MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Council Chamber

Present:    Bill Atherton (Chair), Susan McLain (Vice Chair), David Bragdon, Rod Monroe,

Rod Park

Chair Atherton called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 19, 2002 SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING.

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Terry Petersen, Manager, Regional Environmental Management, said the Fourth Annual Garden of Natural Delights tour was a great success, reported a leak in a pump station discharge pipe and possible further actions needed at the St. Johns Landfill, talked about the groundbreaking ceremony for the Highway 30 improvement project, reviewed a recent report regarding regulatory functions and coordination in the region, and reported on a favorable independent study regarding REM’s reserve account (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting). There was committee discussion regarding the importance of getting the work on the St. Johns Landfill closure completed.

Dr. Petersen commented that in light of the recent tragic fire that killed two children, he was going to have the Recycling Information Center (RIC) add a message to their outreach regarding the importance of storing chemicals properly. He said he would bring it to the committee for review when it was ready.

3.  PARTNERSHIP PLAN UPDATE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Lee Barrett, Manager, Waste Reduction Public Outreach Program, REM, explained the partnership maintenance programs. (See FY 2001-02 Targeted Competitive Waste Reduction Grants ($185,000) included with the permanent record of this meeting).

Susan Ziolko, Clackamas County Solid Waste Reduction Coordinator, assured the committee that solid waste funds that had been reported in a newspaper article last week as being diverted to the Sheriff’s Department were not Metro funds, but came from a solid waste contingency fund and would be going to their general fund. She said Metro grant funds are kept totally separate. She updated the committee regarding using compost as erosion control. She said they had found it difficult to get local government staff to designate and promote compost as a good erosion control method, so they used their Metro grant to do some demonstration projects to show the benefits, i.e., keeping sites clean, using as a good planting medium for landscaping when they are finished, and/or filtering and cleaning the run-off, which silt fences do not do. She said they are working now to identify some public and private projects and have had contact with Lake Oswego and Oregon City to see if they might have some current ones. She said the most appropriate sites seem to be for streamside restoration, endangered species culvert replacement projects, and some commercial and residential development projects.

Lynne Storz, Washington County, reported on the success of their grant which was used to develop a recycling system at the Hillsboro stadium, targeting recovery and recycling of plastic bottles, as well as aluminum cans and paper (see Recycling Program Initiated at Hillsboro Stadium included with the permanent record of this meeting) She said the facilities manager reported that after the recycling containers were put out in the stadium the end of April, they were able to go from two six-yard containers of solid waste service a week to one six-yard container, and diverted about 70% of the bottles sold at the stadium. They are very excited about the recycling program, and the event programs state that recycling is available, and they also announce it over the public address system at the events. She said she would be following up with them for a plan for the winter months as well, for those different types of containers.

Matt Korot, City of Gresham Department of Environmental Services, reported how Gresham had used Commercial Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) funds to leverage more resources to make their outreach effort to businesses more effective. He explained that about a year and a half ago, the City of Gresham implemented their Great Businesses Program, an integrated effort for waste reduction, water conservation, stormwater pollution prevention, and energy efficiency, to provide better and more efficient use of City resources. He said CTAP funding and grants have provided and foundation of support and stability for the program through the end of 2003. He felt it was a very useful approach to minimizing waste and conserving natural resources, based on the fact that almost 200 businesses had participated. He noted the CTAP program links very nicely to other high priority Metro programs within the regional organic waste program, i.e., the food donation and diversion program.

Bruce Walker, City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development, commented that he had been working closely with Metro staff on several issues, including illegal dumping, educational programs to engage secondary school students in waste reduction and recycling, construction and demolition recovery, education regarding green building concepts, and how to deal with electronics recovery and recycling. Regarding food waste activities, he said their efforts were similar to the City of Gresham, helping to get the edible portion of the waste stream out and used appropriately. He said the City of Portland is in negotiations to get a food waste processor/composter to handle food waste and they are hopeful to wrap that up in a short time. He said there is a lot of cooperation and they are pleased with the working relationship. They think huge strides can be made in the area of food waste recovery that could lead the region to meeting goals.

Councilor McLain appreciated the thorough reports of how the grant money is being spent. She felt they were all interesting and innovative projects and important to the public. She hoped the next step could be to get the information to the public regarding where the money comes from for the projects so they can understand these cooperative working relationships. Chair Atherton asked if they had plans to make an assessment of restaurant grease. Mr. Walker responded that they were working with Environmental Services. If the grease goes down the drain it is costly to deal with in the treatment plants. They are on an incentive, a fee based system for grease going down the drain, so it would cost money to do that.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3211, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER TO GRANT A METRO SOLID WASTE FACILITY LICENSE FOR YARD DEBRIS RELOADING TO S&H LOGGING, INC., DBA LANDSCAPE PRODUCTS & SUPPLY

Roy Brower, Regulatory Affairs, said this yard debris facility is seeking authorization for the Executive Officer to issue a solid waste license for a new yard debris reload facility owned by S&H Logging in Hillsboro near the airport. He said there was a slight concern in that the owner had not sought a license for this until a Metro inspector found out they were doing it and a letter was sent to them. They stopped and applied for a license the end of June. Mr. Brower said everything is in order on the application and he recommended approval of the resolution.

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

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

7.  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.

Dr. Petersen explained that these ordinances deal with the economic incentive program to help promote recovery at private solid waste recovery facilities. The basic concept is that the higher the recovery, the more the credit given on the excise tax and the regional system fee. He noted there was unanimous support at the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) for the ordinances.

Councilor Monroe said his goal was to have what counts towards the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recovery rate be what counts towards the system fee credits. He proposed amending Ordinance No. 02-951, Section 1(w), by inserting “less the tonnage of materials accepted as source separated” in the first sentence after “solid waste facility” and inserting “less the tonnage of materials accepted as source separated” at the end of the sentence, and deleting the remainder of the last sentence after “tonnage recovered at solid waste facilities”, and inserting “shall include only those materials that the State Department of Environmental Quality permits to be counted toward meeting the state recovery goals as set forth in ORS 459.--- on the date of passage of this ordinance”, deleting subsection (e) in Section 2(e), deleting subsection (g) in Section 2(g), and deleting “October” and inserting “December” in Section 3. He proposed amending Ordinance No. 02-952 by deleting the remainder of the second sentence of Section 1(b) and inserting “include only those materials that the State Department of Environmental Quality permits to be counted toward meeting the state solid waste recovery goals as set forth in ORS 459.--- on the date of passage of this ordinance”, and deleting “October” and inserting “December. He proposed amending Ordinance No. 02-950 by deleting subsection (2) in Section 1(g)(2) and inserting “and every two years thereafter” after “March 31, 2004” in Section 3(b) (see copy of Proposed Monroe Amendments to Ordinances 02-950, 02-951, and 02-952 and an e-mail to Janet Matthews from Mary Sue Gilliland regarding what counts toward the state recovery goals included with the permanent record of this meeting). There was committee discussion regarding the effects of the proposed amendments.

Chair Atherton opened a public hearing on Ordinance Nos. 02-951, 02-952 and 02-950.

Vince Gilbert, East County Recycling, said brick and “similar inert materials” should be omitted as it is a judgement call. He wanted to know what similar inert materials could possibly be before he was willing to invest money for additional recovery. He said he had been burned in the past by “gray” policy. He suggested leaving the words out and if this “phantom” material showed up, it could be dealt with at a six month review.

Ray Phelps, BFI Allied/WRI, agreed with Councilor Monroe’s proposed amendments. He said when he asked the people who actually did the work, using historical data, the impact of taking source separated and the inerts and gravel, etc., out of the tonnage figures indicated they would hard pressed to get 30% using the present processes. The general discussion at the subcommittees was that they would probably be in the neighborhood of 33-34%. He said one way to deal with that was to reduce the number of low quality loads. He asked the committee for the opportunity to come back to look at the minimum threshold for the credit after the transfer station report came out in October. Councilor Monroe clarified that between now and when it takes affect, Mr. Phelps wanted to have staff to carefully review whether those thresholds are appropriate and proper given the other changes that they are making. Mr. Phelps said yes, to make sure it will work. Councilor Monroe said staff would report to the committee in October anyway, so that would be appropriate for new information. Chair Atherton reminded the committee that the whole intent of this system fee credit program was to reward the more extraordinary efforts because they know that as you take more and more waste out of the stream you would have to make greater efforts. Mr. Phelps said no, that as they took more waste out of the wastestream, they were larger loads with less material to recover. What happens is they take more tonnage out of the system but they have to process more tonnage. The percentage of total waste in, total residue out, it reduces the percentage because they were increasing the residue because they were recovering less tonnage. He said they may need to evaluate a new measurement device.

Mr. Gilbert commented that his experience was different because they are not in hauling business and have to take every load that comes in to their facility. He said the greatest reward was currently at the beginning of the recycling credit program and when you get to the hardest parts, the reward is the least. He suggested that was what should be revisited and swapped around.

Chair Atherton closed public hearing the ordinances.

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

Councilor McLain commented that she was supportive of recycling, but wanted to be very clear that Metro is not an open purse with an unlimited budget. Councilor Park understood the department did not have the discretion to take money from other line items. Dr. Petersen said the total appropriation approved as part of the budget process would require coming back for a budget amendment if they were to expend all of their budget appropriation, but if they underspend in a line item, it would be possible to underspend in another project and technically not require a budget amendment because they did not exceed their total appropriation. Councilor Monroe suggested deleting this today and working on language to codify what Dr. Petersen has promised to do in terms of this line item and bring it to Council. There was additional discussion regarding the language to be drafted. Mr. Fjordbeck suggested he would work with Councilors Monroe and McLain to draft language and take it up when measure comes before council.

7.  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 (CONTINUED)

Councilor McLain asked about language in Section 3(b), “and every two years thereafter”. She asked if that could be more often. Mr. Fjordbeck responded that requirement was for the REM director to convene a stakeholder meeting by March 31, 2004. This amendment requires that to be done by March 31 of each even numbered year thereafter. He added that nothing in this legislation would prohibit more often. Councilor Monroe added that language in the previous ordinance required a report to the council at least every 6 months.

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

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 5:47 p.m.

Prepared by

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the

Solid Waste & Recycling Committees Meeting of July 17, 2002:

Testimony Cards:

Vince Gilbert, East County Recycling

RayPhelps, BFI Allied/ WRI, 16 Touchstone, Lake Oswego, OR 97035