Agenda - Council - 04/23/1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I The guide says that three new landfill facilities will need to opened in the region. It requires Anoka County to open a facility in 1987; Hennepin County, a second in 1991; and Washington County, a third in 1993. These facilities would accept only processed residuals or special wastes like construction debris. The guide sets a ceiling on the amount of new landfill capacity that can be developed. The plan urges establishing "organized" collection of trash. 'Most of the region's municipal waste is now collected under an "open" arrangement where each waste generator (a household, for example) purchases collection service directly from a waste hauling firm. Under an organized system, exclusive collection areas would be assigned to haulers so they would have more customers in a relatively smaller area. The net result would be savings in transporta- tion costs, less truck traffic in residential areas and, with reliable pickup service available for recycables, better assurance that recycling programs will succeed. The guide also encourages counties to join together to develop large-scale processing facilities. Such facilities will need to draw on waste from areas that don't necessary conform to county boundaries. As a result, counties will need to cooperate to help ensure the facilities' success. COSTS OF DEVELOPING THE NEW REGIONAL SYSTEM The cost of developing a new regional system for solid waste management is estimated at $345 million. This includes the cost of centralized processing facilities, startup costs for recycling and composting programs and the cost of several new landfills to handle waste that can't be recovered. Households in the region pay on the average about $105 a year for getting rid of their trash under the existing system. By 1990, those costs could increase by $20 to $40 annually. ALTERNATIVES THAT WERE CONSIDERED WASTE REDUCTION AND SOURCE SEPARATION Waste reduction and source separation are often referred to as low-technology approaches because they usually require only a small capital investment, have the flexibility to respond to change and involve the participation of those who generate waste. It is difficult to determine how much of the region's waste could be diverted from landfilling through waste reduction methods, but they would probably account for only a few percentage points. Several industries, public institu- tions and other organizations are already carrying out waste reduction activi- ties to reduce costs. However, many manufacturing processes cannot produce completely recyclable or reusable products, and waste generators frequently do not know about opportunities for reducing waste at the source. Waste reduction also has major institutional barriers to overcome, A full- scale effort requires new federal or state legislation aimed at reducing waste produced by specific industries. Such legislation generally takes years to pass, and only after the full economic consequences and benefits are known. For these reasons, many waste reduction efforts are beyond the capabilities of local governmental units to implement.