Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Pay As You Throw may not be generating as much money as hoped, but the landfill’s life expectancy has been extended, according to City Manager Jim Bennett, due to the city’s implementation of the solid waste disposal changes.
Bennett gave city councilors an update on the program during Council’s Sept. 7 meeting. Using a PowerPoint presentation, the city manager went over the specifics.
“To recap assumptions when the program was put into place, we predicted: 60 percent of waste would be from non-residents; three bags would be used per week, per resident — 60 percent using small bags, 40 percent using large bags; and 15 percent of waste would be recycled,” said Bennett.
In the six months since the program began, Bennett said results to date have been close to those anticipated.
“Sixty-three percent of waste is commercial; 21 percent of municipal solid waste (MWS) is PAYT; and 16 percent is other commercial/residential,” he said.
“Sixty-two percent are using small PAYT bags, while 38 percent use large bags. An additional 15 percent of all MWS is recycled (estimated),” continued Bennett, noting 10 percent of MSW has been reduced.
Bennett said given the current usage, the life of the landfill has been extended by 25 percent (by estimated volume). He said, on average, 1.22 PAYT bags are generated per week per household, with 1.5 recycling bags per week per household.
“We’re seeing blue bags use at 1,000 per day currently,” said the city manager, noting more blue bags were being used and thus more recycling is taking place than anticipated.
Bennett said the commercial projection was correct, with “no impact on the financial forecast.”
“Recycling is higher than expected — $200,000 increase in revenues; $349,088 in avoided tip fees,” he told councilors.
He indicated solid waste has been reduced by 10 percent, resulting in $232,725 in avoided tipping fees. Bennett said there’s been an increase in people taking trash to the landfill rather than using PAYT bags.
“That amounts to $271,351 in avoided PAYT charges,” said Bennett.
Increased costs to the city include blue bags and an outside contractor, to the tune of $50,000. Bennett indicated there are no plans to charge for the blue bags to help recoup added costs due to more people recycling.
Bennett said the real benefit to the program has been the extension of the landfill’s life expectancy.
“We’ve seen a 25 percent reduction in landfill use by volume. That expands the life of the facility by 13 years — making 69 total years. That expands the need for additional capital for the next expansion by three years,” said Bennett, noting that if the trend continues, “the city could ultimately reduce the annual appropriation by $150,000.”
While revenue generated is less than initially estimated, Bennett said city officials are pleased with the way the program is working.
“The year-end implications show PAYT revenues project $453,890 will be received over 10 months — a $614,084 shortfall from the forecasted figure of $1,067,974,” he said.
Recycling revenues are expected to be higher than anticipated.
“We’ve projected we’ll receive $240,827 in recycling revenues; we’d budgeted for $81,300. That’s a $159,527 windfall,” said Bennett.
Bennett said as councilors begin discussing the 2012 budget, there are options to consider.
“We need to evaluate the recycling process. We’re spending $404,561 to generate $200,000. You could reduce the reserves by $150,000. We could evaluate curbside collection — $831,975 is required for 2012 for all communities. Or we could eliminate curbside collection and lower the cost of PAYT bags (approximately 50 percent),” said Bennett, noting he did not believe that raising prices of PAYT bags is a viable option to consider.
Bennett said he thought the PAYT program would be “the centerpiece of the 2012 budget, as it was for 2011.”
“I’d rather miss numbers the way we did to benefit taxpayers, than to generate a quarter mil we didn’t need and take from taxpayers. The taxpayers are no worse now than if we’d done nothing,” said Bennett.
Bennett also indicated that city officials believe some trash is being disposed of elsewhere, including disposal in non-PAYT towns.
“I’m sure some folks are taking their trash to camps out of town or disposing of it elsewhere,” he said.
Councilor Mel Hovey expressed his approval of the way things have gone to date.
“I knew there’d be some glitches and things wouldn’t come out as we estimated, but I very firmly believe recycling is the way to go and hope we would continue on and try to find solutions to these problems, rather than throw out and go back to the way we were. I Hope Jim and Dana can find answers to make this more cost-effective. I believe recycling is still the way we should be operating,” said Hovey.
Bennett discussed briefly with councilors other options for handling recycled items, including single-stream processing similar to the program used in Portland. He said he and Dana Fowler, director of public services, had looked into single stream options but that the cost of getting items to the nearest center, located in Canada, were cost-prohibitive.
Councilor Randy Smith concluded the discussion, acknowledging the work involved in putting the data together.
“I’d like to confirm what Mel said about recycling and how much extra work has been involved in gathering data and making this thing work. It’s to be commended. A lot of information is coming out of this that’s invaluable in making the program work. Great job,” said Smith.
