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Feature
Article September/October 2000
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Can one city make a difference when it comes to waste reduction? The City of Sunnyvale, CA, proves that when community members come together, good things can happen. By Dorlene C. Russell Waste-Reduction
Campaign Takes Shape The night is velvety dark with barely a hint of daylight inching into the sky. The sleepy neighborhood is not yet astir. Into this placid scene lumbers a large TV camera-crew truck, soon to telescope its antennae high into the sky. Slowly the TV truck crawls into the driveway of one home in this well-kept residential neighborhood in Sunnyvale, CA, 40 mi. south of San Francisco. What is the news that brings out the early-bird news team and a host of interviewees? It is the City of Sunnyvale’s eighth annual Citywide Garage Sellabration. Why has this event drawn attention from cities as diverse as the megapopulated Los Angeles and as far north as Nova Scotia? Why is it newsworthy? It’s a win/win/win/win situation: Sellers like it because they receive direct benefits - cash and more usable living space. Buyers like it because it offers the adventure of seeking treasures or bargains in a safe environment. Cities, counties, and even provinces are intrigued by it because they sense its waste-reduction potential and realize that it can be replicated for their communities. Private-sector partners like the event because they can participate in a positive community event with a direct benefit in goodwill or sales. Perhaps this venture is successful and popular because it captures the cooperative spirit of a community putting its collective best foot forward as it takes a common event and gives it a new twist. When this project was conceived in 1992, the Sunnyvale goal, pushed by California mandate AB 939, was to reduce waste to landfills by 50% in less than 10 years. This event was designed to bring attention to the need to reduce the volume of household solid waste disposed in Sunnyvale and has served its purpose well. It has helped Sunnyvale reach its current diversion rate of 53% and keeps waste reduction on the front burner of public awareness. Mark Bowers, City of Sunnyvale’s solid waste program manager, states, "This project is a good way of bringing solid waste and recycling issues right into people’s homes with an emphasis on reuse and giving rather than throwing away. The bonus for us is that it is very popular and has such a community-involvement thread." Early in 2000, Sunnyvale received a waste-reduction achievement award for this project from the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Waste-Reduction Campaign Takes Shape The idea of holding a citywide garage sale came from a Sunnyvale resident and coincided with the California mandate to reduce waste by 25% by 1995 and 50% by 2000. What steps did the city take to develop this campaign? First came some research. Had any city ever done such a project? El Cerrito, CA, had held a citywide sale one year earlier and shared the details of its event with Sunnyvale. Next, city staff gave an overview of the project to the city council and received approval to proceed. Then came the concept building: setting out the strategies that would guide decisions throughout the project. It was time to apply the principles of motivating and changing behavior and gaining commitments. As the city continued designing the campaign that would place waste reduction at the front and center of this drive to promote garage sales to the 130,000 residents of Sunnyvale, the key messages and target audience for the promotion needed to be selected. Timelines and outreach materials needed to be developed. According to Richard Gurney, Sunnyvale recycling coordinator, "We especially wanted to reach new segments of the population that had not been very involved with other waste-reduction or recycling practices. We wanted to reach individuals who did not usually hold garage sales. Our outreach materials and advertising purchases aligned with that goal. We also wanted participants to know why we were doing this event and to link waste reduction to landfill space. We wanted the community to share our enthusiasm and become as equally involved with this project as we were." To develop the campaign strategies and public-outreach materials, garage-sale planners identified the two major audiences as the sellers and the buyers. Within those two audiences, subsets of the population were targeted with specific messages tailored to each group. A critical element of the city’s strategic plan for citywide waste reduction is that personal responsibility is emphasized to all target groups. There is nothing like hauling one’s own stuff from house or garage to driveway (or from driveway to the car) to get the personal touch of waste reduction instilled in the mind of that hauler. The key campaign message to both buyers and sellers is reuse: Resell it now or even give it away - just keep it out of the landfill. Initially the sales were also promoted to buyers as an opportunity to use their purse power and celebrate Earth Day. This garage-sale event is held at individual resident homes during one weekend close to the city’s annual spring cleanup. City staff begin planning this event from six to nine months in advance. Sunnyvale residents receive direct-mail notice of the sales about two months before by way of the Solid Waste Program’s semiannual newsletter. Information about the citywide sale is also highlighted in city publications that routinely go out to the public. Residents who respond to the recycling program and who are interested in holding a sale and being listed in the city’s ad are sent a registration packet. That packet includes a welcoming letter, tips for holding a sale, and the all-important registration sheet where sellers list their top merchandise. One of the most important enclosures in the seller’s promotional packet is the list of nonprofit agencies that accept donations of household goods year-round. Residents are encouraged to donate to charities or give away usable items by using a "free" table at the sale rather than disposing of the items in the trash. Several of the local reuse outlet stores have confirmed that donations increase significantly after the information packets go out and after the garage sale is held. Prior to the event, promotional press releases and public service announcements are circulated to potential shoppers throughout Santa Clara County and the San Francisco Bay area. A print ad, now at a full page, is run in the area’s major newspaper listing all the sellers’ addresses and a selection of merchandise offered for sale. At this point, the city has registered sellers, compiled the ad copy, and placed and paid for the ads. After vending their goods on the weekend of the sale, the residents keep the cash.
From the start, the city has sought private-sector partnerships in support of the garage sale. These partnerships provide an opportunity to share in the goodwill that this event generates and give the city a chance to involve the community in spreading the waste-reduction message. The Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce has been a garage-sale partner since 1992 and donates hundreds of maps of the city so that shoppers, some of whom come from far away, can easily find their treasures. Another pioneering partnership was developed with the Southland Corporation (now 7-Eleven Inc.), parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience stores. 7-Eleven provides local in-store space for the shoppers’ maps and lists of sales. The 12 Sunnyvale stores continue to be involved, and 7-Eleven Inc. has also offered this service to other cities in the county that hold citywide events. John De Miguel, corporate market manager for 7-Eleven, remarks, "In any city it is important to be a partner. We want to be a good citizen in every community. It is nice to have an opportunity to do that." Goodwill Industries donates clothing and household goods to be used on the promotional display boards placed at city facilities, and Goodwill’s participation helps highlight the reuse message. Observes Steve Spivak, director of public affairs for Goodwill Industries of Santa Clara County, "We think that the city and people of Sunnyvale have demonstrated time and time again that donating reusable clothing and household goods plays an important part in ridding households of unwanted items and helping individuals improve their lives. Doing so also demonstrates that recycling is always a good idea." Recently the real estate brokerage firm of Coldwell Banker became another of the city’s partners. Coldwell provides sidewalk garage-sale sign distribution and pick-up service to each resident holding a sale and requesting such signage. The participating realtors even practice reuse as they repaint and reuse signs that were made obsolete by a recent business merger and name change. "The garage-sale sign give-away began as a small, individual project six years ago when I delivered 50 free signs to those in my neighborhood requesting them," recalls Jean Davis, a realtor with Coldwell. "Sign delivery has now become an office event, with over 700 signs distributed to garage-sale participants throughout the city for this year’s event. The appreciative response from those receiving our signs has proven this event to be successful." "It is extremely rewarding to all of us at Coldwell Banker to be of service to the community. We want to be a part of what is happening in Sunnyvale. Many of us have a long-standing relationship with the homeowners, and we want to be supportive any way we can," remarks Gloria Walker, assistant manager with Coldwell Banker. "This office and our company are deeply involved in community projects. We want to be a part of the community," states Barbara Money, Coldwell Banker branch manager in Sunnyvale. This year, each of the garage-sale partners was presented with an award at the City of Sunnyvale Environmental Achievement Awards Program. In addition to the assistance of the private-sector partners, the Sunnyvale Departments of Public Safety, Information Technology, Community Development, and Community Relations join the Department of Public Works to provide various kinds of support for the garage sale. City employees are included in the garage-sale information loop and are involved in supporting and promoting this event through word of mouth. Thus, it should come as no surprise that city employees are also avid shoppers on the sale day.
The Garage Sellabration is popular with residents: Participant registration has doubled since the event was initiated. The city has observed that for every registered sale, there are at least two unregistered sales. Last year, as in many years, the sale was featured on local TV news and captured the attention of one station’s news director for the "wake-up edition" news show. This required some willing participants to rise at 4:00 a.m. to be ready for the roll of the TV camera. One year, a radio DJ picked up the event from the community calendar editor and called one of the organizers at home at 6:30 a.m. wanting a personal update. Each year, the city has from three to 10 calls from residents, staff, and elected officials of other jurisdictions, all of them wanting information about how the event works. Over the years, as the popularity of the event increases, calls from prospective shoppers and sellers start coming in to the recycling center as early as the December before the spring sale. After the first garage sale, a survey was sent to participant sellers. With a response rate of over 40%, the results indicated a well-received event. Participants loved it. Ninety percent said they had benefited from the sale, and 91% perceived the city as an environmental leader. One participant noted that it gave him an opportunity to spend quality time with his family. Many comments carried the theme of having an opportunity to get acquainted with neighbors and build community trust. Feedback was also received about the volume of materials sold (diverted from the landfill), donations, satisfaction with the city, and other qualitative questions. Perhaps the most surprising result, according to Dan Rich, assistant to the city manager, was how well the event fostered a strong sense of community. Other cities within Santa Clara County have become interested in the garage-sale event, and Sunnyvale has shared its garage-sale plan with other jurisdictions around the county as well as the country. Several of the cities in Santa Clara County now hold annual garage sales. The city was also asked to feature the garage sale in a short video produced for American City.
"We like to cover an event like the Sunnyvale citywide garage sale because it shows how members of the community can come together in a positive way and puts faces on the many volunteers that help make our community a wonderful place to live," states Melba Dangerfield, KNTV community relations director. "The Sunnyvale sale shows true community effort. I remember all of those people meeting my camera crew and me at 4 a.m. and then moving from site to site with us so that we could film live and give our viewers a preview of the sale - amazing," remarks Sharon Katsuda, a television journalist with KNTV. "As we got ready to film, I walked into a patio full of antiques and an astonishing spread of treasures. Later I regretted not buying a set of antique golf clubs as a gift for my mother. It was very gratifying to realize that all of this effort benefits not only the happy buyers and sellers but also the entire community as Sunnyvale drives home the waste-reduction message." The sale continues to evolve and change as it matures. Increasingly the city has maintained the old partnerships while forming new relationships with various segments of the private sector. Queries have increased from resell, repair, and other types of specialty-sale businesses that would like to wrap their image in the waste-reduction message and the accompanying goodwill. There are discussions of adding an electronic shopping feature. Although the heart of this sale has changed little over time, there are some noticeable trends among sellers. There are more group sales as neighbors join together to hold a sale. Residents are frequently using this as an opportunity to raise funds for civic organizations. Some of the groups that have used the sales to raise funds are the Public Safety Officers Association (with funds going toward the battered women’s safe shelter program), Lions International, Sunnyvale Historical Society, Animal Birth Control, American Association of University Women, and the Fremont High School Grad Night Committee. The benefits of this sale event are a finely woven blend of both intangible and tangible benefits. Although the intangible benefits of goodwill and community connectedness drive the event, the tangible benefit of waste reduction is considerable and has been measured by Sunnyvale. These quantifiable results are based upon public surveys and waste-composition studies and reflect a variety of economic factors, such as the cost of collecting, hauling, processing, and disposing trash. For each event held there are both current-year and future-years cost savings in the collection and disposal of unwanted household items. Solid Waste Program Manager Bowers maintains that putting unwanted or surplus household goods into circulation for sale or reuse sooner rather than later decreases the probability that in the long term (10-15 years) these "wasted" assets will be landfill material with higher disposal costs. Including individual sales, groups of households, and unregistered or late-entering sales, there were 2,379 participating household in 2000. Based on past quantities sold at an average-size sale, the participating sellers sold an estimated 238 tons of material. The solid waste program’s avoided refuse transfer and disposal costs from just the 2000 event, valued at $79/ton, are $18,802. Using a conservative estimate that 70% of this material would become landfill fodder, there is a cost savings of $13,161 to the city and its refuse-collection ratepayers. This savings does not include either the value to the community from increased household-goods donations to charities and reuse organizations during the year or possible decreases in refuse collection costs. Other benefits include converting unproductive assets into productive assets in the local economy, releasing space in the garage or home where productive activities can occur, and putting cash in the residents’ hands to be circulated in the economy.
The costs associated with these benefits are primarily in the advertising in the surrounding areas and the staff time to coordinate this event. These costs vary from year to year, primarily according to the number of registered sellers. Costs have varied from about $4,000 in 1992 with more than 300 registered, to $11,760 in 2000 with more than 500 registered. The city continues to evaluate the program in terms of costs and benefits, making expenditure adjustments as needed. This program to promote waste reduction is a cooperative venture that uses community and individual involvement to create an increased awareness of the need to throw away less stuff. Thus, it assists in the demanding task of managing the collection, hauling, and disposal of solid waste. Most important, by sharing information about city goals and inviting participation, the whole community is becoming a shareholder in the successes of waste reduction in Sunnyvale. For information, contact Rich Gurney, City of Sunnyvale recycling coordinator, at 408/730-7277 or rgurney@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us. Dorlene C. Russell, based in Campbell, CA, is a community relations consultant.
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