Waste board to eye contracts

Recology deal will be reviewed

There’s a hefty agenda for today’s meeting of the Del Norte  Solid Waste Management Authority Board.

The second meeting of the new  authority board will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Flynn Center.

Many of the items scheduled for today’s meeting will be overviews of specific authority programs and contracts, including the contract with Recology Del Norte and three grants from CalRecycle. These items were requested by the new authority board, which consists of all members of the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors and was implemented in December after years of contention regarding the authority’s activities.

The authority board will also  consider possible options to reduce garbage and recycling collection rates for customers, which was also requested by the board in December. A report produced recently by authority staff members indicates that both Hambro Group, which handles operation of the transfer station and disposal, and Recology Del Norte, which handles collection, would find it difficult to directly lower rates at the transfer station or for collection. There are, however, some options to indirectly lower costs by taking items out of the waste stream.

“The greatest opportunities for residential and commercial customers to reduce their cost are by taking advantage of the reuse, recycling and composting options that are potentially available at a total lower cost than waste disposal,” the report said.

The report states that Recology suggested instituting mandatory collection to lower the rate for each customer.

Expansion of local processing and collection of organics that are currently shipped to Oregon for disposal could also lower costs, the report said.

The board will also discuss items regarding the closed Crescent City landfill, including a denied appeal to reassess the threat/complexity rating of the landfill, currently 1A, which comes with a higher annual permit fee.  

The board will also review an application that would allow the authority to  reduce its post-closure liability  estimate, resulting in the authority being liable for a lower dollar amount if problems with the landfill occurred.

The board will also review the semi-annual monitoring report of the landfill  submitted to the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The board will also consider implementing penalties and interest on late payments for customers with overdue charge accounts at the transfer station.

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