Regarding the Forsyth County News article regarding opposition to Advanced Disposal’s recycling center expansion, I believe the below information should be major considerations when considering approval.
The “expansion” of the recycling center is, based on Advanced Disposal’s own statements, in fact a major re-purposing of the recycling center.
Up until now, the impression being given is that the additional recycling is basically an expansion of what the center now does. The current recycling facility recovers clean recyclables (e. g., aluminum, metal, boxes, etc.) and processes them.
The presorted recycled materials are, for the most part, clean and not made up of liquids and other potentially odorous organic materials. A close look at the documents provided so far regarding the proposed “expansion” reveals otherwise.
For example, in the public participation report submitted subsequent to the public participation meeting held on Nov. 20, 2013, contains on page three, paragraph D (i), under the heading proposed operation, the following statement: “The application CP130014 is filed for “material recovery facility,” or MFR, and means a solid waste handling facility that provided for the extraction from solid waste or recoverable materials, material suitable for use as a fuel or soil amendment, or any combination of such materials.”
Recycled material suitable for use as a “fuel or soil amendment” would appear to me to be made up of such biodegradable things as cooking grease, leftovers from meals, organic matter — decaying grass cuttings, discarded food, etc. In other words what typically goes into a neighborhood garbage truck. In addition, the amount of recoverable materials suitable for use as fuel or soil amendment would have to be considerable in order to be profitable.
In last Sunday’s Forsyth County News, Advanced Disposal’s community affairs manager stated: “Thus far we have been bringing in recycling that’s presorted. [With the expansion] we’ll be bringing in recycling that will not (emphasis added by me) be pre-sorted. We’ll sort it when it gets to our facility.”
Mike Underwood
Cumming