Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-14 - AGENDA REPORTS - BURRTEC ANNUAL EVALUATION (2)Agenda Item: _25 CITY OF SANTA CLARITA AGENDA REPORT CONSENT CALENDAR City Manager Approval: Item to be presented by: Travis Lange DATE: November 14, 2006 SUBJECT: BURRTEC ANNUAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office RECOMMENDED ACTION City Council direct staff to continue working with Burrtec Waste Industries Inc. (Burrtec) in implementing programs and to increase the City's commercial diversion rate. Direct staff to grant Burrtec a "Good Faith Effort" for their efforts to divert waste and to not levy a fine with Burrtec for not diverting 25 percent of their waste for the first half of the 2006 calendar year. Approve a resolution to amend Burrtec's Franchise Agreement to grant a time extension to meet the 25 percent diversion requirement by January 1, 2007 (extended from January 1, 2006) and the 50 percent diversion requirement by July 1, 2007 (extended from January 1, 2007). None of these actions will allow an increase in Buntec's collection rates. BACKGROUND Pursuant to Article 7 of the "Agreement Between City of Santa Clarita and Burrtec Waste Industries, Inc. for Commercial Solid Waste Management Services" (Franchise Agreement) the City may hold an annual Solid Waste Services and Performance Review Hearing. The purpose of the hearing is to give the City an opportunity to discuss and review the services provided by Burrtec. The topics that may be reviewed include, but are not limited to, the regulatory, technological and economic facets of solid waste, recycling, source reduction, and disposal. Topics suggested by the Franchise Agreement include services provided, feasibility of providing new services, application of new technologies, customer complaints, amendments to the agreement, development in the law, new initiatives for meeting or exceeding AB 939's goals, regulatory constraints, and company performance. aaoptea; + ems(-, ir-),P, Staff has compiled information for the above categories in order to provide the Council with sufficient information to gauge Burrtec's performance. Services Provided. Burrtec provides exclusive commercial collection services for approximately 2,389 customers in the City. Burrtec provides its customers with a variety of containers ranging in size from 90 gallons to six cubic yards. To assist the City with its diversion efforts, Burrtec is required to provide free commingled recycling services. In addition, Burrtec continues to provide greenwaste collections and, through their own initiative to increase diversion, they recently added a food waste collection program for their customers. At businesses where there is no recycling, Burrtec selects half of them (businesses with the cleanest and driest loads) and routes the material for mixed -waste processing. To make this possible, Burrtec creates separate routes to collect the "cleanest" waste, rich in paper and cardboard, for processing at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) located in Sun Valley. To complement their waste diversion efforts, Burrtec is required to staff a full-time employee trained to visit local businesses and to assist them in establishing recycling programs. City staff have worked cooperatively with Burrtec since the last performance hearing to identify ways to increase the City's diversion rate and provide high-quality services to local businesses. These efforts should be taken into consideration when evaluating Burrtec's performance and the services they provide. The efforts are as follows. • Select Load Mixed Waste Processing — Per Section 4.2.2 of the Franchise Agreement, Burrtec must provide select load mixed waste processing for at least 50 to 65 percent of all the loads they collect. For the last 12 months, Burrtec has provided staff with reports indicating that over 50 percent of their loads are being sent to a MRF in Sun Valley for mixed waste processing. Burrtec has been able to target the "cleanest" businesses to increase the overall recovery of recyclables. When Burrtec first began sending loads for mixed waste processing in August 2005, the MRF was able to divert approximately ten percent of the material for recycling. Over the past 12 months, the diversion rate for mixed load processing has increased to 15.28 percent. City staff attributes this increase to Burrtec's ability to segregate the `cleanest" trash from the overall waste stream and send it to the MRF for processing. Once the City MRF has been completed, Burrtec will have more control over the recovery rate for the program, and staff believes the rate will increase significantly. • Street Litter Abatement Program - Per Section 4.1.10 Burrtec must provide the City with one collection vehicle and eight man-hours per month for assistance with litter abatement. Since September 2005, Burrtec has conducted over 137 hours of litter abatement for the City. Although Burrtec is only required to perform eight hours per month (for a total of 96 hours per year), they regularly exceed that amount. • Burrtec Website - Per Section 5.3.3, Burrtec continues to dedicate a website for services provided in the City. The Burrtec website has been in operation for over a year with information tailored specifically to its Santa Clarita operations. Staff has regularly checked the website to ensure the posted information remains up-to-date and accurate. • Alternative Fueled Vehicles - Per the First Amendment to the Franchise Agreement (Section 4.4.2.13), Burrtec is currently providing collection services with a fleet of eight alternative fueled vehicles. • Food Waste Recycling Program- Per the Franchise Agreement, a food waste recycling program is not required, but by implementing the program, Burrtec has been able to increase diversion. Although the program comes at a greater cost to Burrtec, they began working with restaurants in March 2006 to set up food waste recycling. Currently, 65 restaurants participate in the program by segregating their food waste from their commingled recyclables and trash. Burrtec has provided a great deal of time and technical assistance to ensure the employees at the restaurants are educated as to how the program works. If the food waste were to be mixed with glass, an entire load could be deemed contaminated and would be unacceptable for diversion. Burrtec staff has been careful to not let the program grow too quickly to reduce the risk for the contamination of loads. The food waste is taken to a MRF in Sun Valley and processed for composting. This program has proven to be successful and is responsible for diverting an average of 80 tons of food waste per week that otherwise would have been deposited in a landfill. This equates to an additional 1.2 percent of diversion per year based on the City's 2004 generation rate. Feasibility of Providing New Services. Staff has been working with Burrtec in the implementation of enhanced outreach programs in order to increase the number of local businesses that recycle. Burrtec's efforts include the following. Attending a variety of regular outreach functions at the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce such as their Membership Breakfast and Membership Lunch, Environmental Committee Meetings, Chamber Mixer, the Chamber Installation Dinner, and the Home and Business Expo. Distributing service flyers at the City's River Rally and Marathon. Conducting enhanced site visits to work one-on-one with local businesses to assist them with creating customized recycling programs. Burrtec conducted a total of 119 site visits during this past performance year. Beyond the outreach programs, staff recommends the Council encourage Burrtec to continue with its efforts to site and build a MRF in the City. The MRF is required by the Franchise Agreement, but due to railroad crossing issues at the the originally proposed site and litigation issues related to the more recently proposed site, the deadline for siting and building the MRF has been extended twice. Staff believes once a local MRF has been constructed, Bun tec will be better equipped to divert more waste and implement new effective programs. Application of New Technologies. Burrtec will apply new, innovative technologies in its proposed MRF. Although construction has not yet started on the MRF, Burrtec has discussed some of the technologies that will be used for the MRF with City staff. Among the new and innovative equipment that will be used to separate commodities for recycling are optical sensors to detect different types of materials and specialized blowers that will propel the materials into the appropriate bins. Staff recommends the Council direct Burrtec to continue with their efforts in siting and constructing a state-of-the-art MRF in the City. Customer Complaints and Timeliness of Submissions to the City. During Burrtec's second year of service, a total of eight complaints were received by the City. This was a significant improvement from the previous year when a total of 19 complaints were logged by City staff. Amendments to the Franchise Agreement. Since the commencement date for the Franchise Agreement, the Council has added three amendments. The first amendment, extending the deadlines for the implementation of alternative fueled vehicles and the construction of the MRF, was addressed and outlined during Burrtec's 2005 Performance Review. During Burrtec's second year of service, a second amendment was approved extending the deadlines for the construction and completion of the MRF. The second time extension gives Burrtec additional time to break ground and an additional ten months to complete the project. Since Burrtec's last performance evaluation, the MRF project site in the Gate/King development was re -approved by the Planning Commission on September 5, 2006. The new deadlines to begin construction and have the MRF operational are January 11, 2007 and November 11, 2007 respectively. Burrtec also received a third amendment to their franchise agreement on June 16, 2006 permitting Burrtec to increase their rates by 4.94 percent. Per Section 6.3, Burrtec is permitted to seek a rate increase based on a weighting system of five rate adjustment indexes (labor, fuel, equipment, disposal, and all other). The indexes are derived from the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index. Council approved the rate increase, which took effect on July 1, 2006. New Initiative for Meeting or Exceeding AB 939's Goals. During Burrtec's second year of service, a state ordinance took effect to encourage recycling at large venues and events in all cities in California. The state ordinance requires events and large venues with more than 2,000 attendees per day of operation to implement recycling programs. There are currently no venues (stadiums, amphitheathers, concert halls) in the City that meet the specifications of the state ordinance, but staff has been working with Burrtec's recycling coordinator to ensure that recycling services are provided at qualifying events held in the City and that the waste and recycling generated at large events are reported accurately to the City. The data will be used when staff completes the City's annual report for the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB). Company Performance. Overall, Burrtec has been effective in providing services to businesses in the City and has been able to increase the City s diversion. Since beginning services in the City, Burrtec has increased the number of commercial recycling customers from 375 when they first started providing services on August 1, 2004, to 667 in September 2006, which is approximately a 78 percent increase. Burrtec's staff has also been very cooperative with the City, especially in setting up free commingled recycling services along with greenwaste. Through their own initiative, they started a food waste collection program. The City has had minor service issues with Burrtec. Staff continues to work with Burrtec in resolving issues to ensure that all businesses have access to the programs outlined in the Franchise Agreement. During 2006, Burrtec has increased their diversion rate from 13.38 percent in the first quarter to 19.40 percent during the first month of the third quarter. Pursuant to the Franchise Agreement, Burrtec must divert 25 percent of the waste it collects by the start of the second full calendar year of providing services. Although Burrtec has not reached this level of diversion, their efforts show a continued and consistent rise in diversion during each quarter of 2006 thus far. Even though the Franchise Agreement states the City shall levy a fine against Burrtec for each quarter they are in non-compliance, staff recommends the Council grant them a "Good Faith Effort" determination for Burrtec's well demonstrated efforts to divert waste. In addition, staff recommends amending the Franchise Agreement to set new deadlines for meeting the 25 percent diversion requirement from January 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007 and the 50 percent diversion requirement from January 1, 2007 to July 1, 2007. Although their MRF has not been sited or built yet, Burrtec is transporting a large amount of the waste they collect to a facility located in Sun Valley, paying rates much greater and obtaining recovery rates much lower than what they would have had at their own MRF to comply with the Franchise Agreement and their required diversion rate. They also started a food waste program through their own initiative to increase their diversion rate although it would cost them more to do so and would require additional staff time. Burrtec Report to the City. Pursuant to the Franchise Agreement, Burrtec is allowed to prepare and submit a report to the City in preparation of its performance hearing. According to the Franchise Agreement, the report may contain the following three topics, although Burrtec is permitted to provide more information as it sees fit. Current diversion rates and a report on its outreach efforts for the past year. Recommended changes and/or new services to improve the City's ability to meet the goals of AB 939 and to contain costs and minimize impacts on rates. Any specific plans for provision of changed or new service by Burrtec. The report has been attached for Council's review. ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS Other action as determined by the City Council. FISCAL IMPACT None by this action. ATTACHMENTS Burrtec Report to City available in the City Clerk's Reading File Resolution Amendment