Haywood focuses on recycling and conservation

• Haywood County Recycling Sustainability Plan (PPT)

By Jason King
Assistant Communications Director

Faced with millions in costs over the next several years to close one landfill cell and prepare another for use, Haywood County began looking at ways to extend the life of the landfill and boost the amount of materials that the county could sell to commodities markets.

With that was borne the "Haywood Recycles: A, B, C, 1, 2, Tree" Sustainability Plan, which with the guidance of a committee consisting of county employees and community volunteers has ballooned into a full-scale, coordinated internal and external effort to encourage recycling and solid waste reduction.

As the plan has evolved and more people have become involved in the initiative, the county is finding more ways to save money and do good by the environment, County Manager David Cotton told attendees at the NCACC district meeting in Jackson County on April 1.

"Educating our staff, educating our community has really led to a lot of 'ah-ha!' moments," he said.

Following Board of Commissioners approval of the plan on Jan. 20, departments began developing their own internal action plans for waste reduction.

The Tax Administration Office, traditionally a large producer of paper waste, agreed to stop printing e-mails and make sure any files that had to be printed were double-sided, among other measures.

"Turning off county computers at night will save us between $13,000 and $15,000 each year in energy costs alone," said Tax Administrator David Francis. "It's just simple things that we started looking at. Nothing grand, nothing elaborate."

Lt. Lulu Ray said the Sheriff's Office is using more biodegradable products – right down to "green" trash bags – in the county jail and using washable plates, cups and utensils instead of Styrofoam containers for meals.

Cotton said the county is working on developing a quarterly incentive plan to encourage departments to reduce, reuse and recycle.

According to Solid Waste Director Stephen King, the county found that 60 percent of the materials going into the landfill could be recycled, and 33 percent of the total amount of waste dumped into the landfill was paper-based.

For the four departments that implemented the plan the first few months of this year, the county saved $10,000 in paper costs, King said. By communicating the county's new recycling practices to the community via the county Web site and PEG (Public, Educational and Governmental Access) channel, the county is hoping to serve as a model for the community.

The external focus of the plan begins with an open-ended dialogue with the business community and citizens. The county found that 53 percent of all waste entering the landfill comes from commercial businesses, so getting groups such as local automobile dealers to at least begin recycling paper has served as a major step.

The items the county now collects for recycling include household batteries, cooking oil, televisions, yard plastics such as lawn furniture and children's toys, and sheetrock. King said that a quarter of the county's waste stream is construction and demolition (C&D) debris, so targeting gypsum board and non-treated wood, which can be ground and sold as boiler fuel, is an important initiative.

Recycling is only part of the Sustainability Plan, as the county has ventured into a joint project with the community college to convert cooking oil to biodiesel fuel, and has repaired leaks and installed more efficient devices at county facilities to conserve water.

To learn more about the county's Sustainability Plan, visit the Recycling and Sustainability page at www.haywoodnc.net, contact Haywood County Solid Waste at (828) 627-8042, or e-mail Stephen King at sking@haywoodnc.net.