AGENDA - 04-20-2009 LEGISLATIVE MEETING INFORMATION

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Previously, many C&D Landfill operators used good judgment and best management practices in allowing construction and demolition type materials and other non putrescible solid wastes such as same furniture, non-recyclable wood, rigid plastics, etc. The purpose of this informal, land~li-operator-initiated expansion of accepted materials was to preserve valuable lined landfill space, while at the same time maintaining environmental integrity and rigorous oversight of the facility. while most metal, clean woad and cardboard is recycled from our local C&D waste due to Urange County's regulatory prohibition on landfilling these materials, other constructionwlike material is frequently so heavily comna.ingled with the remaining non-construction site wastes, that it will now no longer be technically classif ed as C&D. In staff s esti~.ation, and that of many solid waste professionals and scientists, a discarded board, water hose or a plastic bucket from a construction site is no different than an identical discarded board, water base or plastic bucket from a dome Depot durnpster ar a citizen's garage. To many solid waste professionals, it seems that the environmental properties of the material itself should .determine the most effective and proper disposal rather than the origin of the material, whereas it appears that the regulators have placed origin ahead of the nature of the materials in im artiance of determining how materials are to be handled. p CJperational difficulties created for orange County by this change in enforcement are substantive and adjustments will be required of customers accustomed to longstanding landfill materials acceptance practices. The worl~ing face of the lined N~Sw landf ll will became larger, requiring additional daily cover material. Managing this increased traffic from conu~.ingling of smaller vehicles like the casual home-hauler in a pickup truck with larger vehicles will create operational and staffing challenges. Urange County has worked diligently for twenty years to reduce waste landfilled, conserve landfill air space and increase recycling in every sector through a combination of prograims, regulations, public education and techn~.cai innovation. The County's environmental monitoring protocols include o~~site inspection of each load dumped and our groundwater monitoring far exceeds State regulatory or general industry standards. Last year, Grange County achieved its highest waste reduction rate ever at 48% per capita. This new enforcement protocol will burden the County and its Landfill users unnecessarily, take away daily operational judgments by .our on-thewground waste staff and not necessarily achieve any greater envira~unental protection, while moving materials out of our CAD waste stream, potentially escaping our C&D recovery efforts and unnecessarily harming the County's waste reduction efforts. while many conm.unities do not have access to C&D landfills and dispose of all wastes into Municipal Solid waste ~MSw} landfills, others that da utilize C&D facilities may wish to allocate wastes according to their specific properties and preserve landfill space and minimize expenditures. The Solid waste Nianage~nent Act of Z00~' now requires liners in ail new C&D landfills and makes them essentially equal to MSw landfills in their level of protection. This makes the arbitrary distinction of using the source of materials rather than the contamination potential of the waste materials even less understandable. we suggest your consideration in recommending that our legislative leaders consider inquiring about a potential change in the definition of C&D waste.