County may resume recycling at CPF
A dozen companies express interest in new recycling option
Photo by GLENN WOJCIAK Members of the Solid Waste Policy Committee discuss proposals for resuming mixed waste processing at Medina County’s Central Processing Facility for the disposal of trash.
SEVILLE – A plan to restore mixed waste processing at the county’s Central Processing Facility has drawn initial interest from about a dozen waste haulers and equipment manufacturers.
Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin said she was happy with the response from potential bidders at a pre-qualification conference held at the CPF Sept. 12.
“I was really pleased with the number of people who responded to our invitation,” she told members of the Solid Waste Policy Committee later that week. “The room was full and the people in it expressed a lot of interest in the process.”
The process calls for potential bidders to undergo a prescreening review in which they submit their qualifications and general plans to the county, who will rank those proposals before asking a group of finalists to submit actual bids sometime in November.
There is no guarantee those firms showing initial interest in the project will wind up making actual offers, but Lyon-Galvin and Solid Waste Coordinator Beth Biggins-Ramer are hopeful the process will produce positive results.
The last time the county requested bids to process mixed waste and remove recyclables from trash at the CPF was 2014, when county commissioners rejected the bids they received and opted to cease recycling operations at the CPF. The county replaced the mixed waste sorting operation at the CPF with the more economical policy of having residents sort their own trash and deposit it in about 160 collection bins placed at 62 locations around the county.
However, the new recycling policy has had its critics who say the trash sorting operation at the CPF was more effective at diverting trash from landfills and more convenient for residents who did not have to bother separating the recyclable paper, plastic and aluminum from their trash.
The county’s Solid Waste Policy Committee has responded to those complaints with the current plan to see if a modified mixed waste processing option can be economically added to the current plan which features the drop-off bins and a growing number of curbside recycling options around the county.
Brunswick Service Director Paul Barnett complimented the county officials who prepared the guidelines for companies interested in bidding on a mixed waste processing option.
However, Clayton Minder, a representative from Envision Waste Services was not as happy with the process. He said the RFQ was written in a manner that restricts too many options for potential bidders. Nonetheless, he said Envision would probably submit a proposal to the county.
Envision had the contract to operate the CPF for 20 years before the county shutdown recycling operations at the CPF in 2015. Envision also has an unsolicited proposal on the table which Minder said could increase the county’s recycling rate from about 4 percent now to more than 30 percent.
However, the Envision proposal would come at a higher cost to trash customers and a 20-year contract which Envision wants to recoup its investment in new equipment. The current proposals being sought by the county anticipate a 10-year contract.
Among the companies represented at the pre-qualifications conference were Envision, Vexor, Kimble, Rumpke, Republic, Waste Management, C. Martin Trucking, Sherbrooke OEM, Civil Science Inc., and Machineex.
Not represented were the Optiva Group and InfiMer which a year earlier had pitched unusual high-tech recycling proposals to county officials which were never acted upon.
Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin said she was happy with the response from potential bidders at a pre-qualification conference held at the CPF Sept. 12.
“I was really pleased with the number of people who responded to our invitation,” she told members of the Solid Waste Policy Committee later that week. “The room was full and the people in it expressed a lot of interest in the process.”
The process calls for potential bidders to undergo a prescreening review in which they submit their qualifications and general plans to the county, who will rank those proposals before asking a group of finalists to submit actual bids sometime in November.
There is no guarantee those firms showing initial interest in the project will wind up making actual offers, but Lyon-Galvin and Solid Waste Coordinator Beth Biggins-Ramer are hopeful the process will produce positive results.
The last time the county requested bids to process mixed waste and remove recyclables from trash at the CPF was 2014, when county commissioners rejected the bids they received and opted to cease recycling operations at the CPF. The county replaced the mixed waste sorting operation at the CPF with the more economical policy of having residents sort their own trash and deposit it in about 160 collection bins placed at 62 locations around the county.
However, the new recycling policy has had its critics who say the trash sorting operation at the CPF was more effective at diverting trash from landfills and more convenient for residents who did not have to bother separating the recyclable paper, plastic and aluminum from their trash.
The county’s Solid Waste Policy Committee has responded to those complaints with the current plan to see if a modified mixed waste processing option can be economically added to the current plan which features the drop-off bins and a growing number of curbside recycling options around the county.
Brunswick Service Director Paul Barnett complimented the county officials who prepared the guidelines for companies interested in bidding on a mixed waste processing option.
However, Clayton Minder, a representative from Envision Waste Services was not as happy with the process. He said the RFQ was written in a manner that restricts too many options for potential bidders. Nonetheless, he said Envision would probably submit a proposal to the county.
Envision had the contract to operate the CPF for 20 years before the county shutdown recycling operations at the CPF in 2015. Envision also has an unsolicited proposal on the table which Minder said could increase the county’s recycling rate from about 4 percent now to more than 30 percent.
However, the Envision proposal would come at a higher cost to trash customers and a 20-year contract which Envision wants to recoup its investment in new equipment. The current proposals being sought by the county anticipate a 10-year contract.
Among the companies represented at the pre-qualifications conference were Envision, Vexor, Kimble, Rumpke, Republic, Waste Management, C. Martin Trucking, Sherbrooke OEM, Civil Science Inc., and Machineex.
Not represented were the Optiva Group and InfiMer which a year earlier had pitched unusual high-tech recycling proposals to county officials which were never acted upon.