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Minutes - Regular Meeting Solid Waste Advisory Board August 6, 2009 Approved September 3, 2009 off sites and convenience centers . We thought after putting mixed paper and cardboard at the curb people would stop going there . It is still a linchpin of the system . The curbside programs did 6,300 tons and dropoffs did 4, 800 . The important thing to consider is do we still want to continue to recommend it, making some recommendation based on the reports that you ' ve seen on mechanisms to continue to fund the convenience center and drop-off system . It is a hybrid because dropoff sites are funded exclusively by 3-R fee and SWCCs by a combination of general fund and 3 -R fee . The SWCCs are vulnerable due to current mode of funding . Solid waste collection hasn' t been an area that this board and the work group has dwelled on, especially flow control and franchising . As things change for us these will be more important things to address . Three -quarters of rural residents use the convenience centers and 1/4 have private pickup service . As Bradshaw closes those people in the southwest are having a hard time getting private garbage service to respond . We want to make sure everyone has access to these services . The only decision that has been made is the notion that there won ' t be a publicly - funded and publicly operated waste collection service in the unincorporated areas . All the other decision making with respect to should we franchise --- should we have other ways of flow control, and should we try to include some of the commercial as Hillsborough has in their franchise -- remain open questions and on the table . That is a relatively near term decision as we go forward . We have enough information for you and the work group to make a recommendation. You have received several reports on the efficacy of franchising. We just have to come to a conclusion. Expansion of rural curbside is something we ' ve been doing gradually since 1992 and now we have about 65 % coverage in the unincorporated area . This year we made the decision not to expand the program further . With the $38 recycling fee on an annual basis it is pretty much self -financed . There are other reasons of not moving forward at this point -- not the least of which is how would having a universal franchise garbage service interact with rural curbside recycling, will it increase use of the curbside recycling service ? Working on the rural curbside expansion has been a staff effort but it would be effective for the work group and advisory board to weigh in on that as we go forward with shaping the plan . There is the ' if' and the timing . We' ve added 1 , 000 homes a year and we could put all homes on to achieve urban/ rural parity . The commercial program is a key element that has seen a lot of analysis and has been talked about quite a bit but there has been no firm decision made on it. Commercial recycling has grown in tiny increments through the staff work and the switch to commingled . We increased 50 % from 600 to 900 tons a year . The real opportunities and what remains of the low-hanging fruit of recycling is in the commercial area . It is a whole new realm for us in terms of competition with the private sector and the 3