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Home My WebLink AboutSWAG agenda 0401151 Agenda Solid Waste Advisory Group April 1, 2015 - 6:00 p.m. Solid Waste Operations Center 1. Call to Order— Chair 2. Approve Meeting Summary from March 6, 2015 —Chair, Attachment 3. Follow -up Discussion of March 26 Assembly of Governments Meeting — Chair 4. Towns and County Staff Priority Solid Waste Issues Report — Staff, Attachment 5. Other a. Update of County Staff's Continuing Discussions with UNC -CH Staff Regarding Recycling Opportunities b. SWAG Next Steps c. Next Meeting 6. Public Comments — Chair 7. Adjourn (8:00) - Chair Dinner will be provided Memorandum To: Solid Waste Advisory Group From: George Seiz, Carrboro Public Works Director Lance Norris, Chapel Hill Public Works Director Ken Hines, Hillsborough Public Works Director Gayle Wilson, Orange County Solid Waste Director Subject: Staff Suggested Priority Solid Waste Issues Date: April 1, 2015 Towns and County staff have been requested by the Solid Waste Advisory Board to prepare a list of solid waste issues and their relative priorities for consideration and discussion at the April 1, 2015 meeting. It was suggested by the SWAG that the list of issues from Attachment 1 be used as the basis of staff discussions but that staff issues would not be limited to that list. Your staffs are working very productively together and believe that this technical collaboration has value for our respective governing boards and the SWAG, and agree that it should continue for the foreseeable future. As a result of our recent staff level meetings and our discussions of various solid waste issues of professional interest, the staffs have reached a consensus on the issues list and the relative priorities. These are provided below. It should be noted that staffs consider environmental education and outreach and public involvement as essential, but agree that these two fundamental elements would be pervasive with regard to any issue or service priority so they aren't listed separately. Additionally, it was agreed that staffs should continually seek to improve, coordinate and refine inter - governmental communications on solid waste /recycling topics in a manner that transcends all issues. Guiding Principles Your staffs have discussed and evaluated various topics and opportunities without an overriding concern or focus on political aspects and have tried to provide a more technical or industry professional viewpoint. We have utilized to varying degrees and in a general sense the following standards /criteria in our issue discussions. • Potential to reduce waste and /or increase recycling • Other environmental impacts such as fuel usage, toxicity reduction, pollution prevention, etc. • Cost and Cost Effectiveness • Efficiency • Citizen understanding /user friendliness /complexity /equity • Industry best management practices, and • Innovation /Creativity 1 5 Short and Mid -Term Priorities Based in part on the above criteria, staff has agreed on the following priorities and issues for SWAG consideration as short or mid -term actions: 1. Adopt funding mechanism and an agreement (e.g., Memo of understanding to allow the County to assess fees) 2. Adopt Formal Interlocal Agreement — By January 1, 2016 ■ Incorporate funding mechanism ■ Waste collection would be responsibility of individual jurisdictions ■ Include UNC -CH and UNC - Healthcare to the extent possible ■ Assume long term relationship ■ Include withdrawal provision ■ Include amendment provision ■ Establish citizen advisory function and involvement of partners in decision making process ■ Establish fee increase limitations or municipal fee approval triggers ■ Set new county -wide waste reduction goal 3. Rural Curbside Expansion (implementation active upon adoption of Funding Option 1 or 2) ■ 3 year phased implementation to begin in spring FY 2015/16 4. Consider Development of Local Waste Disposal Facility ■ Minimize environmental impacts ■ Facilitate maximization of waste reduction 5. Exploration and Implementation of Cooperative Operations with UNC -CH and UNC - Healthcare (initial explorations underway) 6. Evaluation of Non - residential Programs (initial data gathering underway but issue has not been prioritized) ■ Improve /expand non - residential collection programs ■ Consider both wet (food waste) and dry (co- mingled recycling) materials ■ Facilitate maximization of recovery from non - residential programs ■ Consider alternative methods of service delivery ■ Evaluate Costs /Benefits of Programs 7. Secure Permanent Emergency Storm Debris Management Sites ■ Larger site for extreme weather event in Northern Orange ■ Replacement site for Millhouse Road site when park development begins 2 i 8. Assess the Effectiveness of and Compliance with the RRMO ■ Make ordinance or enforcement adjustments as necessary 9. Consider options for proving non - municipal operated waste collection services — i.e. franchising ■ Reduce fuel usage ■ Minimize costs ■ Maximize access to services 10. Evaluation of Urban Curbside Program ■ Collection frequency upon request by Towns ■ Capacity for adding additional materials to recycling stream (ongoing) Lone Term Issues Staffs believe that some sort of technical advisory committee would be appropriate or even necessary to explore and evaluate more intricate or longer term type issues or issues that are likely to be publically contentious. Alternatively, local government staff could provide this function once satisfactory progress is made on more short /mid -term priorities. • Uses for closed landfills • Residential Organics • Alternative Technologies • Community Impacts of Facility Siting, Programs, Policies /Ordinances • Pay -As- You -Throw waste collection • Development of Regional /Multi- county Cooperative Relationships [,anpral Timeframe - Most new program implementation, major current program expansions, and all facility construction require multiple years to plan and implement. So terms such as short -term, mid -term and long -term may not be viewed by everyone through the same timeframe lens. For example, it may be suggested that expansion of rural curbside recycling is a short -term action, but that action has been proposed as a three year phased implementation that will not be fully implemented until the fourth year. Workload — Your staff's capacity to plan and implement multiple programs and facilities is frequently limited given ongoing routine service provision and administrative obligations, in addition to other programmatic and facility improvements and modifications that are continually in progress. Even the use of consultants requires close oversight and guidance. There are genuine limits to the overall staff capability at any one time if quality program performance, cost effectiveness and effective citizen education and outreach activities are desirable objectives. Nevertheless, your staffs are prepared to undertake the issues deemed priority by our respective governing boards. 3