Orange County NC Website
Minutes - Regular Meeting <br /> Solid Waste Advisory Board <br /> August 6, 2009 <br /> Approved September 3, 2009 <br /> notion of is it the right time and the right move to offer universal commercial <br /> recycling and should it be financed with the 3 -R fee, like everything else . Quite a bit <br /> of analytical data has been presented on this system . <br /> Another area that has been discussed but not decided on is PAYT and the other kind <br /> of regulatory approaches . We took a step in that direction this year by adding <br /> cardboard at the curb to recycling and not accept it as residential garbage . Cardboard <br /> is effectively banned from landfilling in Orange County . This one regulatory element <br /> of the ban has achieved success . Is that the way we want to go with more materials ? <br /> Is it appropriate to disincentivize or mcentivize with PAYT ? <br /> Do we need to adopt a flow control ordinance to bring garbage back in . The transfer <br /> station will function better economically if we have more than the 50, 000 tons we have <br /> now . There is another 10, 000 to 20, 000 tons leaving the county every year . Do we <br /> want to win that back [and] do we want to win that back competitively or from <br /> regulating it. Those are some key decisions that interact strongly with the economics <br /> with the transfer station. We need the garbage so how do we go about getting it. <br /> The one area that we can say definitively that the work group has made a strong <br /> contribution to is the switch to two-stream commingled recycling in the last year . <br /> There has been some considerable success . We have been able to add about 100 <br /> businesses to the commercial effort. We are also in a position to be a good customer <br /> for some of the area material recovery facilities . <br /> The Board is in the position to engage with the work group to do work on these <br /> particular elements and then what you are going to see from RRS early this Fall is the <br /> financial model that offers as a starting point maybe three scenarios - One is to <br /> continue as we are doing now for ten years except build the transfer . The second <br /> would be what happens if we aggressively pursue the ideas laid out such as add <br /> commercial recycling or modernize the convenience centers . A third scenario is what <br /> happens when you add incentives such as PAYT or Recycle Bank . What happens to <br /> the economics of the system, like how will we pay for landfill closure . <br /> The first order of business that we are asking of the advisory board and work group is <br /> to go back through the reports over the next month or so and look at these things and <br /> be ready to make some decisions and figure out how to pursue it in conjunction with <br /> the work group . The second thing is once the decisions are made they will inform the <br /> financial . How will we pay for things, how many tons will shift from waste to <br /> recycling? The third piece is once that is all done, we finally move towards a financial <br /> model to develop our plan . We are asking the Advisory Board to re- engage in all of <br /> this . <br /> 4 <br />