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2' <br />Adoption of PAYT will likely reduce Town solid waste tipping fees, except that waste that is <br />shifted to commercial or multifamily, Town-serviced containers, and increase the costs of <br />recycling. Estimated tip fee reduction due to diversion of solid waste to recycling could be in the <br />$23,000 to $38,000 range. The contractor providing curbside recycling service estimates a cost <br />increase of $60,000 annually in Chapel Hill due to recycling tonnage and participation increases. <br />There will be impacts at recycling and SWCC dropoff sites as well as curbside; those aze harder <br />to quantify at this time. <br />Staff believes all the governments affected should formally address any proposed changes to the <br />plan and decide collectively if they wish to change the plan and adopt a new plan. Any changes <br />to be made to the plan should be made explicitly. The adoption of PAYT by one jurisdiction for <br />one sector at this time represents a major change in the plan sequence and in the coordinated and <br />integrated approach affirmed by the friterlocal Agreement. <br />BOCC could request that the Town address its decision to adopt PAYT in one sector for only its <br />jurisdiction in view of the prior adoption of a solid waste plan that had a sequence of programs in <br />which PAYT and/or mandatory recycling were to be considered after implementation of <br />enhanced materials processing and expansion of recycling collections and education efforts. <br />Notwithstanding the above comments, it should be noted that the Solid Waste Management <br />Department can implement curbside program revisions to accommodate Chapel Hill's PAYT <br />plan, if sufficient funds aze provided by the BOCC. However, we will not, prior to <br />implementation, be able to develop modifications to drop-off site service, configuration or <br />capacity to accommodate PAYT due to the uncertainty of how severe of an impact may occui. <br />Of course there are physical constraints to all of the sites that inhibit the extent of modification. <br />Staff response to the Town of Chapel Hill resolution questions: <br />1. What changes, if any, would be required to accommodate significant increases in quantities <br />and types of recyclable if the Town were to adopt a pay as you throw system? <br />The Solid Waste Management Staff strongly supports the concept of PAYT as an approach to <br />waste reduction. We have serious concerns with the timing of this proposed effort and the <br />potential ease with which compliance could be circumvented using dumpsters, solid waste <br />convenience centers and other ways of disposing of waste rather than reducing or recycling it. <br />Staff believes those options must be eliminated for a program to be effective. Elimination of <br />disposal options, legal and illegal, must be coordinated with other jurisdictions. <br />The staffhas consulted with our curbside contractor about cost and they estimate a cost increase <br />of up to $0.50 per household in Chapel Hill or $60,000 annually to accommodate anticipated <br />increased recycling volume. ' <br />This estimate does not include any potential increases in drop off recycling where the public can <br />deposit mixed paper and corrugated cazdboard as well as all materials recycled at the curb. Staff <br />estimates that almost 1,000 tons of recyclable paper is now landfilled from Chapel Hill <br />6 <br />