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Minutes - Regular Meeting Solid Waste Advisory Board May 4, 2006 Approved June 1 , 2006 4 . Fiscal 2006= 07 Preliminary Budget Wilson states that I was not able to meet with the manager before this meeting, therefore I don' t have an idea of what he may change in my recommendation to him . There may be some concern about raising the recycling (3 -R) fee . There are no changes in what I reported at the last meeting . We are recommending mixed paper be added to urban and rural curbside beginning October 1 , expansion of HHW program to include small businesses, a heater for our electronics recycling building and small expansion in the food waste collection program . Some accounts were reduced 25 % last year in all departments , for example uniforms and while we put in our actual needs statement in the budget, these cuts may recur . Our budget is separate from the general fund but they try to treat all departments the same although we aren' t part of the general fund . 5 . Programs/Services Update Landfill Gas Wilson states that we are going to initiate a further study to examine two options for possible utilization of the landfill gas . One is to work with the University to determine if it is feasible [for use of the gas by the University] and if so what the economics would be of piping actual gas to Chapel Hill North . It' s probably not worth it if they ' re not going to build anything there for six or seven years ( as they will miss gas production peak) . The other alternative is to consider providing energy for a cluster of government buildings on Eubanks Road, which would be the Animal Shelter, the Operations Center, possible transfer station and a school . In two to three months we ' ll have that report and know if it' s a go or not . Economically an option with the University would make more sense and be less costly . They won' t have to worry about generating electricity, putting it on the grid, negotiating with Duke Powers they would clean up the gas a little and pipe it directly to a UNC boiler . Sassaman asks what will be required for the collection system . Spire states that [it will require] the wells, piping it altogether to a main header and depending how much it will have to be cleaned up , compressed and used to run a micro turbine or if we can clean it up less and put it in a pipeline to the University . Wilson notes the industry is moving towards micro turbines and away from internal combustion engines which are noisier and tend to produce more emissions . Smith asks what does a " well " look like ? Spire replies that a well is a hole dug into the trash that a PVC pipe is stuck into to draw the gas into using a vacuum pump . The wells are 18 to 24 inches in diameter . You can put a lot in and put lateral pipes to connect to vertical headers . Wilson notes its likely gas will be extracted only from the south side, not the north side . 2