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Minutes - Regular Meeting <br /> Solid Waste Advisory Board <br /> September 4, 2008 <br /> Approved October 2, 2008 <br /> Mass Burn and RDF run $50 460 ton . The real cost is the capital cost for the installed <br /> unit. The facilities are expensive but there should be other factors that drive what we <br /> do in Orange County other than cost. One of the best things to do with garbage is to <br /> use it for something else . One of the things to use it for is to generate electricity . The <br /> ash at the end of the incineration process is quenched in water and is typically a <br /> sludge that has a water permeability that is less than concrete, when it sets up in a <br /> landfill it does nothing . The bag house dust that comes out at the end can be treated <br /> in such a way that it sets up like concrete . It is not a dangerous thing to have . <br /> Grunwald asks if there is current research now in using the ash in actual cement. <br /> Sassaman states that the problem at this point is regulatory . <br /> Spire states that there is some fly ash in concrete . It is not a lot. <br /> Grunwald states that prices may come down for this type of technology while other <br /> prices go up . <br /> Sassaman states to summarize what I think is appropriate is that we suggest <br /> continued active evaluation of some of these technologies . One thing that comes to <br /> mind was if we had the RDF processing unit, to put it on a train to the University and <br /> retrofit the University facility would be a good solution. I don ' t know if it would be <br /> feasible . <br /> Vickers asked if the power plant could handle that much garbage . <br /> Bowerman asks where fuel prices [for long haul] factor into the balance point against <br /> building a plant. <br /> Sassaman states that the costs are built into the contract to haul garbage but no one <br /> talks about the carbon footprint or the risk to human health of having all these trucks <br /> on the road . If you put enough trucks on the road, people will die . <br /> Vickers adds that risk assessments show that transportation creates much greater <br /> risks than other aspects of technologies . <br /> Pollock states that the tipping fees for transfer stations in Durham that go to distant <br /> landfills are $42 at Waste Industries and $40 at City of Durham which are far less than <br /> the costs shown in the report to build an incinerator here . <br /> Bowerman asks how much expansion you can do if you build this . Can you double <br /> the tonnage and not have a problem if you need more capacity later? <br /> 6 <br />