Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A recent report to the Jefferson County Commission from the Jefferson County Solid Waste Department indicates that the measures that the department put in place not long ago to reduce the costs of garbage disposal are proving effective.
Robbie Slack, an animal control code enforcement officer with the department, made the presentation to the commission in lieu of Solid Waste Department Director Beth Letchworth, who was unavailable.
The figures that Slack presented showed that the department went from disposing of 35 tons of garbage per day in February, to 33 tons of garbage per day in March, when the new cost-saving measures were put in place. The tonnage reduction, Slack said, equated to five percent.
Multiply the daily two-ton reduction by 31 days in a month and it equated to a monthly tonnage reduction of 62 tons, he said.
Conversely, the figures showed an increase in the disposal of Class 3 materials during the same two-month period.
In the language of waste management, household garbage is classified as Class 1. And Class 3 consists of construction and demolition (C&D) debris, processed tires, asbestos, carpet, cardboard, paper, glass, plastic, furniture other than appliances, and other materials approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as not producing the leachate that poses a threat to the public health or environment.
The figures that Slack presented showed that Class 3 disposals rose from 40 tons per month in February, to 62 tons per month in March after the new measures were implemented, a monthly increase of 22 tons, or 55-percent.
The presentation posed the question, where did the 62 tons go?
The answer: 22 tons of it were recycled as Class 3 materials and the other 40 tons were simply eliminated, resulting in a reduced contamination level of 64 percent.
The key to understanding how the reduction in tonnage translates into a saving is knowing that it costs $43 a ton to dispose of contaminated garbage and $32 a ton to dispose of recycled garbage, a saving of $11 per ton.
The problem that existed previously, as Letchworth explained to the commission in a presentation in January, was that Class I and Class III materials were being mixed at the collection sites, which in waste management terms is known as contaminated garbage.
Because of the department’s inability to separate the two classes of trash once mixed, the contaminated garbage was simply taken the landfill for disposal at a cost of $43 per ton.
Another problem was that commercial enterprises – both local and from outside the county – were dumping Class 3 trash at the collection sites instead of taking it to the old landfill on Tyson Road, forcing the department again to dispose of this trash at the regional landfill at a cost of $43 per ton.
In an effort to stop, or at least curb both the problems of illegal dumping and contaminated garbage, Letchworth proposed implementing several measures that the commission approved in February and that the department began implementing on March 1.
Among these changes were manning the various collection sites so that the disposal of garbage could be monitored; setting limited hours of operations (previously the sites were opened 24-7); designating a more central location for the disposal of Class III waste; and imposing penalties for violations.
The plan also entailed closing the collection sites at Mamie Scott Drive and Bassett Dairy Road, with the latter closing postponed for the time being.
At the time of her presentation, Letchworth put the total cost of implementing her recommendations at $224,800, versus the $400,000 that it was costing the county to dispose of the contaminated and illegal garbage.
The alternative to not implementing her proposed program, she said at the time, would result in the county’s disposal costs continuing to increase at about $40,000 annually, which costs she said the taxpayers would ultimately bear via ever higher landfill assessments.
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