Single-stream could be costly
COEUR d'ALENE - Single-stream recycling could cost the county an additional $30,000 to $50,000 a year if it decides not to pay Coeur d'Alene Garbage an estimated $1,800 a month in recycling fees.
To date, Coeur d'Alene Garbage has not had to pay for the single-stream recycling waste it hauls to Blue Bird Recycling, but according to Kootenai County Solid Waste Director Cathy Mayer, it will be soon.
The county commissioners met earlier this month with Phil Damiano, who runs Coeur d'Alene Garbage, to discuss the new fees that his company is going to be charged.
Coeur d'Alene Garbage hauls single-stream waste from Hayden and Post Falls residents to Blue Bird Recycling, which was recently purchased by Coeur d'Alene Garbage's competitor, Waste Management.
A person answering the phone at Blue Bird declined to comment last week, saying it was a contractual matter and only Damiano could comment.
Damiano did not return repeated requests for comment.
Commissioner Dan Green said the county has been promoting single-stream recycling for the past couple of years to reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.
Single-stream recycling is putting all recyclables in one waste container without having to separate it. When it is deposited at the landfill or Blue Bird Recycling, recyclable items have to be removed and sorted before they can be sold for commodity prices.
While Blue Bird has yet to start collecting fees to sort the single-stream recyclables, the company has put Coeur d'Alene Garbage on notice saying it estimates it will cost approximately $1,800 a month, Green said.
The county charges all residents $96 a year for solid waste management, which allows all county residents to take their waste to the landfill at no additional cost.
Green said Coeur d'Alene Garbage contends that the single-stream waste is residential waste for which it should not have to pay for disposal.
On top of the county fee, residents of Hayden and Post Falls pay a monthly fee to have Coeur d'Alene Garbage haul their garbage and recyclables away for disposal.
Mayer said the county's recyclables are sorted and the recycling companies usually pay for the waste, but when the recycling company has to sort the single-stream waste, it charges to process it.
With commodity prices decreasing, she is seeing a lot less return on the recycled waste. The county doesn't get paid anything for some of the materials it recycles, and she suspects the county will be paying fees soon, too.
The looming fees prompted Coeur d'Alene Garbage to approach the county with an ultimatum that said if commissioners are unwilling to pay for the new single-stream recycling costs, the company will bring the recyclable waste - that residents already paid the county to dispose of - to the landfill and the county can deal with it.
That's an estimated 2,300 tons of waste per year.
Mayer said depending on commodity prices, that could cost the county anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 a year to process, compared to paying Coeur d'Alene Garbage an estimated $21,600 per year to deal with it.
Mayer explained that the county is ill-equipped to handle that extra waste efficiently, and that there is no way to pin down an exact cost because commodity prices fluctuate frequently.
"It will be very difficult for us to dump it into 30 yard containers," Mayer said, adding that could amount to an additional 1,000 haulage trips to Blue Bird.
Commissioner Todd Tondee said the county also has the option to simply put the recyclables in the landfill as well.
Mayer agreed.
"Those are just some of the options. We could just go forward and say if you are going to be faced with fees, you can bring it to us and we'll figure out how best to handle it," she said. "We would prefer not to, but it would definitely be our choice where to direct him to take it."
On the flip side, Green said, it is cheaper to pay Damiano than for the county to try and deal with it.
"It's kind of cutting our nose off to spite our face," he said, adding the county could look at tying Coeur d'Alene Garbage's recycling contract into its contract when the county's expires in 2016.
"I have an issue with paying his fee. I really have an issue with that," Tondee said. "Because then we are going to have other businesses that want us to do the same thing.
"Whoever is recycling anything could say 'hey we are diverting this from the landfill, you should pay our fees,'" he added. "It just opens the door to all kinds of stuff."
Green said it comes down to how much it is going to cost to be good stewards of the environment and extend the life of the landfill.
Tondee said he isn't convinced that Damiano can dump the recyclables for free.
"It's a business. Once he takes the waste, it's a business," he said. "It's not personal anymore."
Mayer agreed with Tondee. She said his agreement with the city of Post Falls makes it clear that he owns the garbage and the recyclables once he takes them from residences.
"He owns it and he gets the revenue from it, he does whatever he needs to do with that material; maybe going to Blue Bird is not the most practical method," she said. "Maybe he needs to take it to Seattle or something and market it a little differently. Then maybe he wouldn't have to pay fees for it.
"So then there is the question: If he does bring it to us, is it really considered commercial waste?" she asked. "Instead of something that falls under our homeowner fees that exempts him from additional fees."
Mayer said if he drops it at the county transfer station, she feels like he should be charged a fee.
Tondee said part of what complicates the issue is that the county does want the cities to use the single-stream recycling, but there is nothing stopping him from canceling his contract with the city to pick up the recyclables, which could then become part of the garbage stream again.
"He has been making money on this supposedly for a couple of years," Mayer said. "Until it came time for him to pay for it, he owned it and he didn't mind owning it.
"I understand what he is doing, and I can't blame him because we are going to be faced at some point with paying fees to get rid of our recyclables."
Green said it seems like Waste Management is putting the squeeze on Coeur d'Alene Garbage by purchasing Blue Bird Recycling.
Steve Roberge, with Waste Management in Coeur d'Alene, said his company has nothing to do with the contract between Blue Bird and Damiano. While his company owns Blue Bird, Roberge said it is managed independently from his business.
"We drop our recyclables there and pay a small fee for it, but that's it," he said. "We would never drop it at the landfill."
Tondee said he still has a hard time with paying Damiano's fees. He said Coeur d'Alene Garbage signed a contract with the city of Post Falls to dispose of the waste, and now that his fees are increasing, he's going to change the way he is getting rid of the waste by forcing the county to take it.
"We really need to look at it and see if it's worth paying the $30,000 to $50,000 a year to do it, as long as it doesn't encumber or inhibit the landfill that much," Tondee said. "Because it really is a small amount of waste, if I recall that correctly."
Mayer said the 2,300 tons amounts to 1.7 percent of the county's overall waste.
Based on the cost analysis prepared by Mayer, Green said, it still makes sense to him to figure out a set fee to reimburse Damiano because it is the cheaper option for the county.
Tondee said while it may cost a little more for the county to manage the waste, he preferred to go in that direction. Mayer agreed.
"If that's what it comes to, then we will figure out where to go from there," Mayer said. "If it does come to that and it is deposited on us, we will do everything possible to reduce that cost."
In the meantime, she said, the solid waste team will continue to brainstorm ways to haul the materials more efficiently.
Commissioner Jai Nelson said they are dealing with a lot of unknowns, and she prefers to wait and see what Damiano does. Then, she said, the commissioners can take action.
Until then, Mayer said she would work on tightening the numbers so the county is prepared - if or when Coeur d'Alene Garbage decides what it intends to do.