Agenda - 03-15-2006-1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Decision Points Requiring Solid Waste Plan Work Group Recommendations This document lays out a series of decisions that must be made to continue development of the updated solid waste management plan. Those decisions will provide guidance to the staff on how to conduct the detailed analysis needed to bring back specifics on how various solid waste and recycling systems might perform fiscally and in terms of the tonnage of materials managed by each element of the system e.g. dropoff recycling, residential solid waste collections, etc. Since the Solid Waste Plan Work Group began its effort last April, they have reviewed descriptive data from the various recycling programs operated by the County and learned about the potential for further waste reduction through a detailed examination of recyclables remaining in the waste stream. The Work Group has also learned about various recycling collection and processing concepts and options that could be involved in advancing our County's recycling efforts. Considerable additional analysis is underway and will continue through the spring, when the Work Group will begin formulating recommendations. We anticipate results of our technical analysis to be available in May and plan to schedule a presentation when the technical analysis is complete At this point, the staff is presenting the Work Group with this decision - making framework for a preliminary opinion forming exercise. We do not expect you to answer all the questions presented without more data, but do answer as much as you like to help create a bounded useful discussion at the April meeting. As you answer the questions, critically review this document with an eye towards ensuring that the questions being asked get us the answers we need to develop a comprehensive, integrated solid waste management plan that reflects the priorities and desires of the County and its municipalities regarding the future of waste management. We urge you to answer at least those questions that do not require data e.g. ranking of the importance of various criteria to decide where and by whom materials should be processed. Staff believes that the criteria should be established and ranked prior to seeing the data so that the data don't drive what we believe should be values -based decisions, You will see the questionnaire again when the data are analyzed and continue to use it for decision- making. Many critical items in this summary are currently under analysis. Once the analysis is complete the number of items will likely be reduced. One thing to keep in mind is that all of these items are interconnected and interdependent. While we may look at residential collections separately, in the end decisions made in processing or even multi- family collection may dictate the residential course. Development of the solid waste plan will be an iterative process that will be informed by the data from the upcoming analyses along with the judgments of the Work Group and staff We anticipate being able to present a planning document to the Towns and County later this year based on the decisions taken from this document For the past several months the Work Group has been involved in reviewing and discussing the many different alternatives for managing solid waste in the County, particularly as regards reducing solid waste in the most effective and efficient manner. Considerable data and reports have been presented and discussed, but to date no recommendations have been made. The SWAB has continued focusing on elements of a new plan in the absence of recent formal Work Group meetings.