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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSolid Waste Diversion Staff MemoTo: Board of County Commissioners From: Timm Schimke Re: Proposed legislation by the Department of Environmental Quality Date: September 25,2014 The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is preparing a legislative proposal for the 2015 legislative session. They have been working with a stakeholder group of which I have am a member over the last year to update the State's Opportunity to Recycle Act. Background The original Opportunity to Recycle Act was implemented in 1991 and established the following: • A list of principal recyclables for each County that must be included in any collection program or recycling drop off location • A waste diversion mandate for each County. Deschutes County was required to attain a 25% waste diversion rate. • A list of 9 program elements that could be implemented in order to reach the diversion mandate such as curbside collection of recyclables, enhanced education and promotion, multi-family dwelling recycling, etc ... • A requirement that all cities over a certain size implement a number of program elements. For cities with a population over 10,000, 5 of the 9 listed program elements were required to be implemented. • If a County did not reach its diversion mandate, the affected cities in the County would have to implement additional program elements. • The State wanted to encourage work in areas "up stream" of recycling as well, so established the 2% credit program where Counties could be granted up to 6% in additional diversion credit for doing work in the areas of waste reduction, reuse, and backyard composting. Deschutes County has qualified for these additional 6% credits each year. • In addition to County diversion, the Act established a general state wide diversion goal as well. The Act was updated after the deadline for reaching the diversion mandates had passed and most Counties had met their mandate. This effort was to basically establish new diversion goals for Counties and the State. The major change to the original approach was that additional diversion rates would be goals rather than mandates and there was no consequences for not meeting the new goal. Deschutes County adopted a 45% goal. This was very aggressive, but we have attained that level of diversion. The Proposed Legislation The proposed legislation has 3 aspects that DEQ would like to address: 1. DEQ's Solid Waste program is funded through facility permit fees and a per ton fee on materials disposed in landfills in the state. This fee was established in 1991 and has not been adjusted since. Inflation over the years as well as the recent economic downturn has required significant reductions in DEQ's efforts in the area beyond simple permit compliance and facilities oversight. Proposed legislation hopes to increase the fee, establish some ongoing adjustments to the fees to account for inflation, and possible include some mechanism to account for reductions in tons disposed which results in reductions in revenue. 2. The proposed legislation will overhaul and expand the program elements list that cities have available for them to meet their requirements. The list will probably be expanded for 9 elements to 13 elements. It is also proposed that the number of program elements a city must implement be increased. For Bend and Redmond, which are the only cities in Deschutes County to be affected by this, the requirement will probably be increased from 5 of 9 program elements to 7 of 13 elements. This effort will also eliminate the 2% credit program, but make efforts in those areas one of the 13 elements a city may choose to implement. 3. Lastly, the proposed legislation will establish new diversion goals for Counties and the State. The emphasis remains that these will be aspirational goals rather than mandates and there will be no consequences to not meeting these goals. We will have until 2025 to meet the new goal. Each County has been asked to choose their goal to be included in the legislation. DEQ will also begin measuring diversion in terms of energy savings as well as the traditional approach of counting tons. This will allow us to focus our energies in areas that provide the most environmental benefit rather than simply looking for tons. I have attached an information sheet developed by DEQ that talks about the proposed legislation. With the elimination of the 2% credit program, Deschutes County's diversion rate will drop from 45% to 39%. I believe that at a minimum, we should maintain our current 45% diversion goal and strive to offset the 6% drop that will result from the loss of the 2% credit program. We have a 10 year window to accomplish this, but feel a 6% increase in diversion over that period of time is a fairly aggressive goal. We could consider stretching a bit more and set a 50% goal, but I would not be comfortable with anything beyond that. I do not need an official Board vote on this although you are welcome to do so if you would like. I am interested in your individual thoughts regarding this legislation.