Lane County Commissioners vote to build materials recovery facility for solid waste - KVAL

Lane County Commissioners vote to build materials recovery facility for solid waste | KMTR

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Lane County Commissioners voted 3-2 to begin the process to build an Integrated Materials & Energy Recovery Facility (IMERF) in Goshen. This is a rendering of the facility. (Image courtesy Lane County Government)

EUGENE, Ore. — The Lane County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 to begin the process to build an Integrated Materials & Energy Recovery Facility (IMERF) in Goshen.

The IMERF "will be the most technologically advanced waste processing facility in the country and will be designed and built by a local manufacturer, Bulk Handling Systems (BHS)," the County said in a media release.

The facility will process residential garbage, commingled recycling, and organic waste "to produce marketable recycling commodities and biogas for transportation."

The facility is expected to divert over 80,000 tons of material from the County’s landfill annually and expand the life of the landfill for at least 20 years past its current 70-year lifespan, the County stated.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our community,” said Public Works Director Dan Hurley. “Not only will this project help us reduce the amount of material that ends up in the landfill, increase the amount we can recycle, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the tune of taking 30,000 cars off the road, it will also create local jobs. We expect the two-year construction period to create 190 jobs and to have 65 ongoing family-wage positions to operate the IMERF after it opens.”

Commissioners Ryan Ceniga of District 1 and David Loveall of District 2 both voted no, citing concerns about cost and the amount of outreach done regarding the project.

"It's very clear to me that we haven't done enough outreach yet, and I mean to our main stakeholders, and to our residents," Ceniga said. "If this has been in the works since [2015] we could have done a better job letting people know. I'm not willing to rush this through for a $34 million savings for Bulk Handling Systems. I'm not willing to do that to our constituents who aren't comfortable with this."

Those in support of the facility believe it could keep Lane County at the forefront of recycling and waste management technologies.

"There are a lot of ifs, as Commissioner Trieger said," said Commissioner Heather Buch of District 5, East Lane. "We can help be on the forefront of managing those ifs and risks and also know that as recycling changes over time, as Commissioner Farr had mentioned, that we stay abreast with the latest technology, the latest mechanisms, with one of the leading businesses in our community in that industry, which is Bulk Handling Systems."

According to the County's media release, the IMERF will:

“There are no other sorting facilities like this in Lane County,” said Hurley. “Currently, there is limited processing to extract cardboard and metals locally, but the majority of materials are transported all the way to the Portland area for processing.”

The total expected cost of the project is $150 million. The County said Bulk Handling Systems will pay for $100 million (building and installing the sorting equipment).

Lane County will be responsible for the remaining $50 million; however, a $15-million-tax credit will reduce the local cost to $35 million, the County said, adding additional grants and outside funding may reduce the local cost further.

Lane County will increase solid waste disposal fees to help fund a portion of the project. For the average residential customer, the total increase in cost related to this facility would be approximately $2.30 per month phased in over a four-year period, the County stated.

More information is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/IMERF.