Bethlehem Transfer Station Committee
Bethlehem, NH
Minutes of the Meeting
May 7, 2019
Committee members attending: Katherine Darges, Barry Zitser, Dann, Chris Jensen, and Kristina Zontini.
Littleton Transfer Station (LTS) Manager Brian Patnoe joined the meeting to discuss Bethlehem partnering with Littleton to use their transfer station. Because of his years of work with that facility, he has a great deal of expertise in waste management.
Mr. Patnoe said that “single stream” (no-sort) recycling has ruined the recycling industry. It is not profitable for a facility to have staff to sort the recyclables. For this reason, Littleton decided to have individuals bring their recycling to the center already sorted. The biggest challenge to this is educating people how to sort the materials.
When asked, Mr. Patnoe suggested that there are several ways that Bethlehem could handle its trash:
- Residents use the Littleton Transfer Station (LTS) as individuals who take their trash and recyclables to the transfer station;
- Bethlehem builds its own full transfer station;
- Bethlehem has a hybrid station where the town collects recycling/trash and delivers it to the LTS.
LTS has received a permit and is now allowed to take trash and recycling from out of town.
According to Mr. Patnoe, the LTS budget is $160,000 per year, which is lower than surrounding towns. That comes to about $27 per capita for Littleton residents.
If Bethlehem residents took trash to Littleton the charge would be approximately $30 per capita. The higher rate than the one for Littleton is to pay for three additional part-time employees, each for 24 hours week. The extra employees would keep the facility moving well with the additional traffic and help to avoid big lines.
LTS would need some facility upgrades before it could receive Bethlehem’s refuse.
Another thing to consider is that Bethlehem probably would need to join the Pemi-Baker Solid Waste Management District.
- Small fee to join, based on trash, population and a few more things
- The cost of the membership would be added to the per capita fee Littleton would charge us
- Littleton pays just over $4000/year
Littleton uses pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bags costing $3 for large bags and $2 for small bags.
- Any town using LTS would use these bags for their trash. The price of the bags covers trash disposal cost, tipping fee, labor hours, salaries, bag deliver and purchase, recycling costs, etc.
- Bethlehem would pay roughly $75,000 per year, plus what residents would pay for bags.
- Revenue on bag sales is about $140k, LTS has $26,000 to $300,000 in other revenue
- Littleton’s solid waste tonnage is approximately 600 tons per year and construction/demolition/Bulky varies yearly.
Barry Zitser calculated that our per capita cost would be closer to $70/per capita when the costs of the PAYT bags are factored in.
- Mr. Patnoe said they lose money on recycling, the bag price does cover some of it.
- Recycling is expensive and it’s almost impossible to break even or make money currently.
Barry mentioned we’ve been looking at many scenarios on how to handle our trash. He asked Mr. Patnoe about the possible Dalton landfill. The answer was that it would cost less to use a Dalton landfill than to truck solid waste up north
Mr. Patnoe thinks it will be hard to convince the public to go back to sorting recycling. In his opinion we could run a $145,000 per year transfer station with five vertical balers, not including the capital costs. The estimate would include PAYT bag revenue also. When Lancaster went PAYT in ’98, their budget was $500,000 per year. Now it is approximately $150,000 per year.
LTS open five days a week. The Lancaster Transfer Station has two full-time employees and four part-time employees and they are open three days a week. They also have in-town curbside pick up one day a week and they are closed two days a week except for baling.
The Pemi Baker Group does a hazardous waste day twice a year for their members.
LTS is permitted for leaf and yard waste currently, and they are interested in composting food waste in the future.
Currently NH doesn’t have any good commercial composting facilities to take compost to which to take compost. The Bethlehem Transfer Station Committee is also exploring, in its advisory capacity, the feasibility of conducting composting as part of a regional group in the North Country.
Barry asked if it would be possible for a town to use the LTS with town-specific bags to help track usage by town. Bartlett/Jackson Transfer Station does this but they have separate compactors. One town was going to try to set up PAYT.
Chris Jensen asked what Mr. Patnoe thinks is the best idea for Bethlehem. Mr. Patnoe said to find a property and set it up, he would go with having our own transfer station but without baling. Then have trash sent to the LTS for baling. It would require two employees on site minimum. They could be part-time and also work at the highway department.
Barry asked how we would transfer recycling to LTS if we didn’t have a baler. Mr. Patnoe said Franconia fills a big dumpster up with #1 plastic and takes it to the LTS and dumps it with them. There would be a fee for some things depending on the market.
Mr. Patnoe doesn’t know how we would figure how many people will use the LTS facility vs using a private hauler if the have to drive their trash to Littleton. He thinks the easiest is using Littleton’s facility.
Early 2000’s LTS got paid by Casella to process Bethlehem’s sorted recycling before Casella did single stream.
LTS is already in talks with other towns that want to use their station and they could reach capacity if they choose to partner with another town before Bethlehem makes a decision. Chris asked if we might lose our spot if other towns are ready to partner with LTS before us. Mr. Patnoe said we could probably still bring recyclables to LTS even if they partner with another town for trash service.
Mr. Patnoe said if we created our own station a few things we needed would be:
- Trash compactor for approximately $40,000;
- Bays/containers for material;
- Transportation of trash to another transfer station;
- 3 phase power.
Mr. Patnoe was extremely helpful. The TSC thanked him for his insight. He left the meeting at 7:50pm.Chris Jensen says the Mt. Carbury Landfill will meet with us in the near future to discuss whether we are still considered a member, although inactive.
Barry reported that he is still investigating the possible option of curbside pick-up without a transfer station. He has been working with Kristina to provide her with the data she needs to obtain an estimate from Waste Management. Kristina noted that while Waste Management has the information it needs to render an estimate, it has been busy, and has not yet developed one.
Barry has been in contact with officials at Vernon, VT, which has curbside pick-up of both solid waste and zero sort recyclables, without a transfer station. He noted that under Vermont law, towns are supposed to have plans in which solid waste collection and disposal pays for itself (tax neutral). However, towns can provide for recycling through general funds. Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bags cover the costs for solid waste, but the Town subsidizes the costs of recycling.
The current costs of PAYT bags are $21 for a roll of five large bags, and $15 for a roll of five small bags. Most residents use the large bags due to cost-efficiency. There is no discount program in the purchase of PAYT bags for low income persons and families. While Barry is still reviewing the amount of tonnage of both solid waste and recyclables, it appears that the costs of solid waste collection and disposal alone is in the $70,000 to $80,000 range. Vernon has a slightly lower population than Bethlehem, but is more densely populated due to its smaller geographical area.
Vernon pays a flat monthly rate for both solid waste and recycling collection. The monthly charge for solid waste collection is $4,349.50, while the single stream collection is $1,911.00 per month. The additional disposal cost for solid waste is approximately $100 per ton. The additional disposal costs for recyclables has been increasing, from $90 to $115 per ton. No bins or containers are provided for solid waste. New homeowners receive a recycling bin. The Town of Vernon pays a hazardous waste district $15,000 per year. Residents are responsible for taking their bulky waste to a recyclable facility, and bear individual costs for this and other items, such as construction debris.
Vernon has had to change the price of bags at times to cover solid waste collection/disposal costs. One of the officials indicated that it would be helpful when, in setting up such as system, there was a pool of money available as a reserve.
One of the bright highlights from Vernon is that they composted 24 tons at the Town garage last year. Although composting is allowed only at a transfer station, Vernon got a waiver to conduct its composting program at the garage. The official who is in charge of composting stated that composting incurs the lowest cost per ton.
Barry also briefly reviewed the wording of the original warrant resolution establishing the Solid Waste Disposal Capital Reserve Fund. It would clearly allow expenditures for composting at a Town site, but it is ambiguous as to whether expenditures could be made from the Fund to join another town’s transfer station.
Attendance Issues:
Barry and Chris questioned attendance and if we should reconsider transfer station committee membership. Chris Jensen questioned if we can remove non-participating members from the roster, or if we should ask the Select Board to vote off the members not attending regularly. It would be difficult if members showed up and wanted to vote without information and understanding of our research to date. Chris will look into this.
Transfer Station Committee members agreed to include a tip in town newsletters that share zero waste home tips.
The next Transfer Station Committee will be Tuesday, June 18th at 6:30 PM
