Minutes 12-06-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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waste at$42.50 a ton. This could be a five-year agreement. Attachment A summarizes this. The County generates about 200 tons per day of solid waste. If all of this went to the City of Durham, it would make up less than 20% of their total capacity. If there is an agreement or solution at some point, Durham would make an excellent partner for waste to energy or other new technologies. This would give a five-year window to continue. The Board of County Commissioners will consider this on December 11 th. Orange County will continue the recycling effort. In July, the County went to single-stream recycling. The convenience center at Walnut Grove is being remodeled. The plan is to remodel all five of the convenience centers. Walnut Grove should be complete in the next 3-4 weeks. There will also be district centers, which will operate longer hours and will take more recycling components. The neighborhood centers are smaller and take fewer items. Orange County is ready to move forward with a new interlocal agreement and staffs are already working on this. A component of the interlocal agreement could be the creation of the new SWAB along with the charge. Aldermen Michelle Johnson and Jacqueline Gist arrived at 7:23PM. Chair Jacobs asked Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson to update them on the waste reduction goal. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that since the state required reporting and for local governments to set goals, Orange County has steadily increased its per capita waste reduction and the goal of 61% when it was set was the highest in the state. He said that Orange County is still moving forward and is at a 56% waste reduction rate. He said that one of the contributing factors is collaboration with partners. Mayor Chilton said that since one of the state representatives from Orange County is retiring soon, Joe Hackney, who wrote the bill for the first state-mandated waste reduction bill. He wanted to publicly recognize Joe Hackney. He said that following upon Joe Hackney's leadership, Orange County has been at the forefront statewide and a role model as far as adopting the aggressive waste reduction goals that Gayle Wilson mentioned. He thanked all of the staff that works for solid waste management in Orange County for making these pioneering ideas of the elected officials. He said that the staff is demonstrating a model for our state and our country. Mayor Chilton asked for clarification of the five convenience centers. Gayle Wilson said that the concept is to modernize all five existing centers, but dedicate two of these to be full-service with longer hours and a full array of services. Chair Jacobs said that Orange County was one of the first counties to do electronics recycling and an ordinance for construction and demolition waste, and that is because of the partnership with the municipalities. He said that one of the offerings at these larger sites is food waste recycling. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to reconstituting the SWAB and said that he would like the University to have an option to be at the table. Mayor Kleinschmidt said that UNC is doing its own solid waste disposal. Mayor Chilton said that it is important for UNC to at least be a part of this discussion. Frank Clifton said that there have been ongoing discussions. The attorneys have been talking about the new agreement that will clarify the recycling roles and the roles of the County, as well as the agreement with Durham and Orange County. He said that any of the towns can join the discussion. Mayor Kleinschmidt said that the interlocal agreement needs to describe the mission and short-term goals of each entity. Chair Jacobs said that as part of a new SWAB, he would like to see a more aggressive effort of pursuing alternative technologies for solid waste disposal.