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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-09-17 SWAB MeetingNEW HANOVER COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 MEETING PAGE 1 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Solid Waste Advisory Board met on Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at 4:00 p.m. in the Lucie F. Harrell Conference Room 601 at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolma. Members present were: Chairman Claud "Buck" O'Shields, Jr.; Martin J. Michaelson; Robert W. Mitchell; John Richard Newton; David Sims; Deputy County Attorney Kemp P. Burpeau and Deputy Clerk to the Board of Commissioners Kymberleigh G. Crowell. Others present: Assistant County Manager David F. Weaver and Environmental Management Director John Hubbard. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairman O'Shields called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the meeting of the New Hanover County Solid Waste Advisory Board. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman O'Shields asked the members to review the draft meeting minutes of September 10, 2008 for any needed corrections and/or changes. Hearing no comments, Chairman O'Shields called for a motion to approve the meeting minutes of September 10, 2008. Motion: Mr. Sims MOVED, SECONDED by Mr. Michaelson, to approve the meeting minutes as presented. The MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. DISCUSSION OF ADDITIONAL WASTEC FINANCIAL INFORMATION REQUEST In continuation of the September 10, 2008 discussion, Director Hubbard provided additional information concerning annual costs per ton to landfill with and without WASTEC; several assumptions were made to arrive at the information being presented. The following points were made in explaining the information: • Assumed 280,000 tons disposed/year in landfill without WASTEC; • Assumed 140,000 tons disposed/year in landfill with WASTEC, if operating efficiently; • Tip fees do not include costs associated with the recycling program or administration (assumed to be equal with or without WASTEC); • Tip fees do not include post closure costs (assumed to be equal with or without WASTEC); • Operating costs without WASTEC are adjusted higher to account for loss of revenue due to $2 surcharge and increased fuel, equipment maintenance, posi-shell costs; • Wages and benefits without WASTEC are adjusted higher to reflect additional staff requirements; • The cost of the use of soils as intermediate cover is projected to equal that of daily cover at such time that the site runs out of on-site soils which, without WASTEC, will happen sooner than later; and • Tip fees do not reflect a quantified value of lost life expectancy of twelve years at the landfill facility due to potential operation without WASTEC and the value of additional land to replace; not sure could obtain land for new landfill due to new state laws. Director Hubbard confirmed the spreadsheet only reflects landfill costs and does not give credit to electricity generated by WASTEC. DISCUSSION OF PENDING LEGISLATION REGARDING RENEWABLE RESOURCES CLASSIFICATION AND DRAFT LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION Deputy Attorney Burpeau presented information on Senate Bill 3, enacted during 2007 session. The Bill covers defmition of what qualifies for energy efficient/renewable energy standards; does not specifically address New Hanover County WASTEC facility nor reference any waste-to-energy facility utilizing municipal solid waste as a fuel source for purposes of generating electricity Based on Director Hubbard's discussion with Progress Energy NEW HANOVER COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 MEETING PAGE 2 representatives about the legislation, their position is that without New Hanover County WASTEC stated in specific terins, general category or otherwise specifying municipal solid waste as an energy source in the legislation, that it does not include WASTEC. The Bill is written more toward landfill gas than waste-to-energy. Deputy Burpeau presented the following options to have a WASTEC type facility added to the definitions: (1) Ask legislature to specifically include the New Hanover County WASTEC facility; or (2) Ask legislature to amend the Bill in the following generic terms: • Add verbiage to 62-133 7(a)1: "including, but not limited to, awaste-to-energy facility utilizing municipal solid waste"; • Add verbiage to 62-133.7(a)5. (5)(d) "A waste-to-energy facility utilizing municipal solid waste that delivers electric power to an electric power supplier; and • Add verbiage to 62-133.7(a)(8) in the list of "renewable energy resources". municipal solid waste. Deputy Attorney Burpeau suggested Duector Hubbard share this information with Progress Energy to receive any suggestions, there is hxne to work through this with Progress Energy due to session not starting until January 2009. Duector Hubbard noted that Progress Energy is planning a workshop luncheon on October 14, 2008 to discuss renewable energy; he will see about reserving seats for any members that wish to attend. In response to questions, Director Hubbard confirmed that New Hanover County has the only waste-to-energy facility in North Carolina. In response to questions, Deputy Attorney Burpeau explained that including a "direct user" definition in the options would not be advisable as it would put New Hanover County in direct competition with Progress Energy as a retail supplier. Progress Energy is a wholesale purchaser from New Hanover County. Including a "direct user" definition would require additional modifications of existing law and may not be consistent with Federal law as well as subjecting the County to utility commission regulations. This inclusion may also cause Progress Energy not to be on board with the County. Deputy Attorney Burpeau presented a draft letter to be sent to the County Commissioners regarding this issue. Staff will also draft a resolution to include with the draft letter for review during the October 1, 2008 meeting. Board would like to have the matter on the October 20, 2008 Board of Commissioners agenda. PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON WASTEC PROJECTED FIVE YEAR MAINTENANCE PLAN In response to the September 10, 2008 additional information request, Director Hubbard presented a revised WASTEC five year projected plan reflecting work priorities to be done in a year: • Priorities are fisted as a priority for the year work is scheduled to be done; • Revised plan provides total costs and priority costs for each year; • The base tonnage assumption is 280,000; • The entire amount was used for both landfill and WASTEC because it would raise the overall tipping fee; • 140,000 tons goes to the incinerator, and through WASTEC, almost 100,000 tons was sent to the incinerator in 2007; and • WASTEC is on pace this year to do better than 2007. In response to questions, Director Hubbard clarified that most items are maintenance costs for WASTEC and the only capital expenses would be trucks and loaders. He explained that with exception of items noted in plan, all items listed for FY09-10 are included in current $51 tip fee. After brief discussion, Staff will provide information reflecting assumptions for each year beyond current year and give bottom line of how much funding, whether by tip fees or other means, would be needed to make improvements. NEW HANOVER COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 MEETING PAGE 3 In response to questions, Director Hubbard stated inflation was not added into budget. He noted that budget has not kept up with CPI in recent years. The tip fee is recommended based on expenses for upcoming year minus revenues from other sources and remainder is based on assumption of how many tons of waste is brought in. The tip fee was held flat for five years, increased to $49 in 2007 and current budget is $51; decrease in incoming tonnage has been a detriment. PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION OF LANDFILL AND PROJECTED MAINTENANCE PLAN Director Hubbard presented an overview of the landfill projected maintenance plan. Spreadsheet is divided up into two parts: heavy equipment replacement and construction and engineering projects with priority listings for each part; the following points were made for each part: Heavy Equipment Replacement: • All capital projects removed from FY08/09 budget due to fmancial constraints; • All equipment replacement based on machine hours, 10,000 hour minimum; • Current tip fee of $51/ton includes everything listed on sheet in FY09/10 except the partial closure of Ce115 and office relocation costs; • Compactors financed for 3 years; and • Bulldozers and Front End Loaders financed for five years. Construction and Engineering: • All capital projects removed from FY 08/09 budget due to fmancial constraints; • All equipment replacement based on machine hours, 10,000 hour minimum; and • Current tip fee of $51 per ton includes everything fisted on sheet and on the Heavy Equipment Replacement page in FY09/10 except the partial closure of Cell 5 and office relocation costs, this represents $800,000 or a tip fee increase needed of $2.85/ton. After further discussion, Director Hubbard noted that the department is playing catch-up with cell closure at the landfill whereas at WASTEC it is with the boilers; these are major items that facility needs to recover from to move forward. Board asked him to continue to work on information in the same manner as he will do with the projected five year plan for WASTEC; will also create spreadsheets with the information combined. PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION ON RECYCLING PROGRAM Director Hubbard introduced Lynn Bestul, Solid Waste Planner, and explained that he would present the information on the recycling program at Environmental Management. Mr. Bestul thanked the members for the opportunity to present the recycling program information. Mr Bestul presented an overview of the recycling sites and servicing schedule noting that a new site would be added in the upcoming week at Murray Middle School. Recycling staff transports roll-off containers of scrap metal from debris on WASTEC tip floor for recycling; baling equipment is at recycling division site and uses five- day laborers to bale cardboard, mixed paper, plastic and old newspapers. Mr. Bestul reported that currently, he does not deal directly with the markets. Baled materials are sold to Carolina Fibre at 93% of market value. The Carolina Fibre contract will end in 2010. In 2010, Mr. Bestul will be able to start marketing throughout industry. He gave an overview of the processes used to handle aluminum, plastics and glass; noting that in June 2008 division changed from accepting only recyclable numbers 1 and 2 to accepting numbers 1 through 7 with the exception of plastic bags and Styrofoam. If facility could further sort and separate plastics, value would greatly increase. Glass commodity value has increased and volume has increased but facility does not make much money per ton. As of January 2008, all establishments selling liquor have to recycle drink containers. In March 2008, division contracted with a Raleigh company to purchase the glass and within three months brought in over $10,000. NEW HANOVER COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 MEETING PAGE 4 Mr. Bestul explained that the Household Hazardous Waste event (HHW) is organized and primarily operated by the recycling staff; community volunteers and Environmental Management staff also help; 2008 event will be held on October 25`x; noted the following items were collected dunng 2007 event: • 60,420 pounds of paint; • 54,792 pounds of electronics; • 1,269 pounds of batteries; • 840 gallons of oil, • 225 gallons of antifreeze; • 1,485 gallons of hazardous liquids; and • 75 pounds of cell phones which were donated to cellphonesforsoliders.com Division participated in four month pilot electronic waste event; since pilot event, made contact with Wal- Mart about electronics recycling and participated in electronics recycling event at Onslow County store. Through the Personal Sustainability Program, Wal-Mart was able to give division grant dollars through Keep Amenca Beautiful program. This has proven to be a good partnership for Keep America Beautiful, Environmental Management and Wal-Mart. Mr. Bestul reported that for this past FY for performance of matenals captured, materials brought into facility increased by 38%; last year budgeted recyclable revenues were projected at $125,000; actually did $366,000 in revenues. He explained a scrap company removed metal from working face of landfill and did not pay for material for a number of years; only benefit was more landfill space available. Starting this year, the company now pays for removed material; added approximately over $12,000 over a six month period. For first two months of current fiscal year, $92,000 in revenue has been generated and may possibly make over $500,000 in revenue this year. In response to Board questions, he explained why this does not cover expenses. He explained that division does not have facility to sort material; commodity values increase when recyclables are sorted; options available where other companies can be paid, such as Recyclable America, to take recyclables and ship to material recovery facility that will sort. In response to Board questions, Mr. Bestul confirmed a start-up cost/imtial investment would be approxunately $4.5 million for inside sorting equipment; does not include property; once facility is able to sort material, can deal directly with vanous markets and prices greatly increase; grant monies also may be available through the State as well as receiving State's support for a facility in this area. Mr. Bestul reported that State has spoken with some private industries about putting a facility here and he thinks the County would benefit and profit if it had the facilities. Mr. Bestul reported that the following items will be banned from NC landfills and, for New Hanover County, will be handled by County's recycling facility and hazardous waste areas: • October 9, 2008: oil filters, pallets and plastics; • January 2011: televisions, • January 2012: computers In response to Board questions, Mr. Bestul stated the New Hanover County recycling facility does not receive City of Wilmington's recyclables. The City is under contract with Recycle America (RA); they pay a fee to have materials dropped off at RA's site. As RA is closed on Saturday and Sunday, County division receives portions of material as it allows the City to come in those days to drop some recyclables so it does not have to be stored over the weekend; pnmarily receive cardboard and glass. Wnghtsville Beach has adrop-off recycling program. Town brings all materials to division for baling; benefit to the Town is they pay for trucking but not tip fees. Mr. Bestul explained recyclable tip fee was changed about a year ago. It use to be $24 per ton tip fee for cardboard which is a very good and easy commodity and as the division wanted as much cardboard as possible, fee was eliminated. A mixed glass fee was instituted and Mr Bestul explained that there is no charge for glass not mixed, which is most of the glass brought in; only make about $9 per ton on glass but benefit is no charge to citizens or bars to dump it at the division. NEW HANOVER COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 MEETING PAGE 5 In response to program cost questions, Mr. Bestul stated the entire recycle program is not costing less than $51 per ton than what is being made; the advantage is that landfill capacity is being saved; factors such as amount spent on equipment/vehicle maintenance, although mainly done in-house, may be more wisely spent on newer equipment, if funding was available; see better savings on the far end. In response to questions, Mr. Bestul reported there are government grants available to assist with processing costs through the State and other organizations. Staff will be applying for a USDA grant this year and gave further explanation of how grants are useful. Mr. Bestul further explained that through a combination of grants and recycling events, goals such as opening a Household Hazardous Waste facility year round are a possibility. Discussion held on Mr. Bestul's future opportunities list: • Build and operate a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) • Build and operate a C&D sorting and recovery system; • Join a few of the local cities and provide curb side recycling collection; • Support the commercial sector with recyclmg programs; and • Implement a permanent HHW facility. In response to questions, Mr. Bestul confirmed that this list is where the $4.5 million investment would come into play but is unable to tell if able to profit with C&D. At the Board's request, Mr. Bestul will prepare a projected five year plan based on these five future opportunities for presentation in a few weeks. INFORMATION REQUESTED BY MEMBERS FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS Discussion held on what is to be on upcoming agenda. Mr. Mitchell would like a session to discuss items to be considered crediting back to some of these programs; what value can be given for extending the hfe of the landfill (replacement costs, third party bidding or something similar); an economic review rather than financial review. At Board's request, Staff will research and report back with information from other locations on benchmarking information or commentary on how their facilities have operated. In response to questions, Director Hubbard responded there were approximately eighty-nine active incinerators in the U.S. and most might be private. He will see if information is available on these incineration operations. Mr. Sims stated that he would make a call concerning incinerator proposals for Mississippi and report back. Director Hubbard will also provide the recent white paper for American Society of Mechanical Engineers on waste-to-energy. Staff will continue to work on financial spreadsheets with possibility of providing updated information based on discussions to date. In regard to discussion about Board having time to review information provided and prepare for meetings, as well as allowing staff time to prepare requested information, Chairman O'Shields asked if the members had any objections or concerns about cancelling the September 24`x' meeting. Hearing no objections, Chairman O'Shields called for a motion to cancel the September 24~' meeting. Motion: Mr. Sims MOVED, SECONDED by Mr. Newton, to cancel the September 24, 2008 meeting and reconvene on October 1st. The MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chairman O'Shields adjourned the meeting at 5:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, berleigh CW. Crowell Deputy Clerk to the Board