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Committee considers $2.52 million for scoping and design of central recycling facility at landfill
Summary
Assembly Finance Committee members heard staff explain a $2,520,000 appropriation from the solid waste enterprise fund to scope and design a co‑located central recycling facility at the borough landfill; staff said co‑location could increase capacity, capture more commercial tip fees and extend landfill life if diversion rises toward a 10% goal.
The Assembly Finance Committee considered ordinance 2025-20-1S on Jan. 22, a request to appropriate $2,520,000 from the Solid Waste Disposal Enterprise to fund scoping and design for a co‑located central recycling facility (CRF) at the borough landfill.
An agency official explaining solid waste finances said the enterprise fund is self‑funded by tipping fees (not the general fund), and provided current figures: a solid waste tipping fee of $145 per ton, a recycling tip fee of $113 per ton, and an estimated annual intake of about 107,500 tons, producing roughly $15.5 million in gross tipping revenue and an unrestricted fund balance reported at about $39 million.
Matt Pearson, the borough's recycling manager, described the CRF's history and limits of the current rented facility and said co‑locating at the landfill would leverage existing inbound/outbound vehicle scales, add about 54% more operational area, increase receiving capacity (from about six routes per week to 30 or more for large weekly routes), and eliminate rent at the current rented CRF, saving approximately $124,000 annually.
Pearson said the existing CRF averages more than 120 residential drop‑offs per day and processed over 31,000 drop‑offs last year; he also said the program had diverted 5,000 tons of regular recyclables to date, which staff estimated extended landfill life by about 17 days at current diversion rates. The agency official told the committee that if the borough sustained a 10% diversion rate over the landfill's projected remaining life, it could extend the landfill's life by roughly 6.1 years — a projection staff framed as a best‑case outcome dependent on hitting the diversion target and other variables.
Staff emphasized that the requested $2.52 million would cover professional services for converting existing cold storage and a metal‑shelled warehouse space at the landfill to an active recycling facility, including environmental and structural assessments, mechanical and electrical upgrades, traffic‑flow design, permitting and compliance. They said the scoping phase is intended to establish construction cost estimates; a prior estimate for building a new facility had been about $14 million, but staff said the co‑location approach aims to be less costly.
Committee members pressed staff on program costs and revenue: staff said the recycling operation currently costs the borough a little over $1 million per year while bringing in roughly $100,000 in revenue from tipping fees and commodity sales. Staff noted storage constraints currently force frequent shipments (every 10–14 days) that undercut the ability to wait for favorable commodity prices; increased storage and throughput at a co‑located facility could allow the borough to hold materials for better pricing and reduce net program losses.
Members also asked about groundwater or PFAS concerns; staff said the scoping and engineering report will evaluate such issues, but that the current plan is to reuse existing structure and avoid new excavation unless required by findings.
No formal vote on ordinance 2025-20-1S was recorded at the Jan. 22 meeting; staff recommended the appropriation and said scoping will return cost and feasibility findings to the Assembly.
