MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Council Chamber

Present:    Bill Atherton (Chair), David Bragdon, Rod Monroe, Rod Park

Absent:    Susan McLain (Vice Chair), excused

Chair Atherton called the meeting to order at 3:32 p.m.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 5, 2002 SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING.

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Janet Matthews, Acting Manager, Regional Environmental Management, reviewed the North Portland Enhancement Grant process, discussed two recent Oregonian articles, one that featured recycling at the transfer stations and one on minority outreach. She reported on two non-system licenses (NSL), one for Arrow Sanitary and one for American Sanitary, both owned by Waste Connections. (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting).

Councilor Park asked how material recovered in Vancouver was counted. Councilor Monroe asked if Vancouver was also subject to the credit program since they are licensed. Ms. Matthews said they were required to meet the same thresholds as others in the Metro region if they want to participate in the program.

3.  ORDINANCE NO. 02-950, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING METRO CODE CHAPTER 7.01 TO INCREASE THE CREDITS AVAILABLE AGAINST THE SOLID WASTE EXCISE TAX AND MAKING OTHER RELATED CHANGES

4.  ORDINANCE NO. 02-951, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING METRO CODE CHAPTER 5.02 TO MODIFY THE REGIONAL SYSTEM FEE CREDIT PROGRAM

5.  ORDINANCE NO. 02-952, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING METRO CODE CHAPTER 5.01 TO DECREASE THE MINIMUM FACILITY RECOVERY RATE REQUIREMENT

Tom Chaimov, Senior Solid Waste Planner, reviewed the process by which the policy objectives of the ordinances were developed, went over the objectives, and walked through the specific changes of the ordinances (for more detail, see the handout, Objectives of These Ordinances, included in the permanent record, and copies of the ordinances which are in the agenda packet with the permanent record of this meeting). Councilor Monroe commented that he had a number of amendments proposed that would refine and improve on the recommendations of staff, but he was also interested in hearing Councilor McLain’s concerns.

Chair Atherton opened a public hearing on Ordinances No. 02-950, 02-951, and 02-952.

Ray Phelps, WRI, 16 Touchstone, Lake Oswego, OR 97035, commented he had seen Councilor Monroe’s proposed amendments and his recommendation would be to go with them. His second recommendation was to reflect the current value of the $75 as opposed to pegging it at that number. Councilor Monroe said since the committee was not going to take action on his proposed amendments at this meeting, it would give people 2 more weeks to review what the committee is considering and come back for a more refined discussion. Mr. Phelps commented that recovering more recyclable materials would increase the amount of tons removed from the waste stream and sent to a landfill, but it may not increase the percentage in as much as they would be searching through loads that were not particularly rich.

Vince Gilbert, East County Recycling, commented that more recycling should get the bigger reward, but the Excise Tax Credit Schedule chart, page 1 of Ordinance No. 02-950, appeared to show the opposite. Councilor Monroe responded that he had asked staff about that and was told that “credit of no more than" a certain amount meant that the credit amount changed between the upper and lower percentages of recovery. Mr. Chaimov explained that this ordinance was proposing incrementally higher credits for every half percent increase in a facility’s recovery rate. He offering exponentially increasing credits for those higher recovery rates could encourage inappropriate behavior and tempt facilities to cherry pick source separated loads. He said there is a delicate balance between offering a higher incentive for higher recovery, which we do, and offering too much of a higher incentive, which is the reason these curves cap out at 45%-50% recovery. Mr. Gilbert did not think the system should be set up in fear of somebody doing something that would be derogatory to the system; everyone should be expected to follow the rules. He suggested that the less recycling you do, the less you should be rewarded, and the more recycling you do, the more you should be rewarded. He said it would be the same curve with different numbers. Mr. Chaimov said the source separated infrastructure set up in this region was outstanding, and has an annual recovery rate of 900,000 tons of source separated materials. He said they did not want an incentive that would negatively impact that system or divert source separated materials through a mixed waste facility. John Houser noted that the calculations were made on a rolling average recycling rate for all material coming through the facility. There was additional discussion regarding incentives and how they are administered.

Councilor Park asked why, as the amount of recovery went up the spread went down on the curve of the excise tax credit chart. Mr. Chaimov responded that the schedule was calculated to take the percentages as they currently read in code and convert them to a dollar amount at the new excise tax rate. Councilor Park wondered if the chart followed the curve correctly. Doug Anderson, REM Finance Manager, said the curve reflected the philosophy that you give credits back in the range where facilities are recovering, then chop it off where there are such material rich loads we have to ask ourselves why the generator is not participating in the resource recovery program. He said this is reversed if the council wants to match the dollar rewards with the effort curve. He added that one had to also look at the impact of the program on independent operators. Councilors Park and Monroe asked for more information from staff on the curve.

Chair Atherton closed the public hearing.

Mr. Chaimov reviewed issues Councilor McLain had asked him to present in her absence. She wondered if there was a lack of clarity in the definition of recovery rate. He said staff felt the definition was pretty clear, and said there was a comprehensive list included of items that do not count which could be updated every 6 months. She was concerned about out of district designated facilities. He said staff had not proposed any changes with respect to that, and if an out of district facility wished to participate they could negotiate through their designated facility agreement. He said the program was open to any facility who accepted mixed dry waste from the Metro region and there were fairly stringent participation criteria. He did not know of any out of region facility that was meeting the criteria at this time. She wanted to know if the credit programs were the most equitable way to recognize good recovery. He felt it was. Finally,. she wondered if having two credit programs was the most efficient way to encourage recovery. He said the two programs were administered as one. and although they were separate in law, administering them was not a big issue. Councilor Monroe commented that he had some similar questions and had prepared some amendments for consideration (see copy of Proposed Monroe Amendments to Ordinances 02-950, 02-951, and 02-952 included with the permanent record of this meeting). Councilor Monroe reviewed his proposed amendments and there was committee discussion regarding the effects of the proposals.

6.  REPORT ON NEW DRY WASTE RECYCLING POLICIES

Lee Barrett, Waste Reduction and Public Outreach Manager, REM. presented slides (see copy of Tons of New Recovery Needed to Meet Goal included with the permanent record of this meeting) and briefly reviewed new dry waste recycling policies.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 5:05 p.m.

Prepared by

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the

Solid Waste & Recycling Committees Meeting of June 19, 2002:

Testimony Cards:

Ray Phelps, 16 Touchstone, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. WRI