A mixed-use construction and demolition recycling facility could be operating and accepting loads at Miramar, Calif., landfill by July and August of 2006, according to the San Diego City Manager's report to the Natural Resources & Culture Committee Wednesday.
The facility would be an outdoor operation located on an eight-acre portion of a 24-acre section of the Miramar Landfill, which will be permitted for recycling activities. The C&D recycling facility will be designed to process up to 800 tons per day of recyclable C&D material, which would otherwise be disposed of in the landfill. The facility will have an option to increase the incoming tonnage to 1,500 tons per day if needed, according to the report.
In 2003, 1.9 million tons of city waste was disposed in landfills and approximately 400,000 tons of C&D material went into the Miramar Landfill. The report cited that 35 percent of waste generated by residential, commercial and industrial sources in the city, which is currently landfilled, is C&D material.
The Environmental Services Department selected Community Recycling and Resource Recovery Inc. to design, construct and operate the facility. Since 1999, Community Recycling has operated a mixed C&D facility in Sun Valley, Calif., that currently recycles 75 percent of the material it receives, and can process up to 100 tons per hour.
According the company's proposal, during the first six months of operation, 50 percent of incoming tonnage must be recycled. After the first six months, 75 percent of incoming tonnage must be recycled. If implemented, the third phase would require 80 percent of tonnage to be recycled.
In each phase there will also be limits on the amount of material that may be beneficially used on a landfill.
Community Recycling will be paid a per-ton service fee of $25.25 during the first six months and $23.60 thereafter on every ton of material it accepts at the facility. The company will dispose of residue from the facility at the landfill for no charge.
As a result of the facility, the city's diversion rate -- the percentage of waste materials diverted from landfilling -- could increase by up to 0.68 percent in 2006, and up to 5.42 percent in 2007.
The diversion rate is required of the city under California Assembly Bill 939, which requires local governments to reduce construction and demolition debris disposed in landfills by 50 percent. As of 2003, San Diego had a 45 percent diversion rate. Numbers regarding that rate have not been updated since.
The diversion and recycling of mixed C&D is expected to increase the life of the landfill by more than one year for every seven years the facility is operating.
It is envisioned that during the first six months of operation approximately 198,400 tons of material currently going to the Miramar Landfill will be processed at the C&D facility, resulting in an annual net reduction in cash flow of $6.04 million to the Refuse Disposal Enterprise Fund.
This includes: $3.25 million in deferred revenue due to recycling 135,400 tons of material; $1.5 million in lost revenues due to disposing 63,000 tons of residue at no charge; $209,870 in decreased regulatory fees due to recycling 135,400 tons of material; and $1.6 million in costs for additional equipment and staffing at the Miramar Greenery Composting Facility to process clean green waste, clean wood waste and clean drywall, which will be delivered after being separated at the facility.
Additionally, the Recycling Enterprise Fund will incur a $200,000 cost for purchasing electricity and maintaining permits and scale, and a $10,000 net increased cost to pay Community Recycling $1.25 per ton of the per-ton service fee for the first phase.
The execution of the agreement will be contingent on the successful negotiation and approval of a site sublease between the city and Community Recycling. The sublease is necessary because the city leases the Miramar Landfill, where the Miramar Air Station sits, from the U.S. government.
ESD will return to the Natural Resources and Culture Committee on Nov. 16, with an action item for the city to authorize the city manager to award and execute an agreement with Community Recycling.
The presentation of the facility report follows a unanimous decision by the City Council on Monday to adopt the C&D diversion ordinance, which will not be effective and enforced until the 45th day after public notice that a certified recycling facility, which accepts mixed C&D waste, is operating at a 50 percent diversion rate.
The ordinance will require applicants for building permits and demolition/removal permits to post a refundable deposit, which they will receive back following final project inspection and timely submittal of satisfactory evidence that the waste has been properly diverted. San Diego Daily Transcript