Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 12/06/2010

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Yard Waste Disposal Discussion By: Chris Anderson, Environmental Coordinator CASE # 1 Background: At the last meeting, the Board discussed various options that may be considered regarding yard waste disposal for Ramsey residents. The Board agreed that the following options should be considered: • A yard waste collection event in the fall of 2011 to `test the waters' with regard to demand for this type of offering; • A year round drop -off site; • Contracting with a private party to operate a year -round site; • Some form of cooperative effort amongst neighboring communities; • Do nothing; the County already has two . compost sites (Coon Rapids, Lino Lakes) and certain waste haulers offer yard waste service seasonally. Observations: Each of the above options, with the exception of the last (doing nothing), have costs associated with them. However, without any basis for determining the volume of material that may be handled, it is difficult to identify, even in a. general sense, what the cost would be for most of the above options. Staff is attempting to gather some cost estimates for a leaf collection event from other communities and hopes to have that info available to share with the Board at the meeting. In addition to the options discussed by the Board last month, another possibility has surfaced that Staff is exploring. While meeting with ACE Solid Waste to discuss various recycling matters, the conversation turned to yard waste and ACE expressed a possible interest in partnering with the City to offer a yard waste drop -off site near their facility. At this point, nothing further has been discussed but this does, in Staff's opinion, present a very intriguing possibility. A City- operated yard waste site would certainly be the most costly option and doing nothing would have no cost at all. The other options under consideration would likely fall somewhere between these in terms of cost. But many other factors would need to be understood before any reasonable cost estimate could be determined. So, rather than trying to project costs without the data, the Board may wish to identify what they consider the pros and cons of each option. Again, it is important to note that no consistent funding source has been identified at this time for any yard waste disposal option. If Ramsey continues to meet or exceed 108% of its tonnage goal for recycling, use of SCORE (Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment) funds is a possibility. But, that is not a guaranteed funding source, the amount is subject to fluctuate depending on activities at the state level, and is the sole funding source for Ramsey's recycling program. Thus, this is not a funding source that would sustain most options.