BISBEE — There are strong reasons for developing a countywide recycling program. Those are mainly the financial gains from saving space in the Cochise County Western Regional Landfill and putting off closure and post-closure maintenance costs in excess of $11 million, as well as the sale of recycled materials.
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Though the county’s new $1.5 million cell at the landfill was opened just last year, Marty Haverty, the director of the solid waste department, and the Board of Supervisors began to see that a new cell would have to be considered sooner than they thought unless steps are taken to reduce the tonnage being dumped.
Haverty has set up areas at the landfill and at transfer stations for certain recyclables such as batteries, paint, metals, electronics, computers, appliances and tires. At the urban and rural transfer stations, Department of Corrections inmates also work the trash to pull recyclables from the waste stream.
That effort, combined with recycling programs in the municipalities, has diverted more than 4 percent of the waste stream headed for the regional landfill.
Wanting to know just how county residents feel about recycling, the supervisors appointed nine people, three from each district, to the Citizens Recycling Advisory Committee to act as a liaison between county residents and county staff. They have held several meetings over the past eight months, which included visits to the county landfill and the urban and rural transfer stations to see how it all works.
Figuring out a fiscally responsible yet aggressive recycling system was turned over to consultants from R. W. Beck at the beginning of the year. Their task was to determine how such a rural county with a lack of close access to recycling processing facilities could afford to recycle and what types of recyclables could be collected at a reasonable cost.
Their study has ended, and the consultants discussed the results and have offered three feasible recycling options that could work in the county.
So, on Aug. 12, the Rate Review Board in a morning, nonpublic meeting and the supervisors in an open work session will hear the consultants’ and the recycling advisory committee’s recommendations.
In the study obtained by Wick News Service, the consultants list three options:
• Initial separation and compaction of materials at the transfer stations.
• Drop-off collection of recyclables and hauling materials to an existing material recovery facility outside the county.
• Drop off collection of recyclables and processing at a local county-owned materials recovery facility.
The consultants estimated under that scenario the county could make around $300,000 annually from the program after expenses. It would cost municipalities of a little over $1 more per ton for nonrecyclable waste disposed of in the landfill and would save the cities of Benson, Bisbee, Douglas, Sierra Vista and Willcox collectively $169,417.
The only way for the program to be financially secure is to include recyclables from Bisbee and Sierra Vista who have working recyclable programs and from the other municipalities, the study states. The county and cities also would have to work together to coordinate pickup from residents and businesses.
R.W. Beck recommends no fee for recycling since it would provide a greater incentive for residents and businesses to participate.
There also were recommendations of providing on-site grinders for certain construction and demolition debris and the initiation of raised fees for such waste.
Another suggestion is to enact separate fees for industrial waste dumped at the urban transfer stations. Industrial waste could be used in place of daily cover, such as dirt, in the landfill. If the haulers of this debris wanted to save money, the load could be brought directly to the landfill rather than dropped off for a higher fee at the transfer stations.
As noted in the study, businesses and commercial industry may dispose of more than 22,000 tons of waste as projected for 2008. (One third of that figure comes from Douglas alone.) Yet, urban waste is estimated to more than double that with 47,751 tons headed for the landfill. Rural residents add just over 19,000 tons to the waste stream.
Joan Werner, a Bisbee resident who serves on the advisory committee, said she thinks the county should look at collecting recyclables from businesses first to keep large, bulky waste out of the the landfill.
Once a program is established in that area of use, then the county can turn to curbside pick-up of recyclables.
“If the county is serious about recycling and not about public relations, they need to earmark money to be spent on public education to inform them about recycling,” she added.
Werner also was concerned that Bisbee would lose the money it makes from the recycling program that has been in effect in earnest for more than a year.
Andy Haratyk, Bisbee’s recycling manager, set up bins at the county transfer station in Bisbee that hold various materials from aluminum cans to newspaper. With funds from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the city was able to purchase a forklift to handle the large bales of materials and two enclosed trailers. Even white office paper is being recycled by local businesses and county and city offices. He also organized pick-ups from businesses to save even more space in the landfill and money for tonnage fees. The program under Haratyk has been so successful that there are times during the week, he and his crews are overwhelmed. Last year, the city diverted 46.5 tons from the dump; this year he expects that figure to be much higher.
Haverty said he was negotiating with the city managers of Bisbee, Sierra Vista and the other municipalities to reach an agreement on how to handle the recyclables from their programs.
“There’s a lot of hurdles and still a lot of negotiating going on,” Haverty said. “We need to see what the best fit is for our customers. It’s an exciting time, though.”
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