmental improvement actions to prevent waste resulting from unit turnovers; including more efficient use of materials during installation, and improved materials recycling (see Construction Waste Recycling).
Long Term Strategies
Environmentally Preferable Procurement Program – An Environmentally Preferable Procurement (EPP) Program is designed to ensure that all purchasing and procurement practices within an organization (or within the scope of the program) are consistent with stated sustainability goals, while at the same time maintaining or enhancing current standards for product cost and performance.
The strategy consists of developing policy and guidelines for KCHA procurement consistent with agreed sustainability objectives, wherever possible leveraging existing policies and guidelines for King County and City of Seattle programs, to leverage purchasing power.
“Steps to Sustainability” campaign – “Steps to Sustainability” is a voluntary action program designed to encourage sustainable innovation – a “campaign” format provides motivation, education, and recognition for grassroots action within the Authority. The proposed approach offers a balance of structure, flexibility, deadlines and time to plan and implement steps, and provides an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the efforts that have been made. It also provides a way to track individual and team actions and share them with the larger group.
Sustainable Landscape Planning – Proper selection of plants and turf, landscape arrangement, irrigation equipment, use of soil amendments, and irrigation scheduling can dramatically reduce outdoor water use. Enhanced soil and plant health, which result from such landscape planning will also eliminate the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and significantly reduce labor cost in landscape maintenance.
Program Implementation Recommendations
Implement systems for tracking and reporting all necessary metrics – The Consultant recommends that systems for capturing and reporting consistent and comparable data for all sustainability performance metrics be integrated into normal operations and systems as soon as possible. For example, recycled content percentages should be included in the product information reported by vendors and tracked by Purchasing.
Establish an annual management cycle – The Consultant recommends that KCHA establish an annual management cycle for the framework: selecting and implementing strategies, reviewing performance, communicating with employees, residents and other stakeholders, revising objectives as necessary, and repeating the process. This cycle should be synchronized with budgeting and performance review cycles.
Report Card: Pre-launch groundwork – It is important that employees are offered opportunities to participate in the process soon after they learn about it. The Consultant therefore recommends that necessary groundwork is done prior to launching the Report Card, to facilitate such participation.
The groundwork includes:
a. ensuring support and commitment from all senior managers to the agreed objectives
b. establishment and training of a “sustainability team” to act as initial advocates and ambassadors for the program at the department level
c. development of the necessary infrastructure and resources to support the implementation of the initial selected strategies, and some accommodation for new and better solutions that result from participation.
Staffing – The Consultant recommends that one FTE “sustainability coordinator” position be committed to this process for at least the first and second annual cycle. This person should have a “dotted line” reporting relationship to the Executive Director.
Budget Integration – As part of the annual budgeting process, departments should set their own sustainability objectives in line with the Report Card goals, and allocate appropriate resources in their departmental budgets to achieve those goals.
KCHA should consider establishing a small sustainability line item in the Executive Director’s budget, to be used to facilitate and catalyze the adoption of “stretch goals” for the sustainability initiatives that might not otherwise happen at the department level. Ways to shift costs between capital accounts and operating expense accounts should also be facilitated.
Detailed Workplan – Once the Authority has reviewed the findings of this report, and made decisions about the recommended strategies that it wishes to pursue, a detailed workplan should be developed to ensure effective deployment of information and resources, and coordinated and efficient implementation of the selected strategies.