Agenda - 09-30-2003-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment A -1 Memorandum To: John Link, County Manager From: Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Director Subject: Multi- Family Recycling Program Update Date: September 2, 2003 Solid Waste Management took over the multi - family recycling program from a contractor on Jan. 1, 2003 in an effort to provide more cost effective and reliable service. Eight Tonths into providing the services ourselves we are happy to report that we appear to be on track for both savings and service quality improvements. While under previous contract, the servicing of the apartment complexes was not up to the standards that Orange County residents have come to expect from our Department. The contractor was unable or unwilling to reliably provide the resources to guarantee weekly collection from all sites. This led to an unacceptable level of complaints from the complexes. SWM undertook an analysis of existing service and projected the costs and effects of providing the service with Orange County personnel. To our surprise, the projected savings, roughly $1 million over nine years was enough to convince the Department to further explore the possibility of taking over the program. With the Commissioners consent, the program officially became a County provided service on Jan. 1, 2003. From the eight months data we have, we can say without question that the takeover has been a success. We are able to offer the services even at slightly less cost than we had anticipated, as we were able to incorporate some of the stops into our commercial glass program that was already servicing facilities in the area, gaining additional efficiencies. We have been able to expand service to Hillsborough complexes, something we had tried to do for numerous years without success. The level of complaints has fallen dramatically, to under one valid complaint per month. We found that the previous contractor had many extra carts in the field so as to avoid, where possible, servicing certain locations each week. We have now eliminated surplus carts and provide the service weekly, as scheduled. This allows for more efficient service and more attractive sites. The quantity of materials was a little higher than we were led to believe by the contractor, and as a result, we have generated marginally better revenues than anticipated. Additionally, as we are servicing the sites ourselves, we have been able to identify contaminated or problem sites in a more timely manner, lessening the delays and costs of addressing the problems. Outreach has been made at many of these sites to better inform the residents of our program, its purpose, and benefits to society. The collectors are empowered to solve problems as they arise. This has resulted in fewer lingering problems and a higher quality material being delivered to the processing facility. Staff believes the assumption of multi- family collections to be a complete success