MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, September 18 2002

Council Chamber

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

Absent:    David Bragdon (excused)

Chair Atherton called the meeting to order at 3: 36 p.m.

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Terry Petersen, Manager, Regional Environmental Management, reported another hazardous waste spill over the weekend at Metro South Transfer Station, which was suspected to be from a mace canister in the pit. He also reported that Metro and the Environmental Action Team (ENACT) have been honored with a Community Recycling Leadership award from the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. for outstanding efforts in rechargeable battery recycling. (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting). Councilor McLain suggested having such awards presented at Council meetings in order to get a plug in on the cable show to help publicize the good things Metro does and give proper recognition to the ENACT team.

3.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3223, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER TO GRANT A METRO SOLID WASTE FACILITY LICENSE TO MT. HOOD METALS, INC., AND AMERICAN COMPOST & RECYCLING, LLC, JOINTLY DOING BUSINESS AS AMERICAN ROOF RECYCLING FOR THE OPERATION OF A ROOFING RECOVERY FACILITY

Chair Atherton opened a public hearing on Resolution No. 02-3223.

Roy Brower, REM Regulatory Affairs Manager, gave a short PowerPoint presentation regarding Mt. Hood Metals and American Compost, located in Metro District 5, and the work they want to undertake at the old RoofGone site on Columbia Blvd. He said they have turned in an operating plan, which is under review.

Burt Bors, Bors Brothers Limited Partnership, P.O. Box 31077, Portland, OR 97283, reported that Mr. Stroupe had come to him with a proposal to partner with him in this enterprise, a portion of which will be blended into hog fuel, and some into “No Spark Bark” for freeway plantings.

Councilor McLain commented that this license was unusual in the fact that they were giving a license to more than one entity, acting under a different name. Mr. Brower agreed it was unusual. Councilor McLain said from the information she had been given at this meeting, it sounded like a win-wind situation, picking up pieces from a program that did not survive.

John Houser, Senior Council Analyst, asked how long they anticipated it would take to dispose of the remainder of the left over material, and if that would happen before any new material was accepted at the site.

Casey Stroupe, American Compost & Recycling, LLC, 9707 N. Columbia Blvd., Portland, OR 97283, said he had been working on disposing of the left over material since April, and anticipated it would take another 6 months to get rid of everything that had been left. He noted that the work plan deadline is October 2003.

Chair Atherton closed the public hearing on Resolution No. 02-3223.

Chair Atherton assigned Councilor McLain to carry the resolution to the full council.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3224, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER TO RENEW A METRO SOLID WASTE FACILITY LICENSE TO K.B. RECYCLING, INC., FOR THE OPERATION OF A MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY

Chair Atherton opened a public hearing on Resolution No. 02-3224.

Mr. Brower presented PowerPoint pictures of the sites and explained the history of the facility. He said they were seeking renewal of licenses issued in 1997, one to the currently operating KB Recycling facility on Deer Creek Lane, and one to this new facility, which had received a license, but had never been built. This new site now plans to start operations in October, and needs the license. He noted it is also a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) permitted facility. In response to a question from Chair Atherton, Mr. Brower said the area was mostly industrial. He added that KB Recycling had been issued a Notice of Non-Compliance and a small penalty for violating the Metro Code flow control provisions. He said they had paid the fine and did not plan to contest the case. He commented that it appeared, looking at the land use approval, that Clackamas County had restricted approval to construction and demolition debris, and Metro was proposing fairly broad authority to take any non-putrescible waste from non-residential, and other construction and demolition debris. He believed clarification from the County was needed, but suggested that if the Committee wanted to pass this along, they could narrow the authorization at this time, or, use another license provision requiring compliance with local, regional, state and federal laws and hold them to what the county would hold them to. He thought that may be a little confusing. Councilor McLain did not think it was as much confusing as it was backwards. She said the interpretation of the County’s land use approval of record would be the only thing Metro could accept, per code. She asked when staff planned on talking to the County. Mr. Brower said they would get clarification from the County in fairly quick order.

Steve Donovan, consultant to KB Recycling, presented additional PowerPoint slides of the new facility. He said they are planning to accept sheet glass, plastics, and scrap metal and wood from the dry waste stream. He said their new facility would bring enhanced service to Clackamas County haulers. He was excited that they would have rail access at the new facility, which would reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMTs). Regarding the confusion with the County wording, he said they did not want the Metro contract to be limiting, and said their conditional use permit was granted in 1996 when the definition of dry waste was different. Councilor McLain asked what they might be going after that could be a problem. Andy Kahut, KB Recycling Manager, said their facility is open to franchise haulers, and based on studies KB had done, at least 50% of the waste from those haulers could not be defined as dry waste. In response to a question from Councilor McLain, he said generally, they anticipated a minimum of 25% from each load would be residue that would go to the River Bend facility through a non-systems license. Councilor Park commented that the wording in Section 3.4 of the license was not limiting as it said “such as”, and not “limited to” dry non-putrescible solid waste generated by non-residential generators and construction and demolition sites. Mr. Donovan said they were willing to accept the language as written. Councilor McLain felt the wording issue needed to be clarified before the license was granted.

Chair Atherton noted from the slides that the facility was fully enclosed. He asked how far away any residential development was. Mr. Donovan responded that there was a band of residential development across a street, approximately 500 yards to the east.

There was committee discussion regarding when the Metro license would allow the applicant to begin doing business, whether the confusion in the wording of the land use permit with Clackamas County was problematic to Metro’s Code, and when staff thought the confusion with Clackamas County could be cleared up. On advise of legal counsel, and at the request of Mr. Donovan, Chair Atherton decided it would be best to continue the resolution to the next Solid Waste & Recycling meeting so the language could be clarified. Mr. Donovan agreed to wait, although he would rather have had an approval now, as written.

5.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3225, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER TO GRANT A METRO SOLID WASTE FACILITY LICENSE TO PACIFIC LAND CLEARING COMPANY, INC., FOR THE OPERATION OF A ROOFING RECOVERY AND YARD DEBRIS PROCESSING AND RELOAD FACILITY

Chair Atherton opened public hearing on Resolution No. 02-3225.

Mr. Brower presented a PowerPoint slide show about Pacific Land Clearing III on Suttle Road, one of three facilities run by Jack Botkin, which was a former stockpile site of RoofGone. He explained the proposed operation would process waste roofing, wood and composition shingles, metal flashing, rain gutters, tar paper, and other waste associated with roofing as well as yard debris for grinding and reload, and clean wood to process into hog fuel. He reviewed the tonnage limits for the site. He said they were reviewing the operating plan that they had submitted.

Jack Botkin said he had two sites already in operation, and had been in total compliance with the regulations at both. He did not anticipate any problems with processing yard debris at the new site, either.

Councilor Park clarified that the tonnage limitations were based primarily on the financial assurance portion of the license. Mr. Brower said that was correct because cleaning up and removing debris left if the operation folded would be the most difficult to deal with. He said the amount of the financial assurance was based in part on past record of the other facilities and some demonstration of proven markets.

Councilor McLain asked how long the yard debris was stored on site before it was moved out. Mr. Botkin said it is processed continually, six days a week, and sometimes 24 hours in the summer.

Chair Atherton assigned Councilor Park to carry the resolution to the full council.

6.  UPDATE ON UPCOMING REGULATORY ISSUES RELATED TO NON-SYSTEM LICENSES AND DESIGNATED FACILITY AGREEMENTS

Dr. Petersen reviewed the Solid Waste Delivery Diagram chart (see copy included with the permanent record of this meeting). He noted that the back of the chart was a table that summarized in and out of region regulatory tools Metro has to work with. He reviewed several items that would come before the committee over the next few months, shown on the chart in the context of the larger regulatory scheme. He said, regarding the amount of waste currently going to these, that half of the region’s waste goes through the two Metro facilities, about 27% of the waste goes through franchised facilities, 13% goes directly to designated facilities, 5% is transported to a Metro licensed facility, and 5% is transported under a non-system license. He said there had not been any applications for designated facility agreements before Council since 1993, and two upcoming ones were going to be for out of region recovery facilities, a tire recovery operation, and a recovery operation separate from the landfill agreement at Hillsboro Landfill. He said it will be the first time tax and solid waste recycling credits would be extended to an out of district facility. Councilor McLain commented that in addition to receiving the credits, they would also be obligated to carry the responsibility of Metro’s standards. She recalled conversations in 1993 regarding environmental, resource, and transportation issues shared by the bigger region.

Chair Atherton asked how a recovery facility could be at the site of a landfill and still be monitored and the provisions enforced. Dr. Petersen that was exactly the kind of thing they were working through to be sure there were sufficient auditing and record keeping to make everyone comfortable about knowing how much was coming in the front door and how much was going on to the landfill. He said they were working carefully, as it is a unique situation.

Dr. Petersen suggested a future review of the criteria in place for authorizing putrescible waste through franchised facilities, and comparing those to the criteria in place for making decisions on putrescible waste authorized through a non-system license. He recommended at least comparing the criteria, and even discussing whether they were trying to achieve the same policy objectives. He said as far as he knew, there was not recovery going on with the putrescible waste being sent to Vancouver. Councilor McLain felt Dr. Petersen’s suggestion was an extremely important philosophical as well as pragmatic future issue and should be reviewed.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 4:55 p.m.

Prepared by

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the

Solid Waste & Recycling Committees Meeting of September 18, 2002

Testimony Cards:

None.