 National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 33, No. 23 * December 10, 2001 Previous story | Table of Contents | Next story Counties save millions through
Three persistent solid waste managers, a lot of planning and some smart county leadership will save Wisconsin’s Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties about $43 million over a 12–28 year period as the counties consolidate their landfill and recyclables facilities. Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties each operate landfills and container recycling facilities. Outagamie and Winnebago operate mixed-paper processing facilities. All three county operations serve similar populations within 39 miles of each other. The idea to consolidate was conceived in conversations between Leonard Leverence, solid waste manager for Winnebago County and Charles Larscheid, his Brown County counterpart. Both were experiencing declining tonnage at their respective landfills and both expected increased tipping fees as a result. Larscheid said he and Leverence decided to bring Outagamie County into the discussion because they didn’t want to compete for each other’s customers. Out of that meeting — in 1999 — came the idea to evaluate the efficiencies and savings gained by consolidating the three counties’ landfill operations and paper and recyclable container processing facilities “The hard part, initially, of getting political support for our idea was convincing folks to look ahead. All three counties operate efficient and effective solid waste disposal and recycling processing programs, but we weren’t sure how long that could continue,” Larscheid explained. The three counties devised a plan to rotate landfill operations. Existing capacities at Outagamie and Winnebago would be used initially, and partially approved capacities at Outagamie and Brown counties would be developed in the future. The plan is expected to extend capacity for 28 years, at a combined 550,000 tons per year, eliminate “triplicating” services, and save an estimated $35 million. On the recycling side, Outagamie and Winnebago counties would close their container processing facilities and Brown County would expand its operations. In the meantime, Outagamie would expand its paper-processing facility to handle Winnebago County’s mixed paper and Winnebago will close down. The initial term of the recycling plan is 12 years, with a combined container volume of 16,400 tons per year and mixed paper volume of 21,500 tons per year, and anticipated savings of $8 million. Brown became the first of the three counties — on Oct.17 — to approve a “Resolution for Intergovernmental Agreements for Recycling and Solid Waste Disposal,” which incorporated the plan’s reconfigurations. Brown County Executive Nancy Nusbaum praised the efforts of the three counties’ solid waste managers and suggested the agreement should be the beginning of more regional efforts that save money for the taxpayers of our three counties. (For more information, contact Chuck Larscheid, Brown County (Wis.) Port and Solid Waste Director, at (920) 492-4950.) |