Agenda - 11-09-2005-2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Alternatives to Highway 57 Solid Waste Convenience Center: The County received notice in August 2005 from the new owner of property on which the Highway 57 SWCC is located that the County's lease would not be renewed upon its expiration on April 1, 2006. Since that time staff have been working to examine alternatives to that site that would allow the County to continue providing service to residents who made nearly 72,000 trips to that site last year, At this time, the staff's focus is on developing plans to provide SWCC services at the Orange County Public Works site, located about 1 mile to the southwest of the Highway 57 site. Such an operation could prove to be either an interim or a permanent solution, Staff have also been examining other potential sites and service delivery considerations, and will review with the Board the work that has taken place on this issue during the past several months. Solid Waste Management Plan Update Process: The next three year update of the County's 10 year solid waste management plan is due to the State of North Carolina in June 2006, County staff have been working with the Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB) and elected officials from each Orange County local government to examine the County's current goals and solid waste plan, and to develop proposed recommendations for consideration by the various governing boards related to the goals and the best array of programs and services for achieving those goals. The most recent three year plan update revealed different outlooks among the local governments about priorities and approaches for increasing the County's waste diversion rate from 45% to the long• established goal of 61 %. For example, the Town of Chapel Hill emphasized its interests in pursuing a "pay per throw" option for solid waste disposal in the Town and in offering residents broader opportunities to recycle certain elements of the waste stream, such as mixed paper. It is generally understood that if there are to be broader and larger diversions of potentially recyclable materials from the County and Town waste streams, that the overall solid waste management plan will have to be modified to include development of additional processing capability beyond that currently available to Orange County. Staff will provide a review of SWAB work group discussions to this paint, and timelines for governing board review, feedback, and approval of the updated solid waste management plan by next June, FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with discussion of these topics. The Board's decisions in the future to develop additional needed solid waste management facilities would be funded through future appropriations in the Solid Waste/Landfill enterprise fund, RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board discuss the solid waste topics mentioned above and provide appropriate direction to the Manager and staff.