Minutes - 20061024 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Chair Jacobs said that he does not want to set aside organics. He would like to know what is happening with OWASA, and he would like to see a plan to not pay someone to haul food waste out of the County. He would like to see a proactive plan to start composting with OWASA and with the County's woodchips and yard waste. Discussion ensued about OWASA applying bio-solids. Gayle Wilson said that staff would work with OWASA and take a more proactive approach. Blair Pollock made reference to waste collection in the unincorporated areas of the County and said that the waste in the municipal areas is pretty well controlled and taken care of. All residential waste in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough is collected by the towns and delivered to the Orange County landfill. Non-residential waste is mixed, where all of Hillsborough's is delivered to the landfill by franchise contract, Carrboro's is about half from the town and half from the private sector, and the majority of Chapel Hill's is from the town. Most residential waste from the unincorporated areas goes to the convenience centers. A fair number of people use private haulers - 5,000 estimated out of 20,000 rural households. This is not regulated ar controlled by Orange County. The other issue is that there is a lot of garbage truck traffic, which is economically and environmentally inefficient. The purpose of this section is to look at the waste in the unincorporated areas and see if it would be mare efficient and effective to provide another option other than the convenience centers. The staff is working with a consultant to make some determinations about the costs of an alternative system. The first element of the study is to do some surveys of users of the convenience centers. The second element is to look at the commercial element and the casts of those services. The third element is to do some surveying and look at the overall costs of the private sector and provision of residential services. The expectation is that the study would be done in the next three months. Commissioner Gordon asked about private haulers taking waste outside of the County and how this affects the 61 % percent waste reduction goal and how it interacts with the plan. Gayle Wilson said that they do not know exactly how it would interact. He said that if more tons were added, it would seem to move backwards, but if the tons that are leaving are far ordinance avoidance and they are full of recyclables, then it could end up as a wash. Chair Jacobs asked about the three-month timeline and if that includes the function of the drop-off sites and the convenience centers. Blair Pollock said that the staff has not engaged this piece yet. Chair Jacobs said that the County is about to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a convenience center that mayor may not be needed, and the sooner this is known, the better. Gayle Wilson said that he does not envision a system that has no convenience centers. He would think that the worst that could be done would be two to three convenience centers. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to see some better coordination on making a decision on four or five convenience centers because the two combined could be over $500,000. He has a sense of urgency, and when he sees the County spending several hundred thousand dollars just for the land for two solid waste convenience centers, it is a large ticket item decision that he does not want to back into. Regarding pay as you throw, the discussion has focused within the municipalities. Gayle Wilson said that Carrboro did indicate the strongest preference and interest in pay as you throw. Chapel Hill also is interested, but it has asemi-automated collection system, and this would be difficult to integrate with pay as you throw. Blair Pollock said that for the next few months the intention is to finish the solid waste plan study on waste reduction, bring it back to the solid waste plan work group, and bring it to the County Commissioners, municipal partners, and the public and make some decisions. This