Agenda - 01-20-1998 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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J To: John Link, Counry Manager -~~ From: Gayle Wilson. Solid Waste Management Department Subject: Response to Question on development of transfer station and materials recovery facility Date: November 13, 1997 What is the feasibility of developing a transfer station and a materials recovery facility (ZtiiFt17 including possible costs and sites. Introduction Both a transfer station and a materials recovery facility (MRl7 could be developed at a variety of sites in Orange Counry using any combination of public and private ownership and operation. State and federal siting regulations are far less onerous for these types of facilities than for landfills. Environmental monitoring needs are limited compared to landfills which must monitor for groundwater contamination and methane generation as well as develop long term post-closure plans. The Greene Tract is a possible site for either a transfer station or a materials recovery facility provided that local zoning regulations allow either one or both. Other sites adjoining the existing landfill or throughout the County are also feasible. Sites chosen for transfer stations and MRFs should be near good transportation networks and close_ to the centers of waste generation to achieve efficiency in transportation. Both transfer stations and materials recovery facilities have been built in all types of settings including adjoining residential areas. Either type of facility could be built on 12 to IS acres including ample buffer areas. It is possible to site both facilities on a single parcel that might have to be greater than 12 to 15 acres but not double the siu needed for the individual facilities. Land quality and utility requirements would be similar to that needed for other industrial facilities. Transfer S Cations ~ transfer station is an enclosed facility that consolidates waste from a variety of smaller trucks for reloading into single larger transfer trailers capable of transporting as much as twenty tons of waste to a distant disposal facility. Typically hauls of greater than 20 miles one-way to landfills or other disposal facilities make transfer stations economical. All the private, licensed facilities investigated by WESTON as part of the out-of-county alternatives report issued to the Owners Group in July 1995 were further than twenty miles from Orange County. The private landfill to which Durham plans to ship its waste is over 100 miles away. . Transfer stations are capable of handling both mixed solid waste and construction and demolition wastes, both of which are now received at the Orange Regional Landfill. Ie is somewhat more costly to design a facility capable of handling the construction and