Recycling plan pitched to solid waste committee
Envision Waste Services repeats offer to resume operations at CPF
Andrew Booker (right), a representative of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, discusses recycling rules in Medina County with Envision Waste Services executives Steve Viny (left) and Clayton Minder. Photo by GLENN WOJCIAK
SEVILLE – A “reinvigorated” Central Processing Facility could dramatically increase the amount of trash that is recycled in Medina County.
That oft repeated message was delivered by Steve Viny, chief operating officer of Envision Waste Services, at the last meeting of Medina County’s Solid Waste Policy Committee. It’s a proposal Viny had made twice previously including once to Medina County commissioners, who were all present at the Solid Waste meeting April 13.
Viny’s plan is to invest $11 million in new trash sorting equipment at the CPF which he said could separate 39,000 tons of recyclable paper, plastic and metal from the residential trash hauled there each year. That would be about 40 percent of all trash processed there.
Those results would be a vast improvement over the 3,500 tons of material collected in the recycling drop-off bins placed at 54 sites around the county or the 3,900 tons of material pulled off the conveyor belts at the CPF in 2014, the last year Envision Waste Services operated the CPF as a mixed waste processing center.
County Commissioners voted to shutdown recycling operations at the CPF in 2015 in favor of the current drop-off bins placed around the county. The change resulted in a small reduction in recycling numbers last year, but a big reduction in costs. The gate rate or tipping fee charged haulers dumping trash at the CPF dropped from $61 per ton in 2014 to $42 per ton in 2016.
Viny said the gate rate would probably climb back to $54 per ton if Envision took back control of operations at the CPF. He also would want a 20-year contract to operate the CPF in order to recoup his investment in the new high tech sorting equipment he would install at the facility.
However, it is not clear Viny’s proposal would comply with Medina County’s current solid waste plan on file with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. That plan meets EPA compliance rules for recycling accessibility through the drop off bins placed in communities around the county.
Viny said he was assured his proposal could be put into operation while drop-off bins remain in place and those bins could gradually be removed as more residents rely on the CPF to take care of EPA recycling requirements. However, Andrew Booker, an EPA representative at the Solid Waste Committee meeting, said he was not certain Viny’s plan would comply with the solid waste plan.
The kind of long-term contract Envision is seeking might require it to be incorporated into a new solid waste plan for Medina County which is not likely to go into effect until the spring of 2022.
Resuming a limited trash sorting operation at the CPF is not out of the question, however. The current solid waste plan calls for a variety of recycling options which include the drop-off bins, curbside recycling programs in some parts of the county and collection of pre-sorted recyclables at the CPF.
A mixed waste option in which recyclables are removed from the trash is also part of the current solid waste plan, but has not been recommended by the county’s Solid Waste Policy Committee.
Any option the policy committee considers would require a bidding process in which Envision and other solid waste companies would be able to participate. Committee member and Brunswick Service Director Paul Burnett said any mixed waste processing operation that he has seen in the last few decades generally adds about 30 percent to the cost of trash disposal.
Bob Havenga, district manager for Rumpke Waste and Recycling, was also present at the Solid Waste meeting and expressed some surprise that the committee was still accepting proposals like the one made by Viny. He said his company may also submit proposal to increase recycling operations at the CPF.
That oft repeated message was delivered by Steve Viny, chief operating officer of Envision Waste Services, at the last meeting of Medina County’s Solid Waste Policy Committee. It’s a proposal Viny had made twice previously including once to Medina County commissioners, who were all present at the Solid Waste meeting April 13.
Viny’s plan is to invest $11 million in new trash sorting equipment at the CPF which he said could separate 39,000 tons of recyclable paper, plastic and metal from the residential trash hauled there each year. That would be about 40 percent of all trash processed there.
Those results would be a vast improvement over the 3,500 tons of material collected in the recycling drop-off bins placed at 54 sites around the county or the 3,900 tons of material pulled off the conveyor belts at the CPF in 2014, the last year Envision Waste Services operated the CPF as a mixed waste processing center.
County Commissioners voted to shutdown recycling operations at the CPF in 2015 in favor of the current drop-off bins placed around the county. The change resulted in a small reduction in recycling numbers last year, but a big reduction in costs. The gate rate or tipping fee charged haulers dumping trash at the CPF dropped from $61 per ton in 2014 to $42 per ton in 2016.
Viny said the gate rate would probably climb back to $54 per ton if Envision took back control of operations at the CPF. He also would want a 20-year contract to operate the CPF in order to recoup his investment in the new high tech sorting equipment he would install at the facility.
However, it is not clear Viny’s proposal would comply with Medina County’s current solid waste plan on file with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. That plan meets EPA compliance rules for recycling accessibility through the drop off bins placed in communities around the county.
Viny said he was assured his proposal could be put into operation while drop-off bins remain in place and those bins could gradually be removed as more residents rely on the CPF to take care of EPA recycling requirements. However, Andrew Booker, an EPA representative at the Solid Waste Committee meeting, said he was not certain Viny’s plan would comply with the solid waste plan.
The kind of long-term contract Envision is seeking might require it to be incorporated into a new solid waste plan for Medina County which is not likely to go into effect until the spring of 2022.
Resuming a limited trash sorting operation at the CPF is not out of the question, however. The current solid waste plan calls for a variety of recycling options which include the drop-off bins, curbside recycling programs in some parts of the county and collection of pre-sorted recyclables at the CPF.
A mixed waste option in which recyclables are removed from the trash is also part of the current solid waste plan, but has not been recommended by the county’s Solid Waste Policy Committee.
Any option the policy committee considers would require a bidding process in which Envision and other solid waste companies would be able to participate. Committee member and Brunswick Service Director Paul Burnett said any mixed waste processing operation that he has seen in the last few decades generally adds about 30 percent to the cost of trash disposal.
Bob Havenga, district manager for Rumpke Waste and Recycling, was also present at the Solid Waste meeting and expressed some surprise that the committee was still accepting proposals like the one made by Viny. He said his company may also submit proposal to increase recycling operations at the CPF.