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

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3 Memorandum To: Laura Blackmon, County Manager From: Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Management Director Subject: Recycling Processing and Collection Program Expansion Details and Implementation Plan Date: May 20, 2008 At its March 6th 2008 meeting the Board of County Commissioners approved in concept the Solid Waste Plan Work Group recommendation that the County's Recycling Program transition the Drop-Off and Commercial Recycling programs from collecting and processing source separated cans and bottles to the collection of commingled cans and bottles (mixed containers) and the subsequent transfer and sale of these materials to a third-party processing facility. At the time of this approval, the Board directed staff to prepare a detailed cost analysis and implementation plan for this transition. This memorandum contains the cost analysis and implementation plan, and provides further discussion of how this transition will enable the Recycling Program to: • add corrugated cardboard (OCC) to the Urban and Rural Curbside recycling programs; • expand the materials collected and the number of businesses served by the commercial recycling program; • enable the baling thus increasing value of residential mixed paper that is currently hauled to market loose; and • allow the addition. of new source-separated plastics to the Drop-off recycling program. These expansions will increase the operating efficiency of the Recycling Division and decrease the amount of material buried as waste in the Orange County Landfill a projected 1,700 tons, thereby contributing to extension of the life of the landfill. All costs associated with the items detailed in this memorandum are included in the Department of Solid Waste Management's FY 2008-09 Budget request, and are being proposed to be accomplished without the need to increase the 3-R Fee this year. Net first year cost of all program expansions are projected at $341,800 including all non-recurring capital costs. Preliminary information on many of the topics discussed in this report was included in information item discussing Tools to Extend Landfill Life and Reduce waste, presented to the Board during their February 5th meeting. The Drop-off and Commercial Recycling programs are the only County-operated recycling programs that have not completed the transition from source-separated to commingled containers. The Rural Curbside program made this transition in June of 2005, and the Multifamily program made this transition in July of 2007. Transition of the Drop-off and Commercial recycling programs to managing commingled containers will significantly increase operating efficiency and enable multiple improvements and enhancements to a variety of recycling operations. The following table details the new costs included in the Solid Waste Administration and Recycling Division FY 08-09 Budget Request associated with this transition and related program enhancements.