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Iowa City outlines EMS goals and a roof‑shingles recycling target as a test case for climate metrics
Summary
Staff described the city’s Environmental Management System (EMS) process used to set measurable objectives and targets. The landfill’s roof‑shingles recycling objective aims to increase recycled tonnage by 10% from a FY24 baseline of 335 tons to about 368 tons, measured against FY26 results.
Staff presented the city’s participation in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Environmental Management System (EMS) as a framework to set measurable objectives and targets tied to continuous environmental improvement.
Under EMS the city organizes projects into six component areas (hazardous materials, organics, water quality, greenhouse gas reduction, recycling services and environmental education). Staff described the EMS format: an objective and target split into action and subject, adoption date, metric and time period, results/baseline and an action plan listing tasks, responsibilities and deadlines. EMS uses an "aspects and impacts" scoring process to prioritize where objectives should be set based on control, environmental impact and financial impact; staff said each criterion is scored on a 1/3/5 scale and averaged across a core team.
As a concrete example staff presented the roof‑shingles recycling program under the recycling services component. Fiscal‑year 2024 baseline tonnage for roof shingles was 335 tons; the EMS target is a 10 percent increase over that baseline, i.e., a goal of at least 368 tons, comparing FY24 to FY26 with FY25 as a mid‑year result. Staff said the city collects clean shingle loads at the landfill from contractors and that the product partner LL Pelling uses recycled shingles for road surfacing. The program targets roofing contractors as primary customers, with residents able to participate as well.
Commissioners asked about how EMS measures are chosen and whether to prioritize easily measured items or those with the greatest climate impact. Staff and commissioners discussed using the Climate Action Plan sections to identify objectives staff can realistically measure and track by fiscal year. Staff suggested testing the EMS-style objective/target structure first on one Climate Action Plan subsection (buildings) and then extending the method to transportation or other areas.
Ending: Staff proposed a near‑term exercise: commission members will review the buildings section before the next meeting; staff will prepare a condensed, action‑by‑action memo to support choosing test objectives and metrics.
