For Residents
Green Homes
The Clayton Green Sheet is available to provide information on sustainable development resources to Architectural and Site Plan Review applicants. Energy efficient homes that are designed, constructed and operated for optimal performance and resource conservation are able to demonstrate reduced negative environmental impacts, improved occupant well being and profitability from energy savings.
For new development or redevelopment projects, Low Impact Development is a comprehensive approach to land planning and engineering design. The purpose of Low Impact Development is to preserve and enhance the hydrologic system affected by the proposed development. By maintaining natural landscape features and maximizing site drainage, the impact of the built environment can be lessened on they hydrologic and ecologic systems. Click here to learn more about Low Impact Development.
Green Appliances
Are your household appliances stealing your money? Not if they have the Energy Star seal of approval! Energy Star is a government program that offers energy-efficient solutions, making it easy to save money while protecting the environment for future generations. Energy efficient choices can save families a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing features, style or comfort. Click here to learn more about the Energy Star program.
Low Maintenance Landscaping
Native and adapted plants are vigorous and hardy in local conditions. They can survive winter cold and summer heat without irrigation or fertilization once they are established and are resistant to most pests and diseases. These plant species should thrive in the local conditions to which they are best suited without becoming invasive. For more information, visit Grow Native!Xeriscaping is a landscaping approach to carefully designing, installing and managing attractive landscapes that use up to fifty percent less water than traditional landscapes. There are seven steps to the xeriscaping approach:
- Proper planning and design
- Soil analysis and improvements
- Appropriate plant selection
- Practical turf areas
- Efficient irrigation
- Use of mulch
- Appropriate maintenance
When irrigation is required, rainwater can be harvested and used to water flowers, shrubs and trees.
Stormwater Management
The goals of residential stormwater management in Clayton are to:
- Preserve greenspace
- Detain water onsite
- Reduce flooding
- Filter water pollution with the first flush
- Achieve high water quality
- Avoid stormwater infrastructure overload
- Avoid any increase in runoff onto neighboring properties
All public or private sewerage or drainage works proposed to be constructed, altered or reconstructed in Clayton will require review and approval by the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District. This includes any altering of any storm drainage channel, site drainage or flood plain.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suggested several stormwater mitigation Best Management Practices for small lots. Below is a list of the stormwater mitigation Best Management Practices for small lots suggested by the EPA. All of these Best Management Practices detain water onsite. However, acceptable stormwater mitigation Best Management Practices should not be limited to those that are currently available.
Grassed Swale - A grassed swale is a vegetated open channel that controls stormwater runoff volume, improves water quality and is good for use in retrofits. As stormwater flows through the channel, it is treated through filtering by the vegetation in the channel, permeating through a subsoil matrix and/or infiltrating into the underlying soils.
Infiltration Basin - An infiltration basin is a shallow, landscaped depression designed to control stormwater runoff volume and remove pollution by infiltrating stormwater into the soil. These basins are good for use in retrofits and incorporate many of the pollutant removal mechanisms that operate in forested ecosystems. They are designed to pond a small depth of water above the filter bed, and an underdrain system can be used to collect filtered runoff at the bottom of the soil bed and direct it into the storm drain system.
Infiltration Trench - An infiltration trench is a rock-filled trench with no outlet that receives stormwater runoff, stores the runoff in the voids of the stones and slowly infiltrates it into the soil matrix below. Like infiltration basins, trenches should be sized so that the treatment volume can completely infiltrate through the trench bottom in twenty-four hours. These trenches provide groundwater recharge and pollutant control. Infiltration trenches are good for small spaces and retrofits, consuming only 2-3% of the entire drainage site. They fit into thin, linear areas which may otherwise be relatively unusable portions of a site.
Pervious Pavement - Pervious pavement is a permeable pavement surface with an underlying stone reservoir that temporarily stores runoff before infiltrating into the subsoil. Examples include porous asphalt and pervious concrete which allow runoff to infiltrate into the soil and receive water quality treatment. Pervious pavement replaces traditional pavement and is good for use in small spaces.
Alternative Pavers - Alternative pavers are similar to pervious pavement and include materials such as paving blocks and grass pavers (concrete interlocking blocks or synthetic fibrous grid systems with open areas designed to allow grass to grow within the void areas).
Green Roofs - Growing vegetation on rooftops can be intensive or extensive. Intensive green roofs use a wide variety of plant species including trees and shrubs. They require substrate layers greater than 4" and intensive maintenance. Intensive green roofs are generally limited to flat roofs and are often used in park-like areas that are accessible to the public. Extensive green roofs are limited to herbs, grasses, mosses and drought-tolerant succulents. Extensive green roofs require a shallow substrate layer less than 4" and minimal maintenance. Both intensive and extensive green roofs are suitable in areas of poorly draining soils and recover green space lost by the building footprint. Their benefits include controlled stormwater runoff, improved air quality, energy conservation, mitigation of the urban heat island effect and increased longevity of the roofing membranes because they are protected from UV rays and extreme temperature fluctuations.
Tree Planting
Clayton has been named a Tree City USA every year since 1993!Trees produce life-giving oxygen and remove air pollution as they lower air temperature. A community with trees can be as much as 12 degrees cooler in the summer than those without trees. Trees slow rainfall runoff, prevent soil erosion, muffle noise and provide privacy. Click on the links below to learn which trees are right for your yard.
AmerenUE Planting Trees
AmerenUE Plant the Right Tree in the Right Place
Clayton understands the benefits and importance of maintaining Clayton's public right-of-way tree population, which totals 7,921 trees worth over $17 million. The Department of Parks and Recreation for the City of Clayton maintains over 80 acres of green space for its residents and visitors. There are 1,520 trees located in Clayton parks valued at $2.7 million. Parks Department staff works to preserve and protect these valuable assets of the city and the community by carefully maintaining the trees according to the highest standards and renewing the City's urban forest canopy with an ongoing tree planting program ensure an abundance of healthy trees for future generations. Click here to view Clayton's Tree Policy and Procedures.
Green Incentives
View the list of state, local, utility and federal incentives and policies that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy.Your Bikeable, Walkable Community
In 2009, Clayton partnered with the neighboring municipalities of Brentwood, Maplewood and Richmond Heights to create a Bikeable Walkable Communities Plan. The Master Plan is a coordinated effort to provide safe and convenient travel options in and around these communities. View the plan here."Providing a safe, interconnected network of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure can improve community health, reduce harmful auto emissions, increase transportation choices while reducing automobile traffic congestion, generate economic benefits for residents and businesses, foster a greater sense of community, and increase quality of life."
-Brentwood, Clayton, Maplewood and Richmond Heights Bikeable Walkable Communities Plan
Recycling
Recycling is available to all residents and is collected once a week. Recycling helps to reduce the amount of waste and increase the amount of material converted into recycled products. Decreasing the amount of waste in landfills helps the environment and reduces the need for new landfills. Reductions in landfills decrease costs for the waste hauler by offsetting rising fuel costs to run the waste trucks, which allows the waste hauler to pass the savings onto the City. Click here to view Clayton's Recycling Guidelines. Multi-family buildings should contact their building management with any questions.All recyclables should be rinsed. All materials are to be placed in the recycling bin provided by Allied Waste. If you need an extra bin, they are available at City Hall. In Clayton, we have single stream recycling, which means you can throw all recycling in one bin. The following is a list of items that can be recycled:
Glass, Plastic & Cans:
- Glass bottles and jars (clear, brown, green) such as soda, beer, wine and food jars (No window glass, dinnerware or ceramics)
- Plastic beverage containers such as milk, water and soda bottles
- Plastic detergent, fabric softener, margarine tubs, frozen dessert cups, six pack rings, yogurt, ketchup and narrow neck syrup bottles
- Narrow neck plastic containers such as those for health and beauty products and household cleaners
- Aluminum and metal beverage cans, trays, foil and empty aerosol cans (Remove labels, Trays must be clean)
- Aseptic containers and gable top containers such as juice boxes and cartons
Paper:
If it is raining the day of pick up, we ask you to take any paper material out of the recycling and save for the next pick up day.
- Newspaper, including inserts (Excludes plastic sleeves)
- Cardboard broken down and bundled, no wax board (You may also drop cardboard in the recycling dumpster located at the west end of Shaw Park Drive.)
- Kraft paper such as brown paper bags
- Magazines, catalogs and phone books
- Chip board such as cereal, snack or gift boxes
- Paper such as computer, notebook and gift wrap paper (No metal rings or binders)
- Junk mail (excludes plastic cards, stick-on labels or unused stamps)
- Paper back books
The following materials may NOT be recycled:
- Paint and spray paint cans
- Mirrors, light bulbs and pesticide/herbicide containers
- Plastic wrappers
- Bleach and motor oil containers
- Household hazardous waste (paint, cleaners, oils, batteries, pesticides, etc.)
Household Hazardous Waste
Household products that contain corrosive, toxic, ignitable or reactive ingredients such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries and pesticides are considered to be household hazardous waste and can harm sanitation workers, contaminate septic tanks or waste water treatment systems and create risks for children and pets if left around the house. The Saint Louis County Department of Health is currently developing a network of permanent household hazardous waste drop-off locations. Until that network is in place, the Department of Health will continue to host annual household hazardous waste collection events in the spring and fall. It is hoped that by creating year-round household hazardous waste drop-off locations, even more residents will be able to take advantage of this program.
Composting
Composting is the decomposition of organic materials to make a nutrient-rich soil additive. Clayton has updated its Residential Composting Ordinance to allow the reuse of specific household waste materials for mulching as an alternative to landfill disposal. Click here to learn more about composting.As of October 1, 2010, Clayton residents will be able to include compostable materials with yard waste for pickup. This waste hauling service is free of charge and is intended to divert the approximate 25% of residential compostable waste that is being sent to landfills.
All compostable materials should be added in with yard waste and put in a single, clearly visible, outside location by 7am on your scheduled pickup day.
Compostable materials include leaves, sod, grass clippings, wood chips, saw dust, vegetables, fruit, paper, straw, empty egg shells, hair, dryer lint, coffee grounds, tea leaves and vacuum cleaner dust.
Materials that may not be composted include all animal products such as meat, bones, carcasses and manure, litter box remains, all dairy products, lard and oil, oily foods, mayonnaise, salad dressing, peanut butter, non-biodegradable items and whole grains such as rice, wheat and barley.
Materials collected for composting will be put back into the ground for use as soil, mulch and fertilizer. For more information, please call the Clayton Public Works Department at (314) 290-8546.
Clayton is the first Green Power Community in Missouri and one of only 37 in the country.
With the goal of turning 2 percent or 670 megawatt hours of the community energy consumption into renewable energy credits (REC) by Earth Day 2011, the City of Clayton launched its Green Power Community challenge in April of 2010. Through a joint effort with Ameren Missouri Pure Power, Clayton-based Microgrid Energy and Clayton businesses and residents, the City achieved is GPC status in March 2011, a month ahead of its goal.
