County seeking new bids for CPF
Recycling could return to central trash facility
County Commissioner Pat Geissman says the county is not moving quickly enough to restore recycling at the CPF. File photo
MEDINA – County commissioners have taken a step toward re-establishing mixed waste processing at the county’s Central Processing Facility by authorizing the sanitary engineer to request qualifications and bids from potential operators.
Operations to resume sorting recyclables from the trash hauled to the CPF is just what County Commissioner Pat Geissman has advocated for the past three years, but she abstained from voting in support of the resolution that authorized preparing bid specifications for a new CPF operator.
According to Geissman, the process of restoring mixed waste processing at the CPF is taking too long.
“I’m frustrated with this process,” she said. “We’ve had at least one excellent proposal to operate the CPF already. I don’t know what else we’re looking for and why we can’t award a contract.”
The resolution approved by commissioners July 11 gives Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin and consultants a time frame to seek proposals from companies to set up operations at the CPF. That time frame envisions soliciting bids in September, completing a review of those bids in November and a contractor launching mixed waste operations in July 2018.
Geissman supports a proposal made by Envision Waste CEO Steve Viny to install new more efficient trash sorting equipment at the CPF and resume operations in much the same way his company did for 20 years before commissioners voted in 2014 to cease mixed waste processing at the CPF. Viny has asked for a 20-year contract to invest in new equipment and resume recycling operations at the CPF.
The process proposed by Viny is not currently in operation anywhere else in Ohio and Lyon-Galvin said the county’s solid waste district is working with RRS Consultants to develop bid specifications that meet expectations of both the county and potential bidders.
“They (RRS) have the right experience in facility design and the expertise to write a good RFP (request for proposals) on this project,” Lyon-Galvin said.
Renewed mixed waste processing at the CPF would not go into effect under the same circumstances under which Envision operated prior to the county’s solid waste district ceasing recycling operations there in 2015.
Since then, the county has adopted a new solid waste plan and instituted a voluntary drop-off program in which residents take their recyclables to drop-off bins located at more than 50 sites around the county. The less expensive drop-off program has become a mandatory element of the current solid waste plan and would remain in place if a new mixed-waste option is added at the CPF.
Lyon-Galvin told members of the Solid Waste Policy committee earlier this year that it will take time to clear out the old equipment at the CPF and produces an analysis of the trash volume and composition hauled to the CPF in order to generate useful bids for a new mixed waste processing operation at the CPF.
That is part of the reason that the county has not moved more quickly to solicit bids to process mixed waste at the CPF.
The trash analysis is needed because the composition of trash now hauled to the CPF has changed since Envision Waste Services last managed the facility in 2014. New curbside recycling programs have since been established in some communities and the drop-off bins now in place will remain in order to meet Environmental Protection Agency goals outlined in the current solid waste plan.
However, the current solid waste plan anticipates that a mixed waste processing program could be put in place to supplement the drop-off bins and other recycling programs now in use. The solid waste plan even includes an optional budget for a mixed waste operation. That budget option projects that the tipping fee haulers pay to dump trash at the CPF will rise from the current $42 per ton to $57 per ton.
County Commissioner Adam Friedrick said any mixed waste operation will increase the trash disposal costs in the county but supports the idea of offering the service. He also defended the delay in implementing a mixed waste program which was held up by a lengthy review of recycling options undertaken by the Solid Waste Policy Committee after mixed waste operations at the CPF were suspended.
The policy committee is also expected to review bids on a new mixed waste operation at the CPF and decide if one will be worth the extra cost to increase recycling rates and provide residents with the convenience of not having to separate recyclables from their trash.
Operations to resume sorting recyclables from the trash hauled to the CPF is just what County Commissioner Pat Geissman has advocated for the past three years, but she abstained from voting in support of the resolution that authorized preparing bid specifications for a new CPF operator.
According to Geissman, the process of restoring mixed waste processing at the CPF is taking too long.
“I’m frustrated with this process,” she said. “We’ve had at least one excellent proposal to operate the CPF already. I don’t know what else we’re looking for and why we can’t award a contract.”
The resolution approved by commissioners July 11 gives Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin and consultants a time frame to seek proposals from companies to set up operations at the CPF. That time frame envisions soliciting bids in September, completing a review of those bids in November and a contractor launching mixed waste operations in July 2018.
Geissman supports a proposal made by Envision Waste CEO Steve Viny to install new more efficient trash sorting equipment at the CPF and resume operations in much the same way his company did for 20 years before commissioners voted in 2014 to cease mixed waste processing at the CPF. Viny has asked for a 20-year contract to invest in new equipment and resume recycling operations at the CPF.
The process proposed by Viny is not currently in operation anywhere else in Ohio and Lyon-Galvin said the county’s solid waste district is working with RRS Consultants to develop bid specifications that meet expectations of both the county and potential bidders.
“They (RRS) have the right experience in facility design and the expertise to write a good RFP (request for proposals) on this project,” Lyon-Galvin said.
Renewed mixed waste processing at the CPF would not go into effect under the same circumstances under which Envision operated prior to the county’s solid waste district ceasing recycling operations there in 2015.
Since then, the county has adopted a new solid waste plan and instituted a voluntary drop-off program in which residents take their recyclables to drop-off bins located at more than 50 sites around the county. The less expensive drop-off program has become a mandatory element of the current solid waste plan and would remain in place if a new mixed-waste option is added at the CPF.
Lyon-Galvin told members of the Solid Waste Policy committee earlier this year that it will take time to clear out the old equipment at the CPF and produces an analysis of the trash volume and composition hauled to the CPF in order to generate useful bids for a new mixed waste processing operation at the CPF.
That is part of the reason that the county has not moved more quickly to solicit bids to process mixed waste at the CPF.
The trash analysis is needed because the composition of trash now hauled to the CPF has changed since Envision Waste Services last managed the facility in 2014. New curbside recycling programs have since been established in some communities and the drop-off bins now in place will remain in order to meet Environmental Protection Agency goals outlined in the current solid waste plan.
However, the current solid waste plan anticipates that a mixed waste processing program could be put in place to supplement the drop-off bins and other recycling programs now in use. The solid waste plan even includes an optional budget for a mixed waste operation. That budget option projects that the tipping fee haulers pay to dump trash at the CPF will rise from the current $42 per ton to $57 per ton.
County Commissioner Adam Friedrick said any mixed waste operation will increase the trash disposal costs in the county but supports the idea of offering the service. He also defended the delay in implementing a mixed waste program which was held up by a lengthy review of recycling options undertaken by the Solid Waste Policy Committee after mixed waste operations at the CPF were suspended.
The policy committee is also expected to review bids on a new mixed waste operation at the CPF and decide if one will be worth the extra cost to increase recycling rates and provide residents with the convenience of not having to separate recyclables from their trash.