The Bureau of Street Services is proud to report continued and increased success in the area of recycling. The following is a list of the notable accomplishments.

Asphalt rubber or rubber extended asphalt concrete pavements are produced by adding rubber obtained from scrap tires directly into the asphalt concrete mixture during hot plant production in a liquid or dry form, or placed as a surface treatment and/or in a membrane/interlayer between the pavement layers comprising the roadway structure.

The use of asphalt rubber in Los Angeles is in the testing phase. Some years ago, wet process rubber was used in an experiment on a specific section of Olympic Boulevard. This test project showed that the asphalt could be made with rubber added but did not answer the question of the recyclability of the asphalt rubber concrete. In order to assure that the resultant material was recyclable. The Bureau requested and obtained a grant for $34,950 from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to test the recyclability of asphalt made with rubber. In 1982 the BSS used an experimental mix design using a hot mix asphalt rubber(at least where the asphalt has no more than 3 % rubber using the wet process) may be recycled using either microwave technology or conventional hot plant process (15 % Recycled Asphalt) and still meet Marshall Mix Design specifications without having any unacceptable air quality impact.

Under the grant, the Bureau continues to do asphalt rubber demonstration projects and evaluate asphalt rubber cement produced by Cyclean, Inc. who has the Bureau contract to recycle RAC.

The Bureau of Street Services continued as the national leader in the recycling of asphalt pavement removed from streets. During the past ten years, the Bureau has recycled in excess of 1,600,000 tons of material at a cost savings of more than $16,000,000.

Through a contract with Cyclean, the Bureau has the capacity to produce quality asphalt pavement using 100% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). During the 1996-97 fiscal year, the Bureau recycled 188,798 tons of RAP using microwave technology. In addition to the recycling that is done utilizing the microwave process, the City's two conventional asphalt plants have been retrofitted to use 15% to 20% RAP. in the production of 112,061 tons of asphalt.

After many months of testing and specifications analysis, the Bureau of Street Services with the assistance of the Department of General Services, Standards Division developed a new specification for vendor delivered asphalt that calls for the use of 15 % Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). Two contracts were awarded in June 1996.

The Bureau continues to manage and maintain the 100% level of recycling horticultural (green) waste from in-house operations in order to reduce the amount of green waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill, including 4,000 tons from the Department of Water and Power. The benefits of recycling green waste and wood materials are many. The diversion of green waste helps to conserve the rapidly dwindling landfill space, and postpone the very unpopular construction of new landfills. Nearly 24% of the City's entire waste strewn is composed of landscaping and wood waste. The savings that this recycling program generates is substantial. The waste recycling cost the City only $29. 10 per ton versus $35-$42.88 per ton when done by a contractor, plus savings for transportation cost and loss of productivity due to traffic congestion, and increased air pollution.

The mulch that is produced by grinding the green waste is placed along the City's 295 acres of landscaped median islands. This helps to save significant amounts of water, one of our state's most precious resources, and also improves the porosity and aeration of the soil which results in healthier, more vigorous plants that will have a higher capacity for producing oxygen. Mulching also helps to reduce erosion and acts as a barrier to emerging weeds, reducing the necessity to buy mix and apply herbicides.

The reuse of recyclable post consumer plastic materials is being accomplished by specifying that such plastic be incorporated into Bureau operations, traffic barricades, tree well grates, signs and trash receptacles. One major accomplishment of the last year was the increase in the percentage of postconsumer recycled plastic used in the Bureau's plastic barricades and signs. The new specification calls for 100% recycled content (as opposed to the prior 50%). Last year the Bureau purchased $394,000 for 100% post-consumer recycled plastic barricades and signs; $152,800 for 10% recycled content polyethylene bags; and approximately $9,500 for 100% post-consumer recycled plastic traffic delineators.

The Bureau is also pleased to announce that because of its commitment in the area of recycling it has influenced vendors to utilize and promote the use of recycled materials in their advertisements. In June of 1997, the Bureau has entered into a program to recycle damaged and unusable barricades which the City will benefit from, economically and ecologically.

In an effort to be environmentally conscious and promote recycling, the Bureau has awarded contracts for both conventional and rubberized slurry seal in the past two fiscal years. Although rubberized slurry seal has proven to be a durable, productive material that results in approximately 250-300 scrap tires recycled per mile, budget limitations and the higher cost of rubberized slurry seal prevented the Bureau from awarding a rubberized slurry seal contract for the 1996-97 fiscal year. However, the Bureau has mobilized a Rubberized Slurry Seal crew that was trained at no cost by the County of Los Angeles. The Bureau has secured an initial contract with the Department of Airports to slurry seal its maintenance facility. The Bureau will continue to evaluate the cost effectiveness and efficiency of the Bureau's program as opposed to the contract program.

The Bureau used processed Miscellaneous and crushed miscellaneous base material which consists of crushed rock, cement and asphalt. This recycled material is required for sub-base in street reconstruction during dry soil and weather conditions. The Bureau used approximately 8,936 tons at a cost of $43,291 in FY 1996-97.

Since December of 1995, the Bureau of Street Services has been using the City contract with Parco Recycling for the management of all the waste tires collected by the Bureau. Parco has been processing all waste tires received into crumb rubber (approximately 1,880 tons as of June 30, 1997) which is then sold to private industry to be reused in the production of recycled products. The Bureau has assisted Cyclean, Inc. in obtaining a $100,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board which will be used to collect and recycle waste tires into a 100% recycled asphalt rubber test project.

The Bureau is committed to continuing to look for new ways to recycle and new products to investigate.