Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
SUGGESTED GOALS BASED ON PUBLIC HEARINGS z8 <br />AND RESEARCH OF WASTE REDUCTION PLANNING AID MANAGEMENT <br />GOAL: DEVELOP A SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR ORANGE COUNTY <br />WHICH HAS AS ITS MAIN PURPOSE WASTE REDUCTION (NOT VOLUME <br />REDUCTION) TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE IN ORANGE COUNTY. All <br />parts of solid waste planning and management should be measured by <br />their ability to reduce waste before going into the garbage cans. <br />GOAL: DEVELOP A SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN WHICH EMPLOYS THOSE <br />SOLID WASTE TECHNIQUES WHICH WILL BE THE MOST ECONOMICAL POSSIBLE, <br />ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND, AND PROTECTIVE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH. <br />The following are a series of questions that need to be addressed <br />before going forward with any solid waste planning. Is it cheaper <br />and more environmentally sound to source separate or use a <br />Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)? Is it cheaper and more <br />environmentally sound to look for and help develop markets for our <br />solid waste resources or to make Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)? Is it <br />cheaper and more environmentally sound to home or group compost our <br />kitchen/ yard waste or make Mixed Solid Waste (MSW) Compost? Do we <br />have sufficient waste or funds to reduce, recycle, reuse and home <br />compost which are the waste reduction techniques at the front of <br />the waste stream, as well as make commitments to any of the volume <br />reduction and processing technologies such as a MRF, RDF, or MSW <br />compost, which are the end of the waste stream technologies that <br />are being considered by the LOG? <br />GOAL: THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE SOLID WASTE STRATEGY FOR ORANGE COUNTY <br />WILL BE ON WASTE REDUCTION TECHNIQUES, CONCENTRATING ON SOURCE <br />REDUCTION, RECYCLING, REUSE AND COMPOSTING OF KITCHEN AND YARD <br />WASTE. Waste reduction deals with waste that does not end up in <br />the garbage can, thus our landfill. Since 19860 the focus of our <br />waste strategy has been the end of the waste stream, or solid waste <br />that will end up in the garbage can. Our energy, effort and money <br />have been spent on the landfill, and looking at expensive, high and <br />low technology volume reduction strategies. While recycling has <br />been instituted in Orange County, it has not been the main focus of <br />either the money or time spent in developing policies. And source <br />reduction which is at the top of both the federal and State solid <br />waste hierarchies, has been given no funding and little support. <br />Many citizens of Orange County have asked for just the opposite. <br />Adopting as goals and policies the development of a solid waste <br />strategy based on source reduction, recycling, reuse and kitchen <br />and yard waste composting, which are the main waste reduction <br />strategies, would be more economical and environmentally sound and <br />in keeping with the publics ideas of the direction we should be <br />taking with solid waste management. <br />Because of the changing nature of the waste stream, both as to kind <br />and volume /weight and the changing nature of both technology, <br />attitude, economics and regulation, it is necessary to maintain <br />flexibility at this point in our planning process, before looking <br />at any end of the waste stream technologies. A MRF, RDF, MSW <br />compost, etc., are expensive, end of the waste stream processing <br />technologies. If funds are committed to any of these or other <br />volume reduction technologies now, the necessity to fuel and fund <br />these becomes the paramount policy and destroys flexibility for <br />waste reduction techniques. <br />