Friday, 03 October 2008

By Becky Polaski

Michele Nestor of Nestor Resources, Inc. attended this week's Solid Waste Authority Meeting and presented authority members with a chapter from a preliminary version of a new Municipal Solid Waste Plan.

The chapter is the first draft of the part of the plan that will focus on recycling issues and its content is based on the result of a recent sustainability study.

"The reason this chapter stands alone is it is the wrap up of the sustainability study we did because we were just focusing on recycling and how to cut your costs," explained Nestor.

This is one of twelve chapters that will ultimately be included in the Solid Waste Plan.

"I think when we start meeting more with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee that is in addition to your authority, we'll probably add some more things in here because there will be some more ideas, but it is the foundation of at least your view coming into the county and looking at what you do as the status of recycling today and some recommendations we have for the future," said Nestor.

Nestor noted that one of the primary areas that should concern authority members is that the source of revenue is weak.

"As we've discussed at some other meetings, we've been able to cut those costs to within about $8,000 of the lost revenue. The problem is the grants that currently support some of your programs, the fun is due to sunset here in a couple of years," explained Nestor. "Even performance grants may disappear, the funding for the coordinator may disappear, so money is a big issue."

Some of the ideas recommended by Nestor Resources included charging user fees for services and recycling additional materials including textiles. It was also recommended that the authority try to find a better market for plastics and also shift some costs to municipalities in the future.

Nestor also discussed the future of grant funding.

"There's a lot of talk going on in Harrisburg right now on how those things should be revamped. In the past there was always a matrix on how the grants were awarded," explained Nestor. "So you had to meet certain criteria. Mandated municipalities got first preference."

Now factors like disposal bans have added increased demands on certain areas' recycling programs, resulting in increases in funding needs.

"We've tossed around some ideas like maybe we should take big chunks of money and target counties like Elk and say let's set up the system and make it work instead of dribbling money into it," said Nestor. "$5,000 here or $5,000 there really doesn't get you anywhere. So they would say maybe its Elk County this year or Clearfield or whatever because the metro areas have been getting money hand over fist."

After discussing the benefits of the potential funding changes, Nestor noted that the bad side is that there is no guarantee that the recycling fund is going to be reauthorized. Even if the fun is reauthorized, Nestor added that at this point there is no mechanism to stop legislators from withdrawing money from it.

"They just took $15,000,000 out of it to balance the budget this year," said Nestor. "That $15,000,000 is enough for one grant round."

Additionally, Nestor explained that while some legislators are lobbying for the fund to be reauthorized, there are also some that are against it.

"They think recycling has had enough funding and perhaps energy is the topic of the day," explained Nestor.

While discussing the new plan, Nestor also complimented authority members on the fact that they offer one of the widest varieties of services she has seen on a limited budget.