Orcas Recycling Hits its Stride

Last week Orcas Recycling Services (ORS/The Exchange) saw workers pour the concrete for the ground floor of the New Exchange building, a steel  two-story building to replace the ramshackle, haphazard, and fondly-remembered “Exchange” of former days.

–– from Pete Moe and Orcas Recycling Services Spring FAQs —

ORS/The Exchange Director Pete Moe says, “It feels really good for me, our board and staff, and the community to see the actual construction begin after four years of working to get to this point.” Now HB Hansen Construction, who contracted to build the Orcas School remodeling project completed in 2015, and the Public Library Expansion to be completed this June, is hard at work erecting the exterior of the new Exchange building.”

During a sunbreak last week, workers laid the foundation for the new Exchange building at the Orcas Transfer Station

Moe says, “A lot of people deserve thanks, the many volunteers and particularly the ORS Board of Directors: President Tim Blanchard, Larry Coddington, Jim Duffield Michael Greenberg, Kate Hansen, Susan Malins, Mark Mayer, Bruce Rylander, and Paula Treneer.

“The County, the County Council, Public Works and the Community Development Department have been helpful to ORS all along;”

Moe adds, “I’d especially like to thank County Councilman Rick Hughes and former County Councilwoman Patty Miller for brokering the deal that allowed us to get the building started.”

“ORS has completed negotiations on an arrangement whereby San Juan County will construct the “shell” of the building to ORS specifications, and ORS will be responsible for the build-out of the interior space. Permits, design and engineering are complete. A construction “request for proposals” or RFP was published in February, and the contract was awarded to HB Hansen of Lynden, Wash. Construction is scheduled to be completed by early July.

“ORS takes over at that point, to build-out the interior in time for opening the doors of the new Exchange in the fall. The main Exchange building will not be heated. There is a small, attached office/workshop that will have heat and utilities. You can see that in the drawings here.

“While the community has been very generous over the past several years, we still need to raise about $31,000 to open the doors of the Exchange;100 percent of the funds donated to the Exchange will be used for the build-out, purchasing needed equipment, start-up and contingencies.

The old Exchange, after the fire

“Not a single dollar donated to The Exchange has been spent on any improvements at the Transfer Station site. The upgrades you can see now were contractually required by San Juan County for ORS to operate the Transfer Station. These improvements were paid for with grant funds and revenue generated by the tipping fees at the Waste Transfer site.

“Currently ORS has a lease with the County to use the Transfer Station. Once the Exchange building is constructed, ORS will lease that facility as well. ORS is currently negotiating the terms of a revised lease that would incorporate both The Exchange and the Transfer Station.

“And after the Exchange is open we still have work to do to reach our goal of zero waste. We’re excited to continue to improving the transfer station. Next on our list is an industrial bailing machine for processing separated recyclables. After that we are interested in composting food waste. Our fundraising days are far from over!“

The days of hauling our waste off the island will soon be over

“ORS is a non-profit organization committed to reducing waste and good stewardship of our waste resources.  To achieve our goals ORS must efficiently handle both reuse (traditionally thought of as The Exchange activity) and garbage and recycling (a traditional Transfer Station function). ORS believes that that The Exchange will be self-sustaining. ORS tracks the revenues and expenses of the Transfer Station business and the Exchange business separately to avoid inappropriate cross-subsidization (either way). However materials will inevitably flow from one side to the other. It would be difficult and inefficient to build a barrier between The Exchange and other ORS activities at the Transfer Station.

“At ORS we believe that part of our responsibility is to manage the Transfer Station operations as effectively and efficiently as possible, to help avoid increased tipping fees. ORS is also committed to helping the community save money by reducing or redirecting their own household waste streams, thus avoiding unnecessary garbage fees.

Volunteers always welcome!
“Community volunteers are essential to the new Exchange, and ORS will need and appreciate your help. We have a detailed database of volunteers, their skills and interests, and anyone interested in helping can sign up here, or write to our volunteer coordinator, Jim Duffield, at duff@exchangeorcas.com. The new Exchange needs people with every kind of skill: from artists to builders to farmers to fundraisers to lawyers to engineers to scientists – so please get in touch!

(For more information, go to https://www.exchangeorcas.org/ )