MSW Management is proud to pay tribute to all of SWANA’s Excellence Award  winners, this year focusing on Solid Waste Management Systems winners.

By John Trotti

Gold Medal

Charlotte County, FL
Charlotte County’s population has virtually doubled every decade since the 1950s, as it has become one the country’s most preferred and affordable retirement communities. As the area’s popularity and population increased, the county has developed an efficiently run, integrated solid waste management system, which includes a state-of-the-art solid waste landfill, curbside solid waste, yard waste, and recyclables collection program, multiple customer convenience facilities, household and special waste collection, an escrow, post-closure care fund, and a non-ad valorem mandatory solid waste assessment program to finance the annual operational costs for countywide solid waste collection and disposal.

Approximately 75,000 residential units within unincorporated Charlotte County are currently assessed $164 annually as a non-ad–valorem fee for solid waste services. This includes $125.76 for the franchise curbside collection services; $32.80 goes to the division to operate the landfill, provide recycling, diversion and household hazardous waste programs, the Keep Charlotte Beautiful program, the Illegal Dumping Task Force Program, and to operate two Mini-Transfer and Recycling Facilities. The remaining portion, $5.44, covers administrative costs associated with tax collection and mailing notices. The Sanitation District fund represents $12,494,595.

Solid waste disposal tip fees of $36 per ton generate approximately $6 million dollars. This includes the portion assessed within the sanitation districts. This revenue funds all capital improvement projects, equipment replacement, salaries, and operating costs for all division programs and services, debt services, and closure cost reserve funding. The division’s reserves generate $358,300 in interest income. Sales of recyclable scrap metals, including appliances, generate approximately $55,000 a year.

Commercial collection fees are regulated within the franchise district through rate analysis studies; this excludes construction and demolition debris that is not regulated. Commercial customers are billed directly by the franchisee. Commercial tonnages represent approximately 46% of the landfill waste prior to Hurricane Charley

Operating expenses for yard waste processing includes curbside residential vegetative debris and landfill clearing debris delivered by contractors. The division’s contractor is selected by a competitive bid to process, shred, and screen all materials. In 2004, the landfill budgeted $170,000 to process vegetative debris. The division regularly performs a cost-benefit analysis to determine if ownership and operation of a shredding operating would be less expensive. Based on current analysis and the competitive prices offered by contractors, contracting out these services is lower than the county’s cost for capital and operations.

The county’s mini-transfer and recycling facilities are currently operated by two full-time attendants. The facilities were constructed at a cost of approximately $1.8 million and $0.9 million for Mid-County and West County, respectively. The annual budgeted operating costs, wages, and transport of waste to the landfill represent approximately $650,000. The Household Hazardous Waste Program has competitively bid contracts to package, process, and dispose of waste material. The annual budget is $300,000.

Engineering services are secured through a contract with SCS Engineers as the division’s primary solid waste engineer. The costs vary based on projects and assignments. The division routinely budgets $300,000 per year to cover design work, regulatory analysis, regulatory reports, and permit application and renewals.

Zemel Road Landfill
The Zemel Road Landfill is situated on 640 acres and was established in 1974. In response to federal and state regulatory changes, the County undertook significant environmental improvements to comply with Subtitle D requirements, including the installation of a 7,100-foot-long Bentonite slurry wall and leachate collection system around the perimeter of the current 100-acre disposal site.

The location of a landfill is critical to its continued future operation. The Zemel Road Landfill is located in an area surrounded by state and county-owned properties, with what is hoped is sufficient buffer to ensure continued operations as the rest of the county continues to develop. The landfill disposal area at build-out will be at an elevation of 130 feet with 3:1 slopes. The landfill receives approximately 650 tons of solid waste per day. A new scale building with elevated scale system uses Carolina Software Co.’s WasteWorks system to track and bill customer activity.
The landfill drop-off center provides a convenient location for customers with small vehicles to drop off their waste and avoid interference and the hazards associated with the large commercial traffic at the working face. This center also allows customers to drop off used oil, used oil filters, electronics, acid batteries, and household hazardous waste.

Daily cover consumes considerable quantities of cover soil. To reduce dependence and extend the life of the onsite borrow pit, the landfill uses Tarpomatic tarps, which are applied at the end of each day. This has eliminated an estimated 180 cubic yards of cover soil at the landfill each day.

Leachate Treatment
Leachate generated from landfill operations is treated in an onsite state-of-the-art Zimpro B-140 leachate treatment plant and then injected into a 2,700-foot injection well.

The landfill includes a vegetative waste-processing site, where an average of 100 tons of trees, limbs, and landscape debris is delivered per day and shredded into a mulch product. The finished mulch product has several valuable uses. Some of it is used to cover the landfill’s intermediate cover soils, while another portion is given to area residents free of charge. The mulch greatly reduces the amount of time necessary for operators to repair exposed washouts, and helps establish temporary vegetation.

Value-Added Services
The Solid Waste Division has several valued added elements to the curb services without any additional charges: two 10-cubic-yard bulk pick-ups per year to residential curb service; appliance collection without the necessity to call for collection; up to five waste tires collected per year with or without rims; and the collection of lead-acid batteries, used motor oil, and used motor oil filters at the curb.

Recycling service is provided once a week to encourage participation. For convenience, materials are no longer sorted at the curb, which avoids having rejects returned to the bins. The county has a two-bin system, with newspapers, junk mail, magazines, phone books, paperboard, and cardboard destined for one bin, while plastic containers (codes 1 & 2 only), steel and aluminum cans, as well as clear, brown and green glass are all placed in the other.

Yard trimmings are collected once a week, residents are allowed to place up to 10 paper bags or bundles per week. The county has banned the use of plastic bags for yard trimmings, and all the trimmings collected are ground into mulch and given free of charge to the residents.

Hurricane Charley Cleanup
Any discussion of the county’s solid waste system would be less than complete without detailing how the county dealt with the impact of the most disastrous event in its history. Hurricane Charley struck Charlotte County on Aug. 13, 2004, with winds in excess of 145 mph. The windblown destruction from this single-day event was enormous, with over 2.5 million cubic yards of hurricane debris generated.

Nearly 50% of the total volume was vegetative debris. The county was able to shred the trees and limbs, thereby avoiding disposal in the landfill. The other 50% was structural debris. This material was buried at the Zemel Road Landfill, consuming approximately two years of future disposal space. The majority of the white goods picked up was recycled.

The county staged three temporary sites for the residents to drop off hurricane debris, recycling, and household hazardous waste. These facilities had approximately 20,536 customers. The West County Mini-Transfer and Recycling Facility was opened the first week after the storm to accept household hazardous waste from the residents.

Throughout the many months following Hurricane Charley, staff worked 16-hour shifts at the landfill and 12-hour shifts at the staging areas to process the incoming debris. All of this was completed with a heat index that at times ranged over 100 degrees with 90% humidity. Some of the hardships experienced by the community included no electricity for about a month, no telephone service for about two weeks, and communication very limited at best for almost three months.

Transfer and Recycling Facilities Operations
After several years of site acquisition, permitting, and construction activities, the West County Mini-Transfer and Recycling Facility and the Mid-County Mini-Transfer and Recycling Facility began operations in September 2001 and November 2005, respectively. The West County facility averages 23,000 customers a year. Both sites were designed as customer convenience centers to accommodate voluntary drop-off of residential yardwaste, recyclables, household hazardous waste, and nonputrescible waste. Recyclable materials that are accepted include cardboard, mixed paper, newspaper, aluminum and steel cans, glass, and plastics. Tires, white goods, and used hypodermic needles are also accepted. Scrap metal, lumber, wallboard, and insulation are accepted from residents, but contractors and businesses are not permitted to use the site.

The county’s household hazardous waste (HHW) program is composed of two elements: the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program and the Small Quantity Generator Assessment Program. The HHW Program is responsible for collecting and disposing of wastes generated by county residents. Elements of the HHW program include used needle collection and convenient HHW disposal options for county residents at two collection locations and a quarterly one-day collection event. The Small Quantity Generator Assessment Program is a state-mandated program assisting county businesses with regulatory and compliance issues regarding the disposition of hazardous waste generated by businesses.

Silver Medal

Clinton County, New Jersey
The Clinton County Solid Waste Authority (CCSWA) comprises nine members from different walks of life, including waste disposal, institutions of higher education, industry, entrepreneurs, and commercial institutions. In 1973, CCSWA began to develop the 60-acre Wayne Township Landfill (WTL), which was used until 1992 when regulation changes called for its closure. In order to provide uninterrupted disposal services, the CCSWA secured a new solid waste disposal permit for a 33-acre tract of land within the bounds of the property owned by the authority.

The key to a completely integrated system lies in its diversity, in CCSWA’s case established by the inclusion of a mulch facility, a waste-hauling service, a tub-grinding service, and a county-wide recycling program and material recovery facility.

Wayne Township Landfill
Because the WTL is a small facility, it has been challenged to stay competitive with the larger facilities in the area. With this in mind, CCSWA opted to become a more diverse and technologically advanced to better serve its customers. One example of this is a computer-aided waste management system, which uses global positioning system (GPS) technology to track waste disposal and compaction. Another is the recirculation of leachate, reducing the cost of its management while enhancing waste degradation. The next step was the installation of the landfill’s gas-to-energy system.

The overall benefits of using computer-aided waste management with GPS technology, and leachate recirculation have enabled the Authority to increase compaction rates from 1,600 lbs to greater than 1,800 lbs per cubic yard on average. Significant changes in settlement were first measured in the year 2000, with 16,000 cubic yards of reusable air space, with annual increases each year. In 2005, settlement rates continued to increase with 22,000 cubic yards of reusable air space generated and an average yearly compaction rate of greater than 2,200 lbs per cubic yard. This has extended the life of the landfill by an estimated 1.5 years, with a total of 152,000 cubic yards of air space regained in 5 years, which averages 25,000 cubic yards regained each year. The landfill generates 56% of the authority’s income.

The WTL’s recycling facility collects recyclables from municipal, curbside and commercial programs, processes and sells the material; whereas, wood and brush waste is recycled into landscape mulch.

In 1999 CCSWA partnered with Jersey Shore Steel Company (JSS), to provide LFG for use in its reheat furnace used to turn recycled railroad rails into angle iron. The CCSWA purchased an abandoned Conrail railroad bridge on which to lay the 2.5-mile pipeline across the Susquehanna River, which separates CCSWA and JSS property. To date, CCSWA has invested $1.5 million to initiate, implement, and upgrade the system to assure that the quantity and quality of gas is compatible with JSS operations.

The gas-to-energy system comprises a network of piping in the landfill, gas collection wells, a blower system, compressors, a gas chiller system, and an enclosed ground flare. The LFG is extracted through a series of pipes and wells located throughout the landfill. LFG is compressed, filtered and dried, and then pumped to JSS through a 2.5-mile pipeline. Through continuous upgrades to the system, WTL can provide 100% of the gas needed for its process. When JSS operations are shutdown, the gas is automatically routed to an enclosed ground flare. WTL provides JSS with their primary fuel source at a rate of 1,100 CFM or 33 MMBTU’s per hour.

LFG sold to JSS at 30% below market rate produce 13% of the system’s income, and has resulted in decreased natural gas use by 80 to 100%, which translates into a savings of $2.8 million for JSS since inception. This has allowed JSS and its 300 employees to maintain a level of competitiveness in the world’s steel market.

Other Programs
Waste hauling services provided by the CCSWA involve a fleet of nine truck tractors and 16 trailers (100 cubic yards each) that are used only when local haulers cannot accommodate the needs of potential customers. The CCSWA hauls C&D materials, contaminated soil, and municipal waste from outside the local area. This policy keeps CCSWA from infringing on local business and has allowed CCSWA to enlarge its customer base. This part of the system generates 16% of the authority’s income.

A mulch facility has been established to defer clean wood, brush, stumps, and yardwaste that would typically end up in the landfill. Here the CCSWA uses a Morbark 1300 tub grinder to grind these wood materials into landscape quality mulch.

The CCSWA also operates a materials recovery facility where recyclables are processed and baled for marketing. These materials are then stored until the market price is conducive for selling. In 2005 over 1,700 tons of recycled materials, and 63 tons of white goods were processed and sold through the recycling facility, and 2,475 tons of clean wood wastes were processed at the mulch facility. This kept 4,238 tons of material out of the landfill, allowing that air space to be used for nonrecoverable wastes instead. These numbers have continued to rise each year. This part of the integrated waste management system generates 8% of the CCSWA’s income.

A new program recently implemented at the recycling facility is for electronics recycling. This facility is one of 10 across the state of Pennsylvania providing this service on a daily basis. Residents may bring in everything from computer systems, printers and scanners, televisions, stereos and cell phones, all free of charge.

The CCSWA also holds special recycling events, such as Household Hazardous Waste Collection (HHW), every other year. HHW has collected over 50 tons of material in just three events. An annual Tire Collection Event is also held. To date, the Tire Collection Event has collected over 18,000 tires. These events are offered to Clinton County residents free of charge.

CCSWA continues to evaluate the feasibility of expanding the use of its LFG to other surrounding industries. CCSWA has initiated the start of this expansion project at the WTL site. The expansion project will reopen the 60-acre site closed in 1992, mine out the waste, and place a part of it in the 33-acre lined site currently being utilized. The 60-acre site will then be redeveloped as a double-lined system and would provide 40-plus years or 9 million cubic yards of disposal capacity. The expansion project will have full bioreactor capabilities built directly into the design, which will provide opportunities for additional LFG projects thus further diversify CCSWA economically and technologically.

CCSWA provides assistance to the county in the form of a $4-per-ton host county fee. With an average 135,000 annual tons disposed, this generates approximately $550,000 for the county’s general fund, a large part of which is used for improving environmental conditions as well as quality of life in Clinton County. CCSWA also established a remediation fund. This fund will minimize liability to the county and state in the case of catastrophic events beyond the authority’s control.

Bronze Medal

Toronto, ON
In the fall of 2000, the Toronto City Council was engaged in a difficult debate on the future of Toronto’s garbage in regard to the impending closure of the Keele Valley Landfill site at the end of 2002. The end result was a haulage and disposal contract for residual waste disposal across the US border in Michigan. This decision was not intended to be the long-term solution to the city’s waste management. As such, the city has moved forward with an integrated waste diversion plan in order to divert waste from landfill disposal.

Before 2000, Toronto was at a 28% residential diversion rate with limited curbside collection diversion programs such as the Blue/Gray Box program that serviced approximately 510,000 households, 5,100 multi-unit buildings, various agencies, boards, commissions, departments, and school boards, along with approximately 20,000 commercial businesses across the city of Toronto. With the closure of Toronto’s only landfill, as well as increased border pressures, Toronto needed to enhance its recycling programs and introduce the collection of organics and secure additional processing capacity to manage new diversion streams.

As a result, the Toronto City Council adopted the recommendations of Waste Diversion Task Force 2010 as a means to achieve Toronto’s waste diversion goals of 30%, 60%, and 100% by 2003, 2006, and 2010, respectively. The 2010 waste diversion goal has been extended to 2012. The objectives of this new Integrated Waste Diversion Plan were those of finding a city solution to the export of waste and of meeting the city’s waste diversion goals.

The city has moved forward in implementing the recommendations of the Task Force 2010 and introduced a series of waste diversion programs and initiatives in order to reach the above waste diversion goals under a far-reaching and comprehensive integrated waste reduction plan. The plan includes the following elements or waste diversion programs:

• Blue/Grey Box programs—The collection of source-separated materials at curbside from single-family homes and multi-residential buildings. The Blue and Grey Boxes are collected on a combined, single stream to maximize storage capacity and reduce collection requirements to once every two weeks.
• Single-stream recycling collection and processing capacity—The collection of Blue and Grey Box materials utilizing dual compartment collection vehicles for biweekly collection of residual waste and recyclables and weekly collection of organics (three-stream system) and processing of materials at a multi-material recovery facility that can process both container and fiber material.
• The Green Bin Organics Collection program—The collection of Blue and Grey Box materials, organics, and residual waste. This program services approximately 510,000 single-family homes. It is the largest organics collection program in North America.
• Three-Stream Collections Program—Toronto’s curbside collection program is organized into three-streams: 1) source-separated organics that are collected weekly through the Green Bin Program; 2) single-stream recycling (combined containers and fiber) that is collected biweekly; and 3) residual solid waste that is also collected biweekly (alternating with single-stream recycling).
• The Yellow Bag Program—(collection of Blue and Grey Box materials, organics and residual waste) from eligible commercial businesses. This program is based on a cost-recovery user fee structure through the purchase of “yellow bags” set out at curbside or bin containing residual waste and free collection of organics and recyclables.
• Multi-Unit Building Organics Pilot program/study—The collection of organics from up to 30 multi-unit residential buildings.
• Residential Waste Collection Bylaw—including the provision of mandatory recycling of containers, fiber and organics.
• Single-Family Cart/Bag/Weekly Recycling Pilot—This pilot program involves four study areas utilizing cart- and bag-based collection containers, along with increased collection frequency (weekly as opposed to standard biweekly collection) to monitor the effects of container type and frequency on diversion rates/capture.
• Expansion of the existing Blue/Grey Box Programs by addition of materials—The city expanded its acceptable recyclable material listing to include empty paint cans, aerosol cans, tetra pak/polycoat containers, tubs, and lids to Toronto’s recycling program.
• Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Departments (ABCDs) and School Boards Waste Diversion Program—A cost-recovery user fee structure based on bag tags and/or bin lifts and free collection of organics and recyclables.
• Reuse It Centre—A Design/Build project on lands abutting Toronto’s Ingram Transfer Station for residential drop-off of durable items (furniture, electronics, clothing, and construction materials).
• Community Environmental Assessment Team (“CEAT”)—The formation of a working and consultation group to guide the Environmental Assessment of a long-term waste diversion plan to manage the 40% of waste remaining after all source separation of recyclables and organics has taken place.

The above programs have increased Toronto’s residential diversion rate from 28% percent in late 1990s to approximately 40% in 2005. It is expected with the rollout of other programs under the Integrated Waste Diversion Plan that Toronto will reach its diversion goals.

The Green Bin program services approximately 510,000 single-family dwellings across the city of Toronto. This program was rolled out in phases starting with Etobicoke in the fall of 2002, Scarborough in the fall of 2003, Toronto, East York and York in the spring of 2004, and North York in the fall of 2005. The Yellow Bag program services approximately 20,000 small businesses across the city of Toronto. The program was implemented in the fall of 2002.

A new anaerobic digestion (AD) facility was commissioned in the fall of 2002. The plant throughput is approximately 100 tons per day or 25,000 tons of organic materials from the Green Bin, Yellow Bag and Multi-Unit Organic collection programs. Additional private sector capacity had also been secured to process materials from these programs.

The city began the co-collection of Blue and Grey Box recyclables in the fall of 2002 with implementation of the Green Bin program that was phased in over four years across the former municipalities. As of the fall of 2005, all residences, both single-family and multi-family, are participating in this single-stream collection-and-processing system.

Planning and Forecasting Methods
The planning and forecasting methods utilized by Solid Waste Management Services are driven by the diversion goals. Staff planned and implemented the single-stream recycling collection and processing system in order to increase participation in curbside recycling programs. To date, the city has two single-stream processing material recovery facilities that are operating at capacity. The city owns one MRF, located at the Dufferin Transfer Station and is operated under private contract and contracts out processing capacity to another privately owned and operated MRF located in Scarborough (eastern Toronto). Both MRFs are currently operated by private contractors. The city through its operating agreements requires the private contractors to abide by federal and provincial statutes, and its purchasing policies ensure workers are fair and equitably treated and that private contractors have and abide by standard occupation health and safety guidelines. The city also has two MRF coordinators who oversee private contractor operations who meet regularly with contractors to discuss operations at the MRFs.

Change Management Process
With the projected additional recyclable capture due to new programs that may be implemented in the city—such as a multi-unit levy on garbage collection, mandatory recycling bylaws and potential bag limit/user fee policy instruments which are subject to future council consideration, effects of biweekly garbage collection and organics collection, and expansion of the number of materials the city is collecting—the city is investigating an additional MRF in order to manage expected increase in capture of recyclables from its service base. The city has been and will be in a position also to modify its operations at its MRF and privately contracted MRFs to incorporate new technologies to help with sorting and processing efficiencies of the different material types

MSW - September/October 2006