Agenda - 12-05-2011 - 9a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 example, a truck may be completely filled with bottles and cans, but the paper compartment is only 3/4 full. Even though there is still more room in the paper compartment, the truck must drive back and empty because he or she could not collect more bottles and cans. Thus, the truck is hauling material back to the property to dump with a lot of unused air space. A single stream truck has the ability to compact the material and utilize all of the air space in the single compartment truck body. Therefore, that same driver can stay out on route much longer and only drive back to dump when there is no airspace left in the body of the truck. This could allow the vendor to purchase less than four curbside collection vehicles. Each truck will also be able to collect each home quicker with a more automated- means of collecting carts, opposed to manually lifting two different bins at each house. The vendor will be able to decrease the amount of time each truck and employee is on route while using less fuel because of the decreased trips hauling material to dump in the middle of a route. The approved FY 11-12 CIP included the acquisition of 18,970 carts at $ 948;500. The size of the cart, based upon public input, experience of cart vendors, staff research into experiences in other locations, recent discussions with the SWAB, and staff's local understanding of and experience; we are proposing acquisition of 95 gallon carts as opposed to 65 gallon carts. The difference in cost between the sizes varies, but is usually $3 or $4 per cart. The carts that have been purchased around the State have ranged from $40 each to $50 each depending on quantity and plastic resin prices. The price of the cart will include the assembly and the distribution of the cart. As stated before, with the savings from decreased collection costs, we believe the County will be able to purchase the carts and pay them off within five years, hopefully without temporarily having to increase the Urban 3-R Fee. We will be looking at piggy-back options to purchase the carts as well. This means that we may be able to get the pricing of a larger municipality or county that has recently bought carts. The per-unit cost of a cart is usually always less expensive in larger quantities. It is possible to get the pricing of a community that has recently purchased 30 or 40 thousand carts opposed to the 19,000 we plan to purchase. If there is no reasonable piggy-back option, we will compare the options of acquire the carts through the collection vendor or directly from a cart company with an RFP. We will also be looking to receive a grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources to help purchase the carts. Right now, local governments have a chance to receive up to $75,000 towards the purchase of recycling carts. We will be working on this application in the coming months. In order to receive the funding, one stipulation is that each cart be equipped with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip. The chip does not necessarily need to be used immediately but it would be in place for future use. An RFID chip is basically a technology that uses radio waves to transfer data. The small chip is placed in each cart and the collection trucks are equipped with devices that scan the chip each time it is collected. After scanning, the information is automatically uploaded into a database. This technology is something the Solid Waste Department would like to use immediately and make sure that our collection provider has the equipment on their truck to read the information. This allows us to track the location and maintenance of the carts, participation rates, set out rates, and other statistics that will help us improve our overall waste diversion. By knowing participation rate, we will be able to target our education by sending brochures to low performing areas opposed to sending educational material to the entire community. The Solid Waste office recommends the 95 gallon cart for several reasons. It will allow plenty of room for a typical single family home. This size of container will provide enough space for bulky 3.