Agenda - 05-21-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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19 1 2 3 Rob Taylor introduced himself as a resident of uninco Orange County and a 4 former Orange County Recycling Programs Manager 10). He referenced the seven 5 municipalities in NC who assess a fee directly to residents for solid waste or recycling services; 6 and he offered to provide this list if it would help convince the municipalities to think about that 7 option. He mentioned that the Orange County Voice statement regarding the amount of 8 material coming from rural areas. He said that the tonnage also includes the urban drop off 9 sites as well, which serve urban businesses. He said that a franchise system where lO governments must engage directly with a private service provider is not the right solution for 11 Orange County. He said these systems have substantially lower participation than the current 12 systems and this would increase the amount of waste rather than optimizing recovery. 13 He said that that the integration of the current systems increases e#ic)enoy, and this will be 14 disrupted if the system is taken apart with the franchise plan. He noted that the rural route also 15 serves parks, fire departments, businesses and other county facilities. He said that other 16 municipalities have expressed desire to participate and the Board needs to find a way to make 17 that work. He said that funding the recycling system out of reserves will undermine public 18 recycling on funding the next fiscal year. This is because the money was saved for equipment. 19 He said that the franchise should be rejected anda000peradvesyaternputinp|one. vvhioh 20 keeps everyone together. 31 Amy Brooks represents her company, Brooks Contractor, with a hauling and composting 22 facility in Chatham County and her business is contracted by Orange County Solid Waste to 23 collect from 32 locations in the County. She said the venture into waste collection started with 24 the cooperation of the county and serves environmentally minded residents. She feels that the 25 only reason this program is on the chopping block is because it is so successful. She said that 26 there is an environmental mess to clean up and a public to educate. She said that Orange 27 County has been a light to lead the way and the surrounding communities are making moves 28 toward implementing programs that follow the example. She said that 1,600 tons of waste has 29 been collected and composted by her company in Orange County this fiscal year. She said that 30 4,000 cubic yards of compost and compost blends were also shipped out to local farms, 31 community gardens, and landscape communities. She urged the Board not to let this program 32 die. 33 Anagha Kalvade introduced herself as a volunteer and coach for the Friends Recycling 34 Team. She said that the team has been active and in the news lately. She noted that the 35 project started with the announcement about the landfill closing and a study was done to look at 36 how much material could have been saved from the landfill and sent to recycling. She said 37 that over a period of 20 days, 690 pounds of recyclables ended up in the landfill. She said that 38 a big part of the success of the pr ject was the Solid Waste Management Team and she 39 recognized their efforts. She said that there is a lot of education tied into this department, and 40 she noted plans to execute this in all of the County schools. She said that if only cartons are 41 recycled in these schools, it will account for 170,000 pounds of material. She said that the 42 closing of the landfill presents the wrong time to put more burdens on schools and citizens and 43 she stressed the need for education about recycling and composting. She expressed hope that 44 the current system would not be changed. 45 Commissioner Mckee asked if there was an issue with the earlier request from Jessica 46 Bollinger to allow small trash pickup businesses to dispose of waste at convenience centers. 47 John Roberts said he does not know of any issues with this, and he referred to Gayle 48 Wilson for input. 49 Frank Clifton said those are convenience centers, not transfer stations, and there are 50 some permitting issues.