Agenda - 05-20-2008-6e - Laserfiche WebLink

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as truck as routes are adjusted to accommodate the additional tannage managed. In. addition to this, managing the additional fiber at the current facility would require that the County proceed to a mare efficient storage and hauling system for the currently managed materials. Details of this were ~ discussed at the Solid Waste Plan Work Group on November 28, 2007, and a recommendation will be brought to the BOCC at an upcoming meeting. Including a maximum size or cut down requirement for acceptable cardboard will be critical to program operations. In the current two-bin system, and even in any future cart system, cutting down the cardboard would be a requirement far fitting the cardboard into the bins or carts and then into the trucks. This means that corrugated cardboard placed at the curb that was not flattened and/or cut to the minimum size would need to be rejected. The Town of Cary has acut- down. requirement to 2'x 3' to fit the material in their 18 gallon curbside bins, and the County would need to adopt a similar standard. While enforcement of this standard may cause frustration to some residents, as an alternative to cutting boxes down, oversized boxes could still be taken to drop-off sites, and benefits to the community-at-large. would likely outweigh the inconvenience. Based on initial review, the estimated landfill space savings of adding cardboard to residential curbside collection services is 0.3 months. C. Expansion of the rural curbside recycling program to an additional 5,000 homes (about 60% of the households in the unincorporated portion of Orange County are presently serviced). Based on initial review, the staff level of planning/preparation, staff commitment and cost to implement this level of expansion would .not allow implementation in time to have any meaningful impact on landfill space savings. D. Expansion of the commercial recycling programs. (not analyzed here as it is under review by the Solid Waste Plan Work Group) This memo does not address expansion of the commercial recycling effort beyond the County's current modest effort in cans and bottles and food waste from selected establishments. There is a considerable amount of recyclable material, remaining in the commercial waste ,stream. Expansion to adequately and thoroughly serve this sector is complex, potentially costly and already under study by the Sold Waste Plan Work Group. Additionally, developing an effective sector-wide program has a planning horizon that is longer than the time needed to save landfill space. Thus it is considered separately and more deliberately. The Solid Waste Work Plan Group has on its immediately upcoming agenda the consideration of various options for expansion of commercial recycling programs and will likely make recommendations regarding commercial recycling later this year. III -Summary It has not generally been County procedure in the past to implement landfill bans without first ensuring that there are reasonable alternative options available besides landfill-based disposal. Preliminary assessment indicates that it makes sense to couple the addition of carrugated cardboard to the urban and rural curbside recycling programs with expansion of enforcement of the existing cardboard collection ban to the residential sector: The two in conjunction would likely produce greater diversion and landfill space savings than either one option taken alone.