Agenda - 04-09-2013-13 (5) - Laserfiche WebLink

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ni_rti__inn In early February staff designated a mattress collection area on the north side of the landfill under an existing canopy adjacent to where cardboard is now collected in a compactor. MGR provided appropriately sized pallets to accept varying sizes of mattresses. Solid waste staff installed three signs at the pallets to encourage recycling by size — twin, full and queen. Any king sized units were to be placed against the posts also under the canopy and loaded separately. All involved landfill and scale house staff were fully informed about the proposed operation and it was the duty of scale house operators to identify the mattresses appropriate for recycling as they were brought in typically in pick -up trucks or tied to the tops of cars and direct the haulers, once they paid the tip fee, to the recycling area. Further conversations were held with A Better Sleep, a local mattress retailer who brought their delivery trucks with the discards for recycling. The Towns' Sanitation Divisions were also informed of the program and encouraged to separate mattresses picked up as part of their bulky items for disposal at the recycling area. Staff oversaw separation of mattresses and in the first ten days collected 48 units and called MGR for collection. MGR's two -man crew arrived in a 26' straight truck the day after they were called and took about 15 minutes to manually load the mattresses and return them to Greensboro for recycling. [See attached photos] Over the following six days, another 53 mattresses were separated for recycling and MGR sent two smaller trucks to pick those up. Again, loading took their two staff members about fifteen minutes. MGR was very satisfied with product quality and storage. Mattresses were kept dry by County staff using tarps to cover them if rain was predicted at the close of the business day. During the pilot project we also received 28 mattresses staff determined to be unrecyclable and those were landfilled. There was minimal staff involvement in the placement or maintenance of the site as landfill staff reductions limit availability for this task. Most of the mattress handling was successfully accomplished by the haulers. Scale house staff determined if incoming mattresses were dry enough to be recycled and if not, they were directed to a roll -off container for disposal. That protocol would continue in a mattress recycling program. Recommendation Once the MSW landfill closes the County should initiate a formal mattress recycling collection program at the same canopy area. A fee of $10 per mattress or box spring should be established rather charging for mattresses using the current fee structure that charges for each type of conveyance or by weight, regardless of number of mattresses. In order for the program to work MGR will have to commit to loading and hauling within the proposed $10 fee. The Manager's proposed budget will include a recommendation to establish a fee for mattresses, whether for recycling or disposal, depending on the condition of each mattress.