RecyclingMonster - On Tuesday, the Leon County Board of County Commissioners is set to consider the approval of an amendment to the County’s contract with Marpan Recycling, to ensure the continuation of the County’s “single-stream” recycling program. Also, the item seeks authorization from the Board to contract with SCS Engineers to identify alternative long-term strategies for the County’s future recycling program.

If approved the amendment has a fiscal impact resulting in a projected increase of $168,000 for the remainder of the current fiscal year. The funding for the additional cost will come from the general fund contingency account. Additionally, the expense for the study of the long-term recycling program would be an added $70,000. This cost will be split equally between the County and the City, and the County’s payment will be made through available funds from the Transfer Station budget.    

Under the County’s current agreement, the County pays Marpan Recycling a cap of $28 per ton to process using its “single-stream recycling.” Furthermore, there is a revenue sharing arrangement for the value that exceeds the cost of processing the recycled goods. However at this time the cost to process the recycled goods exceeds that of their resale value, therefore there has been no collection of revenue from the recycling program. Consequently Marpan is absorbing operating losses to continue to operate the recycling program.

In order to continue with the recycling program and to maintain a good financial partnership with Marpan, the Board has proposed a contract amendment beginning February 2020 through January 2021. The new flat fee for the County would be $80.25 per ton, which is an increase pf $65.29 per ton. In addition to a 40% share of its revenues with the County.

Lastly, the contract amendment advances the County’s FY2017-FY2021 Strategic Initiative and 5-year target to increase recycling and reuse rates and increase to 75% community recycling rate. This initiative aligns with the Board’s Environment Strategic Priority to “reduce our carbon footprint.” 

Courtesy : tallahasseereports.com