SEVILLE – No basic changes in trash disposal and recycling policy are imminent in Medina County after the Solid Waste Policy Committee voted to retain the county’s current solid waste plan and not to eliminate the flow control policy that requires most trash be hauled to the Central Processing Facility.

The much-anticipated vote came Nov. 17 after policy committee members from Brunswick, Medina and Wadsworth had asked that it be delayed in September and October to review the options with members of city council in each city.

The vote resulted in six members of the joint policy committee and MC-18 work group voting to eliminate flow control and four members voting to retain it. New policy committee member Dave Hall abstained from voting.

The motion to eliminate flow control passed despite a majority of votes opposed to the proposal because of committee rules which require members representing two of the three cities approve a resolution to adopt it. Representatives from Brunswick and Medina voted to retain flow control, thus assuring the policy be retained. They were joined by County Commissioner Adam Friedrick and Tom James in voting to retain flow control.

Another provision of the vote was to retain the current solid waste plan instead of beginning an immediate rewrite of the plan which went into effect a year ago. The solid waste plan is normally updated every five years but an early rewrite had been proposed to accommodate cities like Medina and Brunswick by giving them more influence over solid waste policy, a request they expressed loudly prior to the current plan being ratified but too late to be included in that document.

The vote to retain the current plan also means the elimination of the MC-18 Work Group created to give the cities more representation on the Policy Committee. That committee included Medina Service Director Nino Piccoli and Wadsworth Service Director Robert Patrick along with York Township Trustee Colene Conley and waste industry representative Sarah Mathews who were given a vote on some Policy Committee decisions such as eliminating flow control.

Policy Committee members who wanted to maintain flow control had said the policy was a unique and useful tool for the Solid Waste District which could help attract innovative approaches to recycling and trash disposal. Those opposed to flow control contend an open market for trash disposal would increase competition and reduce costs.

“I’d like to see us move to a free market someday, but I don’t think we’re quite ready for it just yet,” said Friedrick after voting to maintain flow control. “The current solid waste plan is a good one which gives us a lot of ways to recycle and the option to pursue innovative mixed waste options in the future.”

Recommendations on solid waste policy in the county will now come from the original seven-member Policy Committee whose composition is set by state statute. That composition calls for one county commissioner; one representative from Brunswick, the biggest city in the county; one representative from the Health Department; one representative of the 17 townships in the county; two private citizens; and one representative of the solid waste industry.