HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Policy - Solid Waste - Policy on Salvage Scavenging of Items at Solid Waste Convenience Centers 10-18-2005-9e3
Draft Policy
Removal of Items from Salvage Shed and Scavenging of Waste or Recyclable
Material from Solid Waste Convenience Centers (10 5 05)
The following policy statement shall govern the removal of any waste item or discard delivered to the
County Solid Waste Convenience Centers by citizens or county employees for the purpose of
disposal or recycling. The purpose of this policy is to:
• maintain and promote environmental responsibility and the personal safety of citizens/customers;
• eliminate loitering which can interfere with customer access to containers, impede customer or
service vehicle traffic flow, or limit user parking;
• provide clarity and consistency for site attendants;
• maximize and maintain the market value of recyclable materials; and
• prevent the disassembly, breakup, or other fragmentation of any material or item that would
render the material more difficult to collect, store, ship, or market.
All waste or recyclable materials/items delivered to Solid Waste Convenience Centers become the
property of Orange County upon their placement at the center in any of the designated containers or
discard areas. This includes:
• roll-off containers
• roll-carts
• electronics recycling trailers
• dumpsters
• salvage sheds
• containers for dry cell batteries, waste oil, oil filters, anti-freeze, or other materials
• wet-cell (lead acid) battery pallet or pallets for any other materials
• waste or recyclable staging areas (whether on the ground or elsewhere) for electronics, yard
waste, scrap metal, furniture or other bulky items or other waste or recyclable discard area within
the center
Salvage Sheds
Citizens are prohibited from removing waste/recyclable materials deposited at a Solid Waste
Convenience Center, except from within the salvage shed. Salvage sheds are the only location
within the center from which public/citizen salvaging is allowed or permitted at any time.
Citizens may place or remove items from the salvage shed located at four of the six Solid Waste
Convenience Centers (Eubanks Road, Ferguson Road, Highway 57 and High Rock Road). Since
loitering is not permitted due to the volume of solid waste convenience center users, a 15-minute
twice daily time limit was established for depositing or removing items from the salvage shed.
Citizens are encouraged to place reusable items in good condition in the Salvage Shed, excluding
clothing, electronic devices, broken or poor conditioned items, construction materials, and mattresses
and box springs (health regulations). Solid Waste Center Operators will be the final arbiters of
determining whether an item is suitable to be deposited at the Salvage Sheds or determining when an
item has been available in the shed for salvage a sufficient time to determine that it is unwanted and
should be considered waste.
• Solid Waste Center Operators may not be expected to help remove items, especially during high
traffic periods.
• Solid Waste Center Operators do have the discretion to ask citizens to leave if they are disrupting
the center or abusing the system.
• Salvage Shed items may be removed in whole, however, no disassembly, repair or part removal is
allowed.
Waste or Recyclable Collection Receptacles or Designated Areas (Except Salvage Sheds)
Citizens are not permitted to scavenge, remove, explore, rummage, partially disassemble, remove
parts, etc. of any items anywhere in the Solid Waste Convenience Center unless such items are
located within a Salvage Shed. Furthermore:
• No citizen or county staff may remove any item from a solid waste or recycling container or climb
on or into a container for purposes of waste/recyclable item removal. This includes dumpster and
roll-off containers.
• No citizen or county. staff may contaminate regulated recyclable materials as to make them no
longer recyclable. Regulated recyclables include metal, clean wood, yard waste, white goods,
tires, and cardboard.
• The removal of any data bearing devices such as Computer Processing Units (CPU's) is not
permitted due to the possible sensitive/personal information remaining on the hard drive, i.e.
social security numbers, bank account information.
• Solid Waste Center Operators may not be expected to help remove Salvage Shed items.
• Loitering by citizens is not permitted due to the volume of Solid Waste Convenience Center users
and a 15-minute twice-daily time limit is established for obtaining items from the salvage shed.
• Solid Waste Center Operators do have the discretion to ask citizens to leave if they are violating
this policy, disrupting the operation of the convenience center, pilfering, using abusive or vulgar
language, blocking customer access, interfering with waste or recyclable collection personnel or
equipment, or other legitimate reason as determined by the Center Operator.
• Failure of customers to follow Center Operator directives regarding loitering, salvaging, or other
Convenience Center policies may result in a citizen being trespassed from County Convenience
Centers, notification of Sheriff deputies or both.
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