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30 <br /> l�C?C�i?rY7� <br /> MEMORANDUM <br /> To: Landfill Owners.Group <br /> From: Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Management Director <br /> Subject: Reconciling Our Established Waste Reduction Goals with State of North <br /> Carolina Solid Waste Section Records and Protocols for Calculating Waste <br /> Reduction <br /> Date: May 28, 1997 <br /> This memorandum recommends that the Owners Group revise its previous resolution of May <br /> 8, 1997 to choose a base year of 1991-92 for calculating waste reduction and to modify <br /> their waste reduction goal percentages to reflect the change in base year. The change is <br /> requested in order to conform with the base year that the State of North Carolina has <br /> indicated they will use to measure waste reduction progress for all counties. <br /> Background <br /> On May 13, 1997, Chapel Hill Solid Waste staff met with representatives of the State of <br /> North Carolina Solid Waste section to resolve issues about measuring progress towards the <br /> waste reduction goals. State representatives made the following points: <br /> • The State plans to measure and publicly report all waste reduction progress using 1991- <br /> 92 as a base year so all communities across the state can be tracked comparably. [They <br /> noted the figures for 1995-96 are already on the Internet and show Orange Regional <br /> Landfill at a 37% reduction rate compared to the 1991-92 base.] <br /> • We may use an alternate year for our own planning purposes but the State will use 1991- <br /> 92, thus offering the potential of having two sets of waste reduction numbers being <br /> reported for Orange County. We have historically used 1988-89 as our base year because <br /> it is the year prior to implementation of significant publicly funded recycling programs <br /> in Orange County. <br /> • Coal ash, tires, yard waste, white goods, recyclables, solid waste and other materials <br /> managed at the landfill, as well as waste landfilled elsewhere but originating in Orange <br /> County, will all count in the base of the State's calculation, despite the manner in which <br /> these materials were actually handled in the base year. This methodology gives counties <br /> with programs existing in 1991-92 credit for waste reduction from these programs. For <br /> example, Orange Regional Landfill already recycled white goods and diverted brush in <br /> 1991-92 but they were counted in the base. <br /> • Coal ash, although now diverted and beneficially reused, in compost, could again be <br /> counted against our waste reduction goal if the State were to find in the future that the <br />