The Virginian-Pilot
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CHESAPEAKE
SPSA, the regional trash agency, has decided to end all of its recycling programs after 21 years of service, citing a desire to cut costs, save money and reform itself into a leaner organization.
Bucky Taylor, executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority, which serves eight cities and counties, said Friday that he expects to stop curbside collections and close drop-off centers by early next year.
About 30 employees will lose their jobs, Taylor said, and SPSA intends to sell all of its recycling trucks, carts, bins, equipment and property related to the environmental program. Annual savings should eclipse $2 million, he said.
Taylor said he did not view the move as a step backward for recycling in South Hampton Roads, saying cities and counties will be free to sign contracts with private companies to do the same job SPSA has done since 1988.
Likewise, the chairman of SPSA's board of directors, Don Williams, a Norfolk city councilman, said he hopes the switch to private recycling is "seamless" and that residents will see no interruption in their biweekly routine of putting a bin at the curb full of used bottles, cans, newspapers, plastics and other materials.
"I'm a big recycling fan," Williams said, "so we don't want to do anything to take away from our program. This really is just a business decision, pure and simple."
SPSA is more than $240 million in debt and is trying to sell parts, or all, of its assets to private waste companies.
The agency considered doing away with curbside recycling once before, in 2003, citing sagging participation rates and rising costs. But it kept the program in tact after a public outcry.
Several area recycling coordinators said Friday that they are concerned that residents might misconstrue the move as a sudden, bitter end to all recycling efforts.
Not so, they insisted.
"We're not going away," said John Deuel, Norfolk's recycling director. "Our plan right now is to continue service at the current level."
Michael Benedetto, vice president of Tidewater Fiber Corp., one of the largest private recycling companies in Virginia, said he was "slightly surprised" by the news Friday but was ready to negotiate with localities interested in doing business. He said several governments already had contacted his firm, based in Chesapeake.
SPSA's board is expected to take up the issue at its next regular meeting later this month in Chesapeake. The board still must vote to liquidate the program, Taylor said, though SPSA staffers already have told cities and counties of their intentions and have asked for a timetable for switching to a private approach.
SPSA began its recycling odyssey in 1988 with a 6,000-home pilot project. The program stretched to cover 200,000 homes at its peak, and officials recently have toyed with ways to recycle electronics, shoes and clothes.
At the same time, SPSA has watched its curbside efforts splinter.
Virginia Beach dropped out of the program in 1996 and contracted with Tidewater Fiber for expanded curbside service. Portsmouth and Suffolk both have scrapped their curbside programs, while Norfolk and Franklin have gone to bigger bins that take more materials.
Chesapeake is currently exploring the private market and expects to expand its curbside service through a private contractor by November, said Betty Meyer, a deputy city manager.
The decision by SPSA to end recycling efforts, then, "is not really a big deal for us," Meyer said. "We had been looking to do something on our own for some time now, anyway."
In Franklin, City Manager June Fleming said she expects to keep recycling as before but is open to discussing a compact with neighboring communities such as Southampton and Isle of Wight counties, both members of SPSA.
"I don't see this as a step backward," Fleming said. "We just have to accept it and deal with it as just one more challenge."
Kate Vasquez, president of the Virginia Recycling Association, said there are "no real trends apparent" in public and private recycling these days.
"For every story of a locality going over to the private sector, there's another story of a city taking back its recycling program," Vasquez said. "If residents want recycling the same way they want crossing guards or a stoplight at a certain corner, they'll make their voices heard and make it happen."
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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It Depends
I think it depends on what becomes of SPSA. If, say, the four cities form a modified SPSA as mentioned in the CAO report, then perhaps SPSA's rights to the transfer stations outside of those members would be transferred to those who leave, and the ones that remain would stay with SPSA. There could be various combinations depending upon what members decide to form a new compact. To make matters more muddled, some of the stations are on land leased to SPSA by the member, some are owned by SPSA, and some are on land owned by third parties and leased to SPSA, so it is a bit complicated depending upon the future of the regional effort. That's the best I can do.
Mike Barrett
Do you think the transfer stations will be retained by SPSA or contracted out in the future...
Mike B
Do you think the transfer stations will be retained by SPSA or contracted out in the future?
Recycling will continue
Well MichaelB, recycling will continue; it will simply be provided by the private sector that has now developed the services and the capacity to handle this service for cities. So whatever service level your city chooses to provide will be provided by a contractor. The entire waste to energy system is a form of recycling; that is, municipal solid waste from all the members is processed into fuel to burn in the incinerator at the waste to energy plant to create steam that is sold to the Navy and is used to create electricity sold into the grid. That will continue no matter to whom the plant is sold as SPSA will enter into a service agreement so that municipal waste will continue to be the source of fuel for the plant. SPSA's average tip fee is actually quite reasonable; the problem is that no one pays the average fee. Suffolk pays nothing, the Navy pays $25/ton, the commercial sector $36/ton, the Beach $56/Ton, and 6 cities representing only 20% of the waste stream pay $170/ton. That's the problem.
Slight Exaggeration
Well Bjones, I think you siightly exaggerate, but regretfully, Portsmouth is now paying for past support of a policy that was simply unsustainable; that is, voting for low tip fees that were not sufficient to cover reaqsonable debt service. So where is that money that they did not pay when they should have? It is in the pockets of the citizens who would have paid higher fees at the time. The Beach on the other hand invested their citizen's money in a new sanitary landfill that met EPA and DEQ guidelines. So leadership and effective management and planning have their place. When SPSA was formed, and the region was enamored with waste to energy, the Beach agreed to join, but only if its future rates were capped at the increases in the CPI. In fact, for many years, the cap was never reached. But the members who wanted low tip fees created a long term problem by not adopting a reasonable debt repayment schedule, and the citizens of those cities are now paying for it.
Keep recycling
Most of my trash (maybe even 75%) is recycling. We need to keep recycling. One simple reason is where will all this trash go if it is not recycled? Are we going to build more Mt. Trashmores? And where would they be?
We should be using grass clippings and a tree branches to fuel biofuel electricity generating plants.
If SPSA will no longer pick up recycling then I expect a proportionate reduction in my SPSA bill.
In Fairfax County trash is picked up twice a week. I think that is excessive. Once a week trash pick up is enough. I have never heard of revenue problems with trash pick up in Northern VA so I do not understand why SPSA is having such financial problems. Is there something wrong with the management of SPSA?
A deal is a deal
Ah yes, bjones, the ever present threat from one or more of the members that it will force SPSA into default, then a judge will rewrite the agreements, and all will pay the same. Fact is, that is exactly what Chesapeake tried to do when they sued SPSA, but of course, the circuit court dismissed the claim. The Use and Support Agreements are legally binding documents that require the members to make the payments. If they fail to do so, the Court can force them to perform, or, as recently occurred, the Governor, in a rather forceful letter, reminded the members of their obligations, and of course, they had to pony up. So despite all the comments and bravado that has appeared herein, and in city council meetings, a deal is a deal and a contract is a contract. You may not like the fact that Suffolk may dispose of municipal waste for free, or that the Beach's rate is capped, but that's the deal.
What hypocrisy
So the oceans and oceans of crocodile tears you shed over the plight of the underprivileged, end at the VB city limits? Your heartfelt concerns about keeping the vile Republicans' hand off the levers of power, in order to protect the downtrodden, cease if it is necessary to protect the privileges of the city you represent? Even if it is at the cost of the highest tipping fees in the nation, falling on the Hampton Roads citizens the least able to pay? How do you sleep at night, defending multi-million dollar homes in VB with ZERO garbage bills, and people in shacks in Portsmouth, paying almost $1000 a year for refuse alone?
green recycling
I understand that spsa has stopped recycling grass clipping and tree limbs . Maybe we should throw it all in the black barrel . Save the labor and fuel of the yard waste truck
Sale of SPSA Assets
Well yes, SPSA long term debt is near $240 M, but that's why the members pay tip fees sufficient to pay the cost of debt service and to cover the cost of operations. By 2018, all the debt will be paid off. Further, SPSA is considering the sale of the WTE facilities, with the right to dispose of municipal waste through 2018. This sale has the potential to significantly reduce debt right away. The sale of recycling assets will also be used to reduce debt as well. So while it is true that SPSA has debt, it also had the legal agreements from the members to pay the tip fee necessary to cover operations and debt service. Just like buying a home; sure you have debt, but the mortgage company has your promise to pay it off by the specified time. You will, and SPSA will.