Consumption and Climate Change
Earth Overshoot
Look around at all the things you use in a day. Where do they all come from? What kind of materials went into them? What resources got used up in the process of getting the item to you? What happens if you put the item in the garbage versus if you donate it to a thrift store? These are among the many questions you could be asking related to the impact of the use of materials and natural resources. As we make decisions on what we buy and what we do when we’re finished with it, we’ll return more things to the beginning of the cycle rather than lose them forever as waste.
Consumption and Climate Change
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Waste
Every time we throw an item away, we miss an opportunity for that item to become something new. But waste also creates GHGs. When organic material like food and even paper and cardboard go to a landfill, they create methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than CO2.
GHGs from the waste we produce makes up 7% of Sunnyvale's inventory. Unlike many of the solutions that require new technologies to reduce emissions, the power to eliminate waste related GHGs is in our hands. All we need are simple behavior changes to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.
Play 4.1: Achieve Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
Our Targets
If we hit our targets, by 2030 Sunnyvale will achieve 90% diversion from the landfill. Doing this will require that we generate much less waste and that all discarded materials in Sunnyvale are recovered for their highest and best use, leaving only minimal materials that need to be disposed of. Learn more about Sunnyvale's waste management at the Recycling and Garbage page.
Play 4.1: Achieve Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
Understanding Waste Levels
Waste disposed per person per day is a good way to keep track of how the average resident is contributing to the overall amount of waste that is generated in Sunnyvale. Trends were going in the right direction from 2014 to 2018 but had jumped back to 2014 levels in 2019. However, in 2020 we are back on track to show a reduction in our pounds per person per day of disposed waste.
One thing that is not captured by normalizing for the change in the resident population is the impact of larger local workforces and buildings which generate a substantial amount of waste as well. In 2020, less waste was generated as there was less economic activity in Sunnyvale. Due to the countywide shelter in place order, less commercial and construction waste was generated. We expect to see economic activity pick up in 2021-2022 but also expect diversion rates to increase.
Play 4.1: Achieve Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
Diversion Rate
Another way to express our targets is in terms of landfill diversion rate and we are aiming to be at 90% by 2030. We made significant progress on that metric from 2015 - 2018, but it fell slightly to 63% in 2019. In 2020, we were able to rebound back to the 2018 rates and reach 68% diversion; up 5% since 2019. We will continue to watch this metric closely to ensure we're staying on track.
Sunnyvale is investing in technological improvements to the SMaRT® Station, which will improve our ability to recover materials from the waste stream. Sunnyvale is also expanding the FoodCycle program to reach all multifamily dwelling units starting in early 2022. This will help eliminate food waste from our waste stream and increase the diversion rate.
Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
How to FoodCycle in Sunnyvale
Play 4.1: Achieve Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
How We Do It
Separating all the materials in the waste stream to avoid landfilling is a complicated operation handled at the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer (SMaRT®) Station. While we have many systems in place to recover as much material as possible out of the waste stream, the more you do at home and at work to clean and separate recyclables and compostable material from other trash can help move more material straight to the final destination, saving tax dollars while helping to reach our goals.
Play 4.1: Achieve Zero Waste Goals for Solid Waste
What Are Some Easy Ways to Help Reduce Landfill Waste?
- Choosing reusable items over single-use, disposable items significantly reduces the amount of waste your household makes. Bring bamboo utensils and reusable mugs when you're on-the-go, use cloth napkins at home instead of paper ones and shop with reusable shopping bags.
- Refuse items you don't need, like plastic straws in beverages or giveaway freebies you likely won't use.
- Group your online purchases together to avoid multiple shipments that each come with their own packaging. If available, select options for reduced packaging or shipping in original product boxes.
- Look for fruits and vegetables that are unpackaged and use your own produce bags to purchase them.
- Prevent food waste by planning your meals, shopping smart, and eating leftovers.
Play 4.2: Ensure Resilience of Water Supply
Climate Change and Water Supply
The City of Sunnyvale has three different sources of drinking water supply: treated surface water from the San Francisco, Regional Water System (SFRWS) managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), treated surface water from the Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water), and local groundwater. Climate change related drought has been straining our water resources. This means that water that is easy to supply today may be less plentiful in the future. Whether water is pumped from local wells or sourced from distant reservoirs, there is a considerable amount of energy used to get it to you safely and reliably.
Play 4.2: Ensure Resilience of Water Supply
Water Consumption
Water use fluctuates year to year with changes to heat and natural rainfall, which makes trends a bit harder to see. However, it is encouraging that water use has been consistently lower than in 2013. Tracking this metric in terms of usage per person is a good way to control for growth but it doesn’t control for the growing areas of landscaped and irrigated commercial properties. This is more encouraging to see stable rates in recent years.
Learn more about water conservation in Sunnyvale.
Play 4.2: Ensure Resilience of Water Supply
Water Use Trends
Our water use shows clear seasonal trends. Not surprisingly, the highest numbers are across the summer months as outdoor uses ramp up. In order to meet demand during these peak periods, Sunnyvale must typically increase the amount of imported water from neighboring water supply systems. Reliance on imported water is not ideal from a resilience standpoint and imported water is the most energy intensive source in our supply. Reducing water use in the summer months is one of the most impactful ways to both conserve natural resources as well as energy.
Play 4.2: Ensure Resilience of Water Supply
Recycled Water Production
In addition to the conservation efforts of Sunnyvale residents and businesses, recycled water is a key strategy for minimizing our need for imported water. Every summer, the Water Pollution Control Plant re-routes treated wastewater to be applied in irrigation and other non-potables uses. Without this recycled water system, our summer peak use would be higher as well as the energy and GHG emissions associated with our water use.
Play 4.3: Enhance Natural Carbon Sequestration Capacity
What is Carbon Sequestration?
When trees grow, they pull CO2 out of the air and convert it into leaves, stems, and wood. A huge amount of the carbon on earth is stored in the trees that once covered nearly all the land in the world. By maximizing the area of trees in Sunnyvale and keeping them in good health, we can help do our part to pull as much carbon out of the air as possible.
Play 4.3: Enhance Natural Carbon Sequestration Capacity
Benefits of the Tree Canopy
The Sunnyvale Urban Forest Management Plan identifies several key benefits of tree cover beyond their ability to store carbon:
- Trees provide comfort and shade, which can even reduce energy use in nearby buildings
- Trees reduce smog and other pollutants
- Trees provide social and health benefits
Play 4.3: Enhance Natural Carbon Sequestration Capacity
Expanding Our Tree Canopy
Currently, Sunnyvale's tree canopy covers 18.4% of the city with over 231,000 total trees. This amounts to about 1.5 trees for every resident.
The City of Sunnyvale works hard to maintain and increase canopy, including approximately 70,000 street trees and another 5,800 trees on public properties. Together, these represent only about 33% of the trees in Sunnyvale - the remainder are on private properties.
A near-term target of increasing the canopy coverage to 20% would require 15,000 trees on residential properties and 14,000 trees on commercial properties. That may seem ambitious, but we can meet that target if only 12% of residents plant one more tree.
Play 4.3: Enhance Natural Carbon Sequestration Capacity
What is Green Stormwater Infrastructure?
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) uses natural landscaped areas with plants and soils to collect and treat stormwater, allowing it to soak into the ground and be filtered by soil and plant roots. This reduces the quantity of water and pollutants flowing into local creeks and San Francisco Bay. The City adopted its Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan in 2019 to guide the siting, implementation, tracking, and reporting of GSI projects on private and City-owned land over the next several decades. GSI integrates building and roadway design, complete streets, drainage infrastructure, urban forestry, soil conservation and sustainable landscaping practices to achieve multiple benefits. The City is aiming to increase stormwater from private development land areas totaling 1,069 acres by 2020; 1,519 acres by 2030; and 1,969 acres by 2040. The City is also continuing to add GSI features that provide community benefits in public areas, such as the newly completed Persian Drive and Caribbean Drive projects, which include bioretention rain gardens treating stormwater runoff from roadways and other paved surfaces.
Adapted from the 2015 Portland, OR Climate Action Plan
Play 4.4: Promote Awareness of Sustainable Goods and Services
Resource Consumption and Climate Change
In addition to the overall strain on material resources our consumption choices have on material resources, they also drive greenhouse gas emissions in the places that produce the what we consume. The image here illustrates for many cities in the developed world, the global GHGs from the materials we purchase typically outweigh the ones we can measure here locally.
Even if these GHGs are harder to count, keeping this fact in mind should help to ensure we make better daily choices in what we purchase as well as what we do with items we no longer need.
Play 4.4: Promote Awareness of Sustainable Goods and Services
Your Household Footprint
The responsibility to address consumption emissions outside of our boundaries is with each of us as individuals, households, and businesses to make better choices. A good place to start learning about what choices matter is to check your own carbon footprint, such as the one illustrated here for the average Sunnyvale household.
You may be surprised by how much the food we consume impacts GHGs outside of Sunnyvale during production. Overall, meat and other animal products consume the most energy to get to our plates. In general, the greater the degree of processing and distance an item travels, the more carbon is released along the way. For a typical household in Sunnyvale, the food we purchase has nearly the same climate impact as the energy and materials used in our housing.
You can find out how big the carbon footprint of your food, housing, and other choices stack up by visiting the Cool California Household Calculator.
Be Part of the Solution!!
Resources for Reducing and Recycling
