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Lower
solid waste tonnage coupled with dramatically falling prices
for recycled commodities during the past month has resulted
in significantly lower revenue projections within the
Landfill Enterprise Fund. Many recycling markets have
recently declined to the point that materials can no longer
be economically collected, hauled and processed. Certain
baled materials cannot be sold at all and are being
stockpiled at the present time (steel cans, plastic
bottles-PETE) which is allowed by Virginia’s solid waste
regulations for up to 1 year. It’s unknown how long the
recent changes in the recycling markets (below) will
continue:
November Commodity Prices
|
Material |
FY 2008
Avg. Price per Ton |
Current
Price per Ton |
Disposal Cost
# Tons @ $45/Ton |
|
Cardboard |
$76 avg ($110 baled, $70 – loose) |
$25 avg ($35 baled, $15 loose) |
$5,600 |
|
Newspaper |
$45 |
$15 |
$24,300 |
|
Textiles |
$160 |
$160 |
$9,000 |
|
Plastic-HDPE |
$500 |
$220 |
$1,800 |
|
Plastic-PETE |
$280 |
$0 |
$2,565 |
|
Steel Food Cans |
$60 |
$0 |
$1,080 |
|
Aluminum Drink Cans |
$1,000 |
$800 |
$1,215 |
|
Mixed Paper |
$85 |
$0 |
$24,435 |
|
Office Paper |
$160 |
$125 |
$1,665 |
|
Hardcover Books |
$50 |
$10 |
$1,125 |
|
Tires |
($50) |
($50) |
$25,000+ (to Fairfax) |
|
“Green” Wood |
($30) |
($30) |
$265,500 |
|
Scrap (Ferrous) Metal |
$195 |
$45 |
$197,000 |
|
Nonferrous Metal |
$788 |
$650 |
$765 |
|
C&D/Vinyl Siding |
$200 |
$200 |
$1,620 |
|
C&D/Piping |
$0 |
$0 |
$630 |
|
C&D/Inerts |
$5 |
$5 |
$367,650 |
|
C&D/”White” Wood |
($8.50) |
($8.50) |
$157,500 |
Many
changes have already been implemented as part of the FY 09
budget in response to the 20+ % decrease in waste
deliveries:
▪
Elimination of Tuesday-Wednesday service hours at remote
convenience centers
▪
Eliminaton of VDOT waiver beginning in FY 10
▪
Rotating staff among the different recycling operations
▪
Reducing site attendants at Corral Farm convenience center
▪
Changing processing operations of recyclables to minimize
labor expense
▪
Freezing permanent positions – Environmental Coordinator,
Operators (2)
▪
Eliminating part-time temporary staff (5) at the remote
sites except to serve as backup
▪
Replacing temporary staff (4) with trustees from the jail
▪
Freezing temporary staff (8 sorters & 1 equipment operator)
in response to lower tonnage
▪
Minimizing contract labor to public service/emergency use
only
▪
Reviewing & modifying contract services for cost
effectiveness
▪
Suspending operations of certain non-profitable recycling
operations (carpeting & padding, buckets)
▪
Modifying residential ‘free’ disposal program for
non-household generated materials (remodeling projects) and
defining appropriate ‘residential’ vehicles to be cars,
pickups and trailers
▪
Deferring maintenance projects (equipment, building and
sites)
▪
Deferring capital projects
The
above changes have decreased FY 09 expenditure projections
by approximately $700,000. Additional changes are proposed
below that will save an additional $175,000 estimated on an
annual basis.
▪
Reduce the education program to part-time funded in part by
a non-competitive DEQ grant
▪
Reduce 1 permanent site attendant’s hours to part-time at
Corral Farm convenience center
▪
Reduce 1 site attendant’s hours to part-time and change
residential lane hours (Monday – Friday): morning –
noon
- end of day only
▪ Modify mulch program to
residential self-load for free; load for a fee on Saturdays
only
▪ Modify landfill
contractor to hourly rate (snow, borrow area, bulk waste
area)
▪ Suspend blue bag
acceptance from Warrenton
Even
with the above staffing and service adjustments, expenditure
reductions and deferrals (estimated to be $875,000 annually)
in FY 09 are not adequate to cover the current $1,400,000
revenue shortfall
which will result in the Landfill Fund using all of its cash
and restricted savings during the current fiscal year. If
commodity prices and tonnage deliveries remain low for an
extended period, the revenue shortfall will result in a
significant negative fund balance in FY 10. A negative
fund balance will occur even if all collection system
expenditures are contained within the General Fund.
Critical engineering work related to future landfill
permitting deferred for the past two years also needs to
progress in FY 10 in order to provide future landfill space
when needed.
Since
many commodities are presently at best marginally
economical, the only significant savings available within
the Landfill Enterprise is to stop collecting, hauling and
processing non-profitable materials (glass, mixed paper,
plastic bottles, cardboard, other). Suspending certain
recycling programs will result in additional tipping fee
expenditures by the General Fund but these will be offset by
lower hauling expenses in FY 10.
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