The Board Approved Organics (green waste) recycling/treatment Program to be implemented in 2015

By Bob J Ooten

My goal is to write down the criteria that I used to cast a yes vote on the New organics program.

1. State legislation that mandates agencies/cities to keep 75% of the trash generated out of the landfills. This is up form the present 50%.
2. State legislation that was pending and is now law that will disallow green waste to be used as alternative daily cover at landfills by the year 2020. Without new treatment processes for green waste the District's trash recycle rate would fall to near 40% and be out of compliance with the 75% criteria noted in criteria 1. above.
3. The trash vendor is building a green waste treatment facility in Paris that will convert the green waste in to truck fuel and fertilizer.
4. The vendor offered the District a "most favored rate status" if we were one of the first to sign up, which the District did.
5. A citizen survey of 1000 CMSD residents was conducted. 81.6% support increasing the amount of trash that is diverted from going into landfills from 57% to 75%.
6. The District has reserves that could pay for the program through 2020. The only reservations I have are if the administration of the program outstrips current staff projections and/or if as the recession ends the residential trash tonnages collected zoom up dramatically which would eat into the reserves beyond present staff projections.
7. The new vendor technology was called Microsoft like in its innovation by the owners of other large trash collection companies.
8. The prolonged drought is decreasing the green waste production as residents remove their lawns. If this precludes the District from meeting the 75% reduction of trash to landfills they the District and Vendor would have time to develop alternative trash processing technologies before the State mandated 2020 compliance date.