Agenda - 02-05-2008-11a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memorandum To: Laura Blackmon, Manager From: Gayle Wilson, Director, Solid Waste Management Subject: Landfill Bans and Recycling - Tools to Extend Landfill Life and Reduce Waste Date: February 5, 2008 This memo responds to a BOCC question at its meeting on November 15, 2007 about what types of landfill or collection bans might effectively extend the life of the Orange County Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfill until such time as a transfer station can be sited, permitted, built and opened. Current time lines have the transfer station not able to be open until 3-6 months after the landfill is projected to be full, thus actions to extend landfill life are critical to ensuring that the County is able to meet its obligations under the Interlocal Agreement to offer environmentally sound and effective means of disposal. Staff research contained within this memo is not meant to pre-empt the more formal solid waste planning process being led by the Solid Waste Plan Work Group, which is examining programmatic improvements in a more systematic and integrated manner. The Solid Waste Plan Work Group has been generally meeting every three to six months, and the Group's next meeting should occur in March 2008. The information provided here is primarily included because the potential opportunities are compatible with existing efforts and can be implemented relatively quickly, albeit with very modest impact on disposal tonnages. Landfill or Collection Bans The materials staff believes could be considered for landfill bans include: • newspaper, • glossy magazines, • plastic bottles (a state-wide landfill ban comes into effect on October 1, 2009), • residential corrugated cardboard (a ban of commercially (non-residential) generated corrugated cardboard is already in effect), • commercially produced waxed corrugated cardboard (heretofore considered "unrecyclable"), • clean wood waste from the residential sector (a ban of commercially generated clean wood waste is already in effect), • commercial food waste from large generators, and • Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) that would mostly be televisions and older computer monitors. In its initial review, staff considered the timing, efforts and logistics necessary to implement, enforcement factors, and amount of landfill space saved. Initial assessment suggests that the County may want to pursue additional information on implementing a ban of the lead-bearing Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) commonly associated with televisions and computer monitors. Initial staff evaluation indicates other landfill or collection bans may not yield sufficient landfill space savings relative to problems identified with overall timing, implementation costs, and enforcement factors. Staff is certainly open to investigating all available options further based on additional direction.