DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the Planning & Regulations Committee March 27, 2002

The Planning and Regulations Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on March 27, 2002 at 7:30 in the DeKalb County Administration Building, Conference Room East. In attendance were Committee Members Robert Hutcheson, Roger Steimel, Howard Lyle, James Barr, Thomas Smith and Marlene Allen, and staff members Marcellus Anderson, Karen Grush, Bob Drake and Pat Dashney. Audience members included Dale Hoekstra of Waste Management West and Diane Strand.

Mr. Hutcheson called the meeting to order. He noted all of the committee members were present except for Clifford Simonson and Veronica Casella.

Mrs. Allen moved to approve the minutes of February 27, 2002 meeting, seconded by Mr. Barr, and the motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Smith moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and the motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Hutcheson introduced Pat Dashney of the DeKalb County Health Department. Mrs. Dashney reviewed the highlights of the End of the Year Report of waste collection in DeKalb County. The total waste deposited in 2001 was 77,843.15 tons, of which 5,304.31 tons was County waste. The percentage of out-of-county waste was 6.81%, the average tons-per-day deposited was 299.40 tons, and the total tipping fee paid at $1.10 per ton was $82,704.44. The estimated air space remaining as of 1/1/2002 was 4,700,000 gcy (gate cubic yards), and the years of life remaining at the current disposal rate is 19 years.

Mrs. Dashney stated that there was less recycling this past year than the year before. The grease recycling was 5,894 tons, which is 7% of the total, and metals were 9,067 tons, or 11%. Both were down from the previous year. Mrs. Dashney stated that the Health Department did not know why the recycling was down.

Mrs. Dashney reviewed the tasks that the solid waste division of the Health Department had accomplished in the past year, as well as some of the tasks planned for this year. Among the projects last year were two oil collection drives at the Farm Bureau, and a tire drive.

The oil drive collected 9,950 gallons of oil and 400 gallons of antifreeze. At the tire drive, the Health Department collected 11,182 tires and had 281 participants. The Health Department also sponsored a Recycling Art Scarecrow Contest in conjunction of America Recycles Day for the fifth graders within DeKalb County. They also worked with the University of Illinois Extension and Natural Resource Education Consortium on updating the curriculum and implementation for the school-recycling program. They have been working mainly with 3^rd through 5^th graders, but are trying to put a program together for grades Kindergarten through 12^th. The Health Department completed a waste audit of all the DeKalb County Government offices. They tried to survey local businesses and non-for-profit organizations regarding recycling and waste procedures and offered waste audit assistance. This program did not do as well as it was hoped, as businesses seemed unwilling to devote the time needed. Mrs. Dashney’s goal this year is to continue to work with these organizations. The Health Department also piloted a laser printer and ink jet printer cartridge-recycling program for the Health Department.

Mr. Hutcheson asked what was done with the used tires from the tire drive. Mrs. Dashney stated that they were ground up and incinerated and used for energy by Com Ed.

Mrs. Dashney stated her goals this year were to increase public awareness about recycling, to focus more on education for disposal of special wastes, and explore more collection locations. Mr. Drake said the problem with trying to get more disposal collection locations is that no one wants in their area, they do not want the responsibility of picking up the sofas and other big items.

Mr. Steimel asked why the Health Department did not accept old concrete. Mr. Drake answered that the Health Department could not count concrete as a recyclable unless it had rebar in it. Concrete cannot be ground up and used for repaving.

Mr. Steimel stated that the reports from last year and this year was almost identical. Mr. Bob Drake responded that there was a spike in recycling in the 4^th quarter. If it weren’t for that spike, this past year would be lower than the previous year.

Mr. Hutcheson introduced Dale Hoekstra from Waste Management.

Mr. Hoekstra pointed out that this was his 11^th year appearing before the Committee. He showed a photo of the landfill from April 9^th of 2000. He noted that the DeKalb landfill site is one of the smaller landfills operated by Waste Management, and that the changes from one year to the next are not great. Next year there will be a fresh photo of the site for the Committee to review.

Mr. Hoekstra indicated that not much has changed at the landfill site and operation since last year. Waste management is currently operating in the same area as the past few years, although the area is beginning to fill up. The company anticipates that the current cell will be filled in 2003, after which a new cell will be dug in an adjacent area. A bid has been put out for contractors to dig the new cell, and the project may be started this summer. It will cost about 1.5 million dollars to build the new cell.

Last year the compost area brought in 73,942 yards of grass, weeds and brush. It was composted out and 13,000 yards were sold to Midwest Ground Covering in South Elgin. This operation works out very well for Waste Management.

The new cell would be dug south of the current cell down to the retention pond. The road around the perimeter would need to be relocated. At some point in the future one more cell would need to be dug. That would be the last for this area.

The last couple years the volumes have stayed pretty steady. It peaked in 1995, since than it has dropped off about 10,000 tons a year. That is about 11% below the 1995 peak.

This past year, 299 tons a day were brought into the facility. The life expectancy of the site is about 19 years based on the current volume. With volumes declining it is difficult for Waste Management to deal with increased costs. One of the reasons the volume is lower than before is that Northern Illinois Disposal has been taking the waste to Rochelle. Waste Management can not afford to lose any major customers. Northern Illinois Disposal takes about 10% of the waste business.

Mr. Smith asked if Waste Management could get into methane gas recovery. Mr. Hoekstra stated it is hard to get into because of the tax credits. DeKalb County did not have enough gas, now they are unable to get the tax credits and it would be very costly to build a plant to transport the gas, which is transported underground.

Mr. Steimel asked where the new dirt for the next cell would be stored. Mr. Hoekstra answered that it would be stored in a different area than now, but the actual location has not been finalized. Mr. Steimel stated that Waste Management has done a great job of utilizing space.

Mr. Hoekstra stated that growth could be a problem for the waste site. It could possibly cut the area life in half to 8-9 years. It takes about 5-6 years to find and develop a new site.

Mr. Smith moved to approve the renewal of the Waste Management license, seconded by Mr. Lyle, and the motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Lyle moved to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Smith, and the motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

__________________________
Robert Hutcheson, Chairman
Planning and Regulations Committee Chairman

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