Minutes - 08-30-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Jahn Link said that, in terms of critical decisions, the Board should gravitate toward the work session an December 12t". The recommendations on the ordinance will be brought back in approximately five weeks. 2. Pending Solid Waste Recycling Contracts and Equipment Acquisitions Rod Visser said that there was a real busy agenda coming up next Tuesday night, September 5t", and the staff wanted to give the Board an opportunity to ask questions about the contracts and equipment before the meeting. There are three specific recycling contracts that are ongoing and two equipment acquisition items related to a landfill compactor and a scraper pan for moving dirt out of the landfill. Also, he brought up the issue that was on the agenda for the Quarterly Public Hearing on August 28t" of the recycling pad and the proposal to enclose it and weatherize it and create some additional concrete pad space to handle the increased amount of recyclable material. Commissioner Brown asked about the food waste and how long the contract had been going on. Blair Pollock said that there have been food waste contracts off and on since 1994. The County has contracted with a couple of hog farms in the area. Last fall, the County contracted with an entity that converts the food to compost. Commissioner Brown asked if the University was interested in participating in the food waste recycling. Blair Pollack said that the University was moving forward right now to contract with an agency. Commissioner Brown asked about the advantage of recycling food waste besides the obvious of recycling as much as possible. Blair Pollock said that the more organic substances that can be diverted from the landfill, the more quiet the landfill will be biologically. Gayle Wilson said that food waste was a significant part of our waste stream. He said that collection of food waste was a big issue because of public health issues. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Solid Waste Management Plan (1.7, 1.9, and 2.1}, and said that food waste has gone up in every category since 1995. He said that the C&D Task Force identified food waste as a possibility for further study by the Solid Waste Advisory Board to make food waste separation mandatary for commercial operations. Commissioner Brown asked about the issue with the cooking oils and the problem with the machine that was mentioned a while back. Gayle Wilson said that it was a fire hazard to a certain degree and a collection problem. He said that it would need to be recycled. Commissioner Halkiotis said that both school systems have been recycling cooking ails far about 20 years. He made reference to the Innovation and Efficiency Committee meeting that he and Commissioner Jacobs attended, who said that the County spends too much money on solid waste. He asked how he could convince the I&E Committee that this equipment was needed. Gayle Wilson said that he would welcome the I&E Committee for a tour showing them the conditions in which the staff has to work in at the landfill. He said that there were operational imperatives and rules that govern landfill operations. He said that the machine was used every hour of every day that the landfill was open. The staff has calculated that six years seems to be the useful life of this machine. He said that this particular compactor would be the last one purchased since there will not be any new lined sanitary landfills. He said that it would cost mare in the long run if an old compactor broke down and one had to be rented. The other piece of equipment, the scraper pan, allows earth to be moved, which is also done every day. In order to do without this piece of equipment, the landfill would need dump trucks and back hoe loaders. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if the equipment could be leased. Gayle Wilson said that they did lease equipment periodically for short-term jobs. He said that it was worthwhile to lease equipment for short-term projects, but not permanently. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it would be helpful to have some numbers to give to the I&E Committee on the cost of leasing versus purchasing equipment.