Action planning work group results

The Zero Waste Planning Team recently wrapped up the second phase of the Zero Waste Plan development. In phase 2, action planning work groups comprised of community members and industry stakeholders refined and recommended more than 60 actions for inclusion in the plan.

Action planning work groups formed around seven themes: equity and access, policy, neighborhood solutions, advancing circularity, systems and infrastructure, green streams, and blue streams. More than 160 people registered to join a work group. Each work group had at least 20 members that included a balance of community members, staff from businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local government, and waste experts.

Action development process

The work group members met first to review findings from the phase 1 research and engagement, including what we heard from the community and industry stakeholders, what we learned from case studies of national and international leaders, and what we found when analyzing gaps in the county’s waste management system.

The members then met in their theme work group and reviewed an initial list of actions. Between meetings and using an online meeting board, members were asked to pose clarifying questions, suggest edits and propose new actions.

In the next meeting of the work groups, members discussed the edits and additions and staff answered questions posed. Following this meeting, members completed a survey to indicate their level of support for the expanded actions in their theme work group. More than 60 actions were elevated for a final vote by all participants, regardless of which work group they were in. At the last work group meeting, work group members reviewed the survey results and provided final comments.

The solid waste consultant is now analyzing the elevated actions to determine their technical and economic feasibility and environmental and social benefits. Part of this analysis will include recommending additional actions if needed to address any remaining gaps to ensure a comprehensive zero-waste plan.

Learn more:

Review the memo (PDF) with an elevated list of actions and summary of the final survey results

Correction: An earlier version of this article included a memo that incorrectly ranked the level of support for actions by work group members. This memo was updated in November 2022 to correct errors made in 5 actions noted in the document. The earlier version of the article also included a link to a presentation incorrectly labeled as the final meeting presentation (PDF). It has been removed to reduce the possibility of confusion over the ranking of the actions by work group members.