With the approval of Lane County's IMERF facility, your garbage rates could increase - KVAL

With the approval of Lane County's IMERF facility, your garbage rates could increase | KVAL

LANE COUNTY, Ore. — Tuesday afternoon, the Lane County Board of Commissioner's approved a new integrated materials and energy recovery facility, or IMERF for short. The facility intends to help sort recyclable materials and food waste out of garbage in order to help reduce methane emissions from food waste, as well as help elongate the current life of the existing Short Mountain landfill.

"This project will reduce the amount of green house gas emissions from the landfill to the tune of 88,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent," said Dan Hurley, the director of Lane County public works. "That's about the same as taking about 30,000 cars off the road."

The price tag for the facility is a blistering $150 million, but the majority of that cost is offset by a public/ private partnership with Bulk Handling Systems, a local processing system company that specializes in pulling recyclable material from typical waste. BHS will handle $100 million of the project, providing and installing the machinery needed to sort through garbage at the new facility, with an additional $15 million being offset by the Inflation Reduction Act, with the remaining $35 million price tag being covered by the county.

However, this is where concerns from local recycling industry members, and waste haulers have taken issue with the project itself. According to both Lane County, and Sanipac, rates will increase to help cover the remaining cost, but there are different increased rates coming from both parties. The County says that the total increase will come out to roughly $2.30 cents per month over a four-year period, but in a packet sent out by Sanipac prior to Tuesday's Board of Commissioner's meeting, the increase could range anywhere from $7 to $11 a month.

In a packet released by Sanipac earlier this month, the waste hauler addresses the IMERF decision as a whole, providing its reasons for doubting the project.

"It is our understanding the few facilities like this one have struggled to perform as promised," the packet says.

"Expect significant increases to garbage bills due to the IMERF."

You can read the packet below:

Sanipac isn't the only company saying rates could increase as a result of this project. Throughout Tuesday's session on the topic, it was brought up repeatedly that this facility would have a negative impact on the Emerald People's Utility District, or EPUD. For decades, the county and EPUD had a working relationship where EPUD would collect methane released from the landfill to power a pair of generators that would provide electricity for its customers. With the IMERF project now confirmed, EPUD confirmed that its rates could increase down the line due to less methane being readily available.

The purpose of the project can track its roots back to an Oregon state legislature decision from 2015, which updated the Opportunity to Recycle Act. Counties across Oregon were now required to set recovery goals that would help reduce waste, encourage recycling, and keep food and other waste out of landfills.

"As we reduce the amount of organic material coming into the landfill, there will be less methane released over time, and so that will reduce our carbon footprint for Lane County," said Hurley.

With the project now approved, the construction window for the facility is roughly two years, meaning the IMERF would be operational by Fall of 2026.

The county's announcement of the project can be found here.