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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: May 4, 2004 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ~ ~__ <br />SUBJECT: Acceptance of State Recycling Grant for Glass Crusher <br />DEPARTMENT: Solid Waste Management <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Grant Agreement <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Gayle Wilson, 968-2885 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider acceptance of a grant from the North Carolina Division of Pollution <br />Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA) in the amount of $25,000 in order to <br />purchase a glass crushing machine to create alternative products from unmarketable or costly <br />glass. <br />BACKGROUND: Glass collected through the County's various recycling programs is sorted <br />into three colors: clear, green, and brown. There are usually positive markets for clear and <br />brown glass. Typically, green glass markets are negative, meaning that the County must pay to <br />have green glass taken by glass processors, Staff analysis showed total expenditures last <br />fiscal year to unload green glass was $15,400. For FY 2003-04, it is projected to be somewhat <br />less because the cost the County has to pay to processors to take green glass has dropped <br />from $12 per ton to $7 per ton. For some time, the Solid Waste Department has been seeking <br />a more efficient method of handling green glass and other glass too contaminated to cost- <br />effectively sort. <br />The State of North Carolina has approved grant funding in the amount of $25,000 to assist <br />Orange County in purchasing a glass crusher, It is anticipated that the glass crusher would be <br />installed at the existing recycling pad at the landfill and used to process green glass, other loads <br />including ceramics, and other difficult- to-market glass products, The Gullet produced by the <br />crusher can be used in landfill operations as roadway bedding, drainage medium, landfill cover, <br />and other uses, reducing quantities of stone and gravel usually used for these purposes. The <br />Town of Chapel Hill has expressed interest in considering use of the product for running trail <br />base material, <br />The State has indicated that award of this grant is subject to submission by the County of the <br />Solid Waste Management Plan Three Year Update, <br />