Date: Fri 04-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

recycling-garbage-landfill

Full Text:

The Waste Hierarchy -

Temporarily Backpeddling On Recycling Efforts

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

The nature of and attitudes about waste have changed dramatically in Newtown

since its recycling program began nearly 20 years ago. The Recycling Center

continued to add to its list of accepted items, curbside pick-up of

recyclables was established, and community cleanup groups, such as NEAT and

"The Sunshine Committee," were formed to tidy the roadways. Townspeople had

firmly adopted the philosophy "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."

So, it is not surprising to find many are now frustrated by the shrinking list

of materials accepted at the Recycling Center. Junk mail, plastics numbered

3-7 and, most recently, chipboard were eliminated from the list of

recyclables. (Magazines continue to be collected through curbside pick-up.) In

most cases, the reason for suspending collection is related to a drop in

market demand.

"Citizens have been very conscientious about recycling, but the markets for

recycling right now have all but collapsed," said Public Works Director Fred

Hurley. "There's an over-supply of available material. You don't have

production requiring enough of recycling materials to offset the amount being

collected and shipped," he said.

The one chipboard depository in the state ceased to accept materials, and the

market completely vanished, said Mr Hurley. Unlike corrugated cardboard, which

is still being collected, chipboard (e.g. cereal boxes) is not an item

contracted to be recycled, he said.

"When the market [for recyclables] becomes poor, they take the highest grade

available; the lowest-valued material gets dropped by the market first and

that's what happened with chipboard," explained Housatonic Resources Recovery

Authority (HRRA) Director Robert Palmer. Higher grade recycled materials, such

as magazines, corrugated cardboard, newspapers, and junk mail, are substituted

for chipboard, he said.

Mixed plastics have a limited market (there is only one market in this area,

and that is in Stamford), according to Mr Palmer. Contamination - food, metal,

any kind of contamination - has been an on-going issue in acceptance of

material. And availability of higher grade plastics from industries, such as

Pitney Bowes, is often chosen over recycled consumer material when an

abundance exists.

"We work on a hierarchy of solid waste management - source reduction, recycle

what we can, resource recovery to recapture all the energy we can, and

[lastly] landfill whatever we can't," said Mr Palmer. "The region has changed

[some previously recycled material] now to resource recovery, sending it to a

waste-energy facility.

Incinerator ash is landfilled, but that may be reused in the near future as

well, according to Mr Palmer who serves on a task force studying the

possibility.

Changes Expected

The inability to "place" some recycled materials may be only a temporary

situation. The town and region is flexible enough to re-implement collection

whenever the market shifts, said Mr Palmer.

The federal, state, and municipal governments support "the thrust in the

market place to `Buy Recycled,'" he said. The DEP and EPA continue to sponsor

workshops on the topic.

"Other states are working in conjunction with economic development to bring

processors and producers in. For instance, bring in a company that would take

old computers and take out all precious metals and plastics," said Mr Palmer.

"Unfortunately, Connecticut is not one of the leaders in that."

Mr Hurley is investigating the possibility of collecting magazines again at

the Recycling Center. Right now magazines are commanding a "reasonably good

price" - $25-30 a ton.

"There are both environmental and financial aspects that you begin to

question. If you can have a trade off - great environmental thing at a

reasonable cost, then you continue," said Mr Palmer. "When it becomes marginal

from an environmental standpoint, and economically unfeasible, then you really

have to question the program."

Even when the paper market goes to zero, it is more prudent to recycle it

because there is an "avoided cost" of $78/ton in tip fees. The cost of sending

a trailer down to deliver Nos. 3-7 light-weight plastics, plus a bill for

contamination, could drive the cost above the $78/ton tip fee, the "benchmark"

used for cost-benefit analysis, said Mr Palmer. Materials not recycled are

sent to resource recovery facilities so some of the energy is recaptured.

The materials still being accepted at the Recycling Center, which include all

those required by the state's Solid Waste Plan, are: Nos. 1 and 2 plastic,

glass and metal food containers, newspapers, corrugated cardboard, batteries,

anti-freeze, and waste oil.

Recyclables vs Garbage

"The town is probably doing its best, but it's too bad that people have gotten

into the habit of recycling and now they have to put [some of it] in the

garbage," said Judy Holmes, a member of Newtown Environmental Action Team and

the person who was instrumental in establishing the Recycling Center. "It's

very regretful. We started off on such a high with recycling - we added

plastics and chipboard. Now we're back to where we started."

Last year, the 11 towns comprising HRRA recycled almost 40,000 tons of

material and generated about 103,000 tons of garbage. HRRA's contract with

Wheelabrator, a trash-to-energy plant, specifies an annual minimum of 103,756

tons of garbage, minus the amount the region recycles in excess of 20,000.

(The numbers are further broken down by town, on a pro-rata basis calculated

using the first delivery of the year.)

Because both recycled materials and garbage are taken into account for

fulfilling the tonnage requirement, there is no financial impact contractually

if the town decrees a previously recycled material should now be included with

waste, said Mr Palmer.

But problems are on the horizon because the private haulers from the HRRA

region now have a choice of which middlemen to take their garbage to - a

company that transports to Wheelabrator or ones that ship waste out of state.

The tip fee differential is as much as $30 in favor of those who transport out

of state, said Mr Palmer. Wheelabrator fixed-price contract is for $78.81/ton

for 26 years (the only change being a cost of living increase of 75 percent of

the Consumer Price Index). When haulers make the economically prudent choice

of out-of-state shippers, the tonnage of garbage received by Wheelabrator

drops.

"We depend a lot on resource recovery in Connecticut. The trash-to-energy

facility needs to run at 450 tons a day, incinerating 365 days a year," said

Mr Palmer. In the months of January and February, when the amount of garbage

is historically down, Wheelabrator would normally supplement what they get

from HRRA with "spot market tonnage" that is in the $40/ton range. When the

spot market dries up, haulers return to regional garbage transfer stations.

But this year, the HRRA tonnage is even lower than the normal seasonal dip.

"If the tonnage drops below [the specified amount], Wheelabrator will seek

mitigating tonnage from New York State or Rhode Island. If they can secure it,

our price is the same; we're not affected," said Mr Palmer. "The other option

is the town can seek mitigating tonnage. If that doesn't work, then you get

into a `putter-pay'- paying for the amount you didn't put in. But there

appears to be enough tonnage out there."

A Court Ruling

HRRA entered into a 26-year contract with Wheelabrator in July 1993. HRRA is a

government agency with a current membership of 11 towns whose sole mission is

to plan, develop and establish long term solid waste disposal solutions for

its region. Participating municipalities are Newtown, Bethel, Bridgewater,

Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Redding, Ridgefield,

and Sherman.

At the time the contract with Wheelabrator was signed, towns had the authority

to direct where waste was delivered. In 1994, however, the Supreme Court ruled

that these ordinances were a violation of haulers' rights to enter into

interstate commerce, said Mr Palmer. The issue of "flow control" is now being

debated in Congress, with most involved parties favoring a grandfather clause

that would let regions with existing contracts maintain ability to direct

delivery until their contracts expire.

One of the main issues holding up reversal of the Supreme Court decision is a

section of the law that allows interstate transport. States including

Pennsylvania and Ohio are adamantly opposed to being a dumping ground for New

York (a huge landfill in New York is scheduled to be closed soon); they do not

want to be forced to accept out-of-state waste.

While Congress battles it out, municipalities continue to work on all levels

to seek alternate ways to meet their contractual obligations to supply a

minimum amount of solid waste to designated facilities. Mr Palmer, a member of

the Commissioner's Advisory Subcommittee Exploring Flow Control Issues, an

initiative of commissioner of the DEP, said the task force is looking at the

following options:

State subsidizes some or all of the tip fees on a yearly basis

State pays off some or all of the projects' debt

Towns pay some or all of the tip fee directly

Towns institute user fees

Towns institute hauler fees

Towns collect refuse themselves

Towns franchise collection with one or more haulers

Towns contract for collection with one of more haulers

Legislation is enacted putting transfer stations under certificate of need act

Legislation is enacted banning intrastate flow of contract waste to facilities

other than the one designated

Legislation is enacted allowing towns, et al, to enforce laws and/or

regulations

DEP revises state plan

DEP increases enforcement activities

DEP includes, as a permit condition for new and existing transfer stations,

the same limitations as to origin and destination of the waste as provided in

the permit application