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TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL <br />306 NORTH COLUMBIA STREET <br />CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA 27516 <br />July 8, 1998 <br />Margaret Brown <br />Board of Orange County Commissioners <br />1509 Smith Level Road <br />Chapel Hill., N.C. 17516 <br />Dear Ms. Brown: <br />ATTACHMENT 1 <br />Telephone (919) 965 -2700 <br />Thank you for your thoughtful letter of April 30, 1998 regarding a series of issues related to solid <br />waste management. The Council has discussed these issues at some length on June 22 and July 2 and <br />we send our comments to you. We have organized our response around the questions that you raised. <br />In addition to the discussion below, I enclose a copy of the resolution the Council adopted giving <br />guidance to the Chapel Hill representatives on the Landfill Owners Group. Also enclosed is a copy of <br />a proposal for governance of the solid waste system. The Council voted to endorse it as a proposal <br />that the Council would like to consider and to forward it to the governing bodies of Orange County, <br />Canboro and Hillsborough. I am doing so along with copies of this letter and the accompanying <br />resolution. <br />Financing Solid Waste Operations <br />Point Al: Local responslbility for collection of garbage <br />The Commissioners support the principle that each governing board would retain its responsibility for <br />collection of solid waste. The adopted solid Waste Management Plan contemplates the same division <br />of responsibility for garbage collection as well as the centralized collection and processing of <br />recyclables. <br />Point A2-4• Use of tipping fee to maximum extent possible <br />We agree that the tipping fee should be used to the extent possible to support county -wide solid waste <br />management operations. However, we also agree with the Landfill Owners Group's admonition that <br />the tipping fee may become inadequate to do that. As waste reduction and waste recycling programs <br />succeed, the volume of waste disposed in the landfill decreases. However, landfill tipping fees support <br />the cost of waste reduction and waste recycling programs. If the tipping fees are increased to cover the <br />increasing costs of waste reduction and recycling, volumes delivered to the landfill decrease partly <br />because of the success of the other programs and partly because tipping fees become prohibitive. The <br />Orange Regional Landfill tipping fees are now close to the top of the range of landfills in surrounding <br />counties. <br />