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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-04-2000-8mORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: December 4, 2000 Action Agenda Item No. $ ~ ~ SUBJECT: Oran a Count 2001 "Bu Rec sled" Conference Work Plan DEPARTMENT: Solid Waste PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): 11/30/00 Solid Waste Director Memo INFORMATION CONTACT: Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Director 968-2885 Blair Pollock, Solid Waste Programs Manager, 968-2788 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To review and endorse the work plan and timeline for the Orange County 2001 "Buy Recycled" Conference, which will promote the purchase of recycled products by local governments in Orange County and other local agencies to strengthen markets for recyclables. BACKGROUND: At the August 15, 2000 BOCC meeting, the BOCC accepted a State grant of $4,500 for this project and. requested that the staff prepare a timeline and workplan for the "Buy Recycled" conference prior to proceeding. The attached memo from the Solid Waste Director lays out the proposed work plan and timeline for the 2001 "Buy Recycled" Conference. Ninety- percent of the funding for the conference will come from a "Buy Recycled" Grant awarded to the Solid Waste Department by the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The University of North Carolina's Friday Center has been selected as the site for the "Buy Recycled" Conference. Attendees will discuss current "buy recycled" practices and policies by various entities in Orange County and the Greater Triangle area, and consider additional opportunities to purchase recycled products. Purchasing agents from the four local governments of Orange County will be invited, in addition to both city and county purchasing agents from the other governments within the Triangle J COG. The proposed invitation list also includes purchasing agents and others with significant purchasing responsibilities from Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County schools, county utilities, regional universities, and larger private business in Orange County. Recycled product vendors will also be invited to participate in conference events. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Under the guidelines of the "Buy Recycled" Grant, Orange County is required to contribute matching funds equal to ten percent of the total grant funding, or $500, which has been included in the Department's 2000-2001 budget. In addition to this direct cost, Orange County government must also consider for the future the potential impact of "buy recycled" policies in increasing first cost that may be associated with the purchase of recycled products. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board endorse the proposed work plan .and timeline for the 2001 "Buy Recycled" Conference. MEMORANDUM TO: John Link, County Manager FROM: Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Director SUBJECT: "Buy Recycled" Conference, February/March 2001 DATE: November 30, 2000 Orange County has had an informal "buy recycled" policy for years. The Tawn of Chapel Hill and UNC Chapel Hill have had formal ones in place for several years. Buying products made from recycled materials stimulates manufacturers to create more of these goods, thus strengthening the market for recyclables. The three arrows in the universal recycling logo represent recycling collection, manufacturing of new goods with items collected, and then purchase/reuse of these new goads. Recirculation or integration of new goods 'into the market is where the most work in the field of recycling is currently needed. We are doing better at getting our resources to the manufacturers and they are being supplied with enough material to create products, but not enough citizens are buying those products. In order to foster the development of a formal County policy that would encourage or mandate that purchasing agents in the County purchase items made of recycled products, Orange County Solid Waste Management Department requested a State grant that would permit: • networking with.local entities already skilled in buying recycled • bringing in an expert up-to-date speaker to share current strategies and methods with local purchasers • vendors to share information about the latest competitively priced goods manufactured from recycled products No opportunity for this type of intense, focused networking has presented itself in Orange County for a number of years. The proposed date for the "buy recycled" conference is February 19, 2001. Alternative dates are February 12, March 2, or March 3, 2001, at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill. Richard Keller, the foremost national expert on buying recycled is the proposed keynote speaker. Two breakout sessions and a vendors' fair are also scheduled. The event is proposed, to last from 8:30 a.m. unti14:30 p.m. Orange County has been granted $4,500 from the DENR to support this conference and the Solid Waste Management Department has budgeted $500 in matching funds. See attachment 1, timeline and workplan, for details on the "Buy Recycled" Conference. The conference objectives are: • to familiarize all area purchasing agents and others with significant purchasing responsibilities with the wide variety of products available made with recycled materials. 4 • to allow those who have been using and buying recycled materials to share their experience with those that have not done so • to share and exchange policies on buying recycled, • to facilitate networking between purchasers interested in expansion of their acquisition of recycled products and vendors of those products. Post-conference, followup objectives aze: • Survey Orange County local governments and public agencies to determine current usage and purchasing of materials with recycled content to create baseline of purchasing. • Monitor ongoing progress in increasing purchases of materials with recycled content and adoption of policies to promote those purchases. Expected Outcomes ^ A measurement of participants progress towards buying mare recycled goods for their various Orange County departments and organizations via our three surveys (see timeline). ^ Increased use of materials with recycled content to help divert resources away from the landfill and strengthen recycling mazkets, especially in Orange County's local government operations. ^ Dialogue between participants to encourage information sharing. Attachment 1. Timeline and Workplan for Buy Recycled - Closing the Loop Conference Planning Date Accomplishment October 16 Establish potential conference dates at Friday Center on 4 possible dates for conference in late Feb. 2001. late February and March. October 24 Contact Richard Keller as to his availability. Available at end of Feb and until 12th of March basically. October Start inquiry into other potential speakers, sessions, reservation costs, participants, invitations/publicity, vendor fair, meal, budget, and registration. November Recruit potential vendors to display at the Fair/ December Distribute survey to individual departments of Orange County Government and other local governments that purchase supplies to deternune what percentage of material purchased has recycled content, collect "buy recycled" purchasing policies from various local agencies that have them, finalize speakers. December 2 Order Environmental Purchasing Starter Kits. December 4 Board of Orange County Commissioners endorses plan December 5 Start advertising; send out invitations with an RSVP return to us by Jan 19, 2001. Dec 20 Collect surveys from Orange County and any other local governments that have completed them. Jan 2001 Determine menu, vendor numbers, vendor placement in hall, participant numbers. Finalize agenda. Final confirmation from speakers. Followup unanswered invitations. Feb 2001 Process Orange County Departments' survey results for participants, copy surveys and "buy recycled" policies for distribution at conference, design room and session layouts, and finalize logistics such as parking, transportation for out-of town attendees/speakers, vendor fair participants. Late Feb 2001/Early March Conduct "Buy Recycled" conference. Late March 20.01 Survey all conference attendees on recycled purchases for FY 1999-2000. Sept. 2001 Send last survey and publish and distribute results of surveys to conference participants to serve as benchmazk for 2001-2002 and remainder of 2000-2001.