Delaware County releases condensed draft of zero-waste plan, seeks public comment

Delaware County staff presented a condensed draft of the county's zero-waste plan at the March Sustainability Commission meeting, saying the document has been shortened and will be posted for public comment ahead of a planned commission review in April.

The draft, presented by Becca Jurkovich, sustainability staff for Delaware County, aims to separate zero-waste strategy from a separate 10-year municipal solid-waste compliance plan required under the state's Act 101 process. Jurkovich said the new draft reduces the plan's length and reorganizes initiatives to make the document more accessible to the public.

Why it matters: The county is revising two linked planning efforts'a regulatory compliance plan and a broader zero-waste policy document'and is seeking to make the zero-waste plan usable for municipalities, residents and partners. The plan sets out initiatives that could shape future county and local actions on recycling, reuse, litter, illegal dumping and waste-reduction programs.

County staff told commissioners the original zero-waste draft exceeded 200 pages and has been pared down for clarity and public use. "The original draft was 266 pages ... we have it down to about 46 pages," Jurkovich said during the meeting. She added the shorter draft brings important background material into the main text and reorganizes initiatives into action-focused items labeled as low-, mid- and long-range steps.

Key details from the draft and presentation

- Structure and size: Jurkovich said staff reduced the plan's length to about 46 pages to make it more accessible, moving detailed technical material to the separate 10-year municipal solid-waste compliance document.

- Baseline data: The plan now uses 2022 tonnage data as the baseline for analysis and targets, replacing earlier 2020 figures that staff said were distorted by pandemic conditions.

- Initiatives: The draft retains the plan's original guiding principles and goals but consolidates overlapping initiatives (for example, combining construction-and-demolition and deconstruction categories, and merging universal recycling and universal collection elements). Jurkovich said the plan also adds actions on litter and illegal dumping, which were not in the initial draft.

- Organization and implementation emphasis: Instead of presenting initiatives based on hypothetical full-time staff positions (a structure used in earlier drafts), Jurkovich said the document now groups actions into four topic areas: policy, culture, curbing waste (including curbside collection changes) and infrastructure. The draft flags actions where municipal adoption will be necessary for success.

- Timeline and next steps: Jurkovich said the draft will be posted to the county website for public review and that commissioners should provide comments before an April meeting discussion. "I have shared the draft with all of you, and, again, we'll be putting that on the website," she said. Staff told the commission they aim to present a graphic-packaged draft between the April and May meetings and, if all goes as planned, seek commission approval in May and then send the plan to county council in June. If that schedule slips, the county council review would move to July.

What stayed the same: Jurkovich said the plan retains the previously established goals and the zero-waste hierarchy, and continues to reflect guiding principles derived from prior public engagement and an equity lens.

Public and agency context: Jurkovich and a commissioner who follows state policy said the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) prefers that the county treat the compliance plan separately from broader zero-waste strategy. That separate compliance document will continue to focus on projections of nonrecyclable waste and waste-disposal pathways under Act 101 requirements.

Next steps and how to comment: Jurkovich asked commissioners to send comments by the April meeting (April 10 is the next scheduled commission meeting). Staff will post the draft on the county website and accept public input before the commission's scheduled review. The commission did not take a formal vote on the draft during the March meeting.

Ending: County staff said they will finalize footnotes and graphic layout if commissioners and the public provide substantive feedback this month; a public review period and an April agenda item were scheduled as the next steps.