County pushing recycling efforts

Charleston County is pressing ahead with efforts to recycle more and landfill less and could begin experimenting with a food- composting program and a one-bin method that would simplify curbside recycling.

It's all part of a determined push to recycle at least 40 percent of the garbage produced by county residents. Now that the incinerator in North Charleston that burned most of the county's household waste has been shut down, whatever is not recycled must be put in a landfill.

With that in mind, during the past year the county has more than doubled the composting of yard waste and expanded curbside recycling to include all paper and cardboard and all plastic containers.

"The best plan we've got is to maximize recycling, and tomorrow will be an opportunity to tell the council about everything we're doing," Councilwoman Colleen Condon said Monday.

County Council will be asked to approve the latest plans today, following the start of a family-friendly "green waste" educational event at the county administration building, where equipment and recycling procedures will be demonstrated. The event starts at 4 p.m. at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston, and is scheduled to run until 8 p.m.

"We've got a way to revolutionize the recycling process, make it easier, and also make it more profitable," Condon said. "There will obviously be some cost to move in that direction, but we'll get to a place where we can get more money for our recyclable materials and with less operational cost."

County Council will hear about the plans at a special committee meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. and could take action at a council meeting that starts at 7 p.m.

Mitch Kessler, a consultant who has been working with the county to develop solid-waste management plans, said one proposal would experiment with letting county residents put all of their recyclable materials in a single bin, rather than sorting paper and cardboard from metal and plastic.

Then, the county could try out new collection trucks that lift and empty the bins mechanically, rather than having the driver get out and empty them by hand, Kessler said.

"We are hoping to get their nod of approval to do a single-stream pilot program," he said, referring to the one-bin system. "I think an important part of tomorrow is that we're going to suggest a number of demonstration projects -- food waste is one of the things we're going to be talking about, commercial recycling."

In some places, including San Francisco, food waste is collected for composting.

All of the steps the county has taken so far are part of a broad transition in the way household waste is dealt with.

Charleston County households generate about 300,000 tons of garbage each year, and the incinerator used to burn two-thirds of it. Now, half goes to the county-owned Bees Ferry Landfill and half goes to the privately owned Oakridge Landfill in Dorchester County.

Recycling is seen as the key because as much as 75 percent of the garbage heading to landfills potentially could be recycled, Kessler's company has concluded.

The county's recycling rate was about 10 percent when the effort started and has nearly doubled, with most of the gain coming from composting all yard waste.

The county also has been looking at new technologies and public-private partnerships.

"We should easily be able to reach our 40 percent goal in a few years," Condon said. "As long as I don't pay $18 (a ton) to landfill it, I'm coming out ahead."

Timeline

Some key dates in the county's waste management transition:

May 28, 2009: County Council adopts a 40 percent recycling goal, ends negotiations regarding incinerator use beyond 2009.

Dec. 31, 2009: The Montenay Waste-to-Energy Recycling Facility -- the incinerator in North Charleston -- shuts down.

Feb. 24: Curbside recycling is extended to 525 households in seven West Ashley subdivisions.

April 17: The county begins accepting corrugated cardboard for curbside recycling pickup.

June 16: Curbside recycling is expanded to accept all plastic containers.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.