Guest Opinion: Public Works Fails to Deal with Recycling Solutions

By Frank Penwell
President, Citizens Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR)

Dear County Council,

The County’s management and financial issues, regarding Solid Waste and recycling, are in need of help.  I offer the following thoughts for you to consider:

1.)    Our County has made recycling more expensive than getting rid of solid waste, and it is causing individuals and businesses not to recycle.

Is this really what you want?   When you have a cubic yard of cardboard or plastic bottles costing more to dispose of than dumping them in the garbage (a cubic yard of corrugated cardboard weighs 50 to 100 lbs, and a bale of cardboard weights 700-1100 lbs), what do you think the average person or business will do?  Most of us have no problem paying something to recycle.  The problem comes when it is disproportional and discourages us from recycling.   Consignment Treasures went to the Transfer Station to recycle less than two yards of cardboard.  The fee was $50.00.  The weight of that cardboard we had was around 130 lbs.  To dump that 130 lbs at our Transfer station rate of .1675 cents a pound would be: $21.78.   A standard business decision would be to just put it in the trash, and that is what people are now doing.

This also means that Consignment Treasures will now make the decision to buy a baler and haul this cardboard over to Skagit Steel and be paid $95.00 a ton for it.  This is why the contractors and others I have talked to are no longer recycling.   I suspect that the planned income from recycling fees will go down as time goes on.  Some simple math shows that at least 10 yards of baled cardboard would net about $1000 income, and could easily be hauled over in one of Consignment Treasures Isuzu’s trucks.  When you take the wide range between getting paid versus paying, there is clearly room to employ people to do recycling in a fiscally responsible way.  [Penwell provides additional information that is not included here].

2.)    The County Public Works Department (PWs) has not made recycling a priority.

Our community has attended many public meetings put on by PWs, and our citizens have always made it clear in those meetings, that we want recycling to be a priority.   Actions from PWs have been to first move away from sorting of recycling to co mingled recycling, and now a step has been made toward the unintended consequences of discouraging or eliminating recycling.

3.)    Financial mistakes by PWs are expensive.

One mistake by PWs has been its inability to make decisions or act on things in a timely manner.  For example, it took them over a year to put out a bid on white goods.  That bid process saved PWs thousands of dollars a year, and if PWs had not developed a conflict over the process with Consignment Treasures, PWs would be saving thousands more a year while helping contribute to local employment.  The PWs Department has also forced this community into comingling of recyclable items by convincing our Council that it is the cheapest way to go.  This information was inaccurate.  A more accurate statement would be that it was an easier process with less work for management.  The fallacy that it is cheaper to dispose of items, rather than get paid for them is nonsense.  I addressed this fallacy in a 6 point recommendation letter to the County several years ago.

Simply put, if you spend money to get rid of recycling materials, versus getting paid for them, one’s bottom line costs will be less.   Currently, cardboard is at $95 a ton, paper is at $85 a ton, Steel is at $205 a ton, plastic is at $120 a ton, tin cans are at $132 a ton, and many metals, like aluminum and copper, are so valuable that they are priced per pound.

4.)    The leadership of PWs has been combative toward those who disagree with it, rather than receptive to comments in a serious or respectful manner.

Some examples would include how the leadership treated the “Queen of the Dump” in the 90s and how they spent a year discouraging Consignment Treasures from participation with them in the white goods collections process.

5.)    PWs cannot compete with private business or nonprofit businesses.

[Penwell provides additional information that is not included here]. PWs is management heavy and the excessive support services for management, contribute to the high costs.

I want you to understand that the above thoughts are an attempt to help this Council see some of the issues from a viewpoint that is not presented to you from the Public Works Department, which clearly has a self interest agenda that is not in alignment with what the community wants and needs.  I still remember Steve Alexander’s comments to me, regarding the double edged sword wherein recycling takes weight and money out of the solid waste budget.

I, and many other people in our community, wish to be part of community recycling solutions.  I would like to rename, and reorganize, Consignment Treasures into a nonprofit Co-op.  Possibly something like OPALCO.   As a pilot recycling program, I would be willing to put in some balers and equipment to move compacted bales of recycling materials for shipment.

I need your help in making this vision become a reality. To be successful, this co-op would need support of the Council, Planning Staff, and Planning Commission.  Our Planning Department’s current recommendation, is quite different than the recommendations of the Planning Commission, and that is troubling.  It appears that some planning commissioners are having difficulty understanding or representing the interests of our community, or what “Essential Public Facilities” mean.

Perhaps this Council should consider term limits for these positions.  Fresh minds and new ideas for addressing the planning issues we are faced with today, are necessary and appropriate.  It is hard to believe that some of these Planning Commissioners do not understand the legal concept or requirements of “”Essential Public Facilities”, or that these members are breaking the law by attempting to legally change language that would eliminate private or non profits from being able to be considered as being able to operate “Essential Public Facilities.”

I wrote you earlier about this recycling issue, and attached is a copy of a current follow up letter [Penwell’s letter is not included here].  In short, for Consignment Treasures to become a recycling co-op, this co-op would need some assurance that this Council would approve language that would allow collection of recycling materials in Rural Farm Forest.  The current Planning Commission suggested language would make Consignment Treasures “non conforming”.

It would be beneficial to our community, if this Council would follow staff’s recommendation, and not the recommendations proposed by the Planning Commission. FYI, on January 6, 2011, I submitted my own proposed amendment that specifically addresses existing facilities that would become non-conforming should the Council decide to adopt the Planning Commission recommendation.  {Enclosure not included here]. Please consider my proposal so that existing recycling facilities can continue to operate and expand to meet the needs of our community.

In summary, the Department of Public Works is out of touch with community needs, does not understand the economics of recycling, continues to suggest actions that do not match the desires of our community, appears to be unwilling to make timely decisions, and does not have the discipline to live within a budget. The idea that PWs is allowed to feel that their inability to deal with required business responsibilities is simply not Public Work’s fault, and that PWs ineptness is everyone else’s problem, is inaccurate.  While PWs failures end up becoming the community’s problems, Public Work’s ineptness and unwillingness to do its job are clearly the manifestation of bad management.

I would join others in their recommendations that this Council either get rid of its Administrator for failure to hold people or departments accountable, or the Council needs to direct its Administrator to remove those in PWs who are unable to perform their required jobs, and to install individuals who can perform.

Currently, PWs has too much bureaucratic overhead to allow it to run an economically viable solid waste facility.   If the County cannot reign in PWs or the Administrator, I would recommend that you separate out the recycling items, and allow it to be run by a co-op, or others, that are committed to recycling.  This will create additional jobs and income for our community, as well as promote environmentally friendly recycling, which is what this community desires.   I also recommend that you turn the rest of the solid waste program over to a private business to operate in a competitive manner that would increase services to prior levels and lower solid waste disposal fees.  There is no reason our citizens should be paying over 3 times the rate that mainlanders pay for solid waste.  The difference between mainland costs and our community’s costs should basically be the difference in transportation costs.

Sincerely,

Frank M. Penwell