INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to pay Tampa-based Kessler Consulting $76,000 to help the county meet state-mandated benchmarks for recycling.
The County’s garbage collection and recycling franchise agreements with Waste Management and Republic Services (Treasure Coast Refuse) expire on Sept. 30, 2015, so Kessler will lead the effort to compile a packet to advertise for proposals for waste hauling services, with the goal of getting costs down and increasing the percentage of waste that is recycled by county residents.
The bid would allow both the existing haulers and other companies to compete for the county’s business.
Backup for the County Commission agenda item cited House Bill 7248 approved by the Florida Legislature in 2010 applying the statewide recycling goals of 50 percent by 2015 and 75 percent by 2020 to Florida’s counties.
“Indian River County’s recycling rate for 2012 was 37 percent. In order to reach these future goals, we need to consider enhancements to our recycling program such as switching from dual-stream recycling to single stream recycling as well as consider pursuing construction and demolition and food waste recycling,” wrote Vincent Burke, Director of Utility Services.
Dual-stream recycling requires the resident to separate out paper and non-paper recyclables into different bins. The advantages are less processing at the recycling facility and, depending on market factors, a better price for the paper recyclables because they can be less contaminated. The big disadvantage is that less is recycled overall because many consumers don’t wish to take the time to separate out the different types of recyclables and more recyclable materials end up in the trash instead.
Single-stream recycling, which is already in place in many communities and in neighboring Brevard County, allows residents to put all recyclable materials into one container for pickup. That system, though more convenient for the user, is more work on the processing end.
The County currently offers facilities to dispose of construction and demolition (C&D) materials such as wood, metal, flooring, drywall and roofing, but these items are generally not recycled and also must be hauled to the landfill by businesses, or to one of the county’s convenience centers by residents.
Getting offices, manufacturers, hotels and restaurants to devote staff time, training, space, equipment and dollars to recycling has long been a challenge, but Burke said in the memo that “a stronger approach to commercial sector recycling may be worth pursuing.”
The memo also said that an Oct. 2013 residential solid waste collection study showed that Indian River County rates “are considerably higher compared to our local municipalities and various other counties.”
Another of Kessler’s tasks under its scope of services would be to achieve savings for county residents through a competitive bidding process. Consultants will also be meeting with representatives from Vero Beach, Fellsmere, Sebastian, Orchid and Indian River Shores about ways to benefit from economies of scale by joining together on purchasing agreements for solid waste and recycling services.
The contract with Kessler was priced according to a piggy-back bid from another county for the same services. The item was approved with no discussion or expressed concerns from Commissioners.