Last year Cochise County commissioned R. W. Beck, Inc., to assess the current state of the County's solid waste operations and assess the economics of undertaking recycling across the County. Beck submitted an interim report on May 19 and met with members of the Recycling Committee and County officials on June 9. They will make a final presentation to the Rate Review Board and to the Board of Supervisors on August 12.
The report (Recycling Feasibility Study) is long (136 pages) and unnecessarily verbose in places. However, it is a comprehensive review of the current state of solid waste operations in Cochise County and an in-depth analysis of the economics of recycling in the County. Beck studied a number of recycling scenarios, including (a) gathering recycling materials, compacting them, and hauling to Tucson, and (b) collecting recyclables and sorting and compacting in an unused Material Recycling Facility (MRF) at Huachuca City. The economics of hauling to an existing MRF in Tucson are dubious at best and the Recycling Committee recommended on July 7 that the County start negotiations with Huachuca City to renovate and use the MRF there.
A County-wide recycling operation will depend on the cities (Benson, Bisbee, Douglas, Sierra Vista, and Willcox) embracing recycling within their jurisdiction. Some cities all already starting this (See the Sierra Vista Herald for Sunday July 6); Sierra Vista has a curb side program and Bisbee is getting into the act too. In subsequent posts, I will discuss how the recycling program will (probably) be implemented and what options there will be for rural residents.
If you're interested in seeing a copy of Beck's report (136 page PDF - 4.4 MB) or their June 9 presentation (38 page PDF - 440KB), let me know (hedleybond@earthlink.net) and I'll send you a (digital) copy.
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