HomeMy WebLinkAboutRecycling Program Issue Paper1
March 18, 2026
ISSUE PAPER
Recycling Program Inflection Point
Statement of Issue:
The Public Works Solid Waste Division is tasked with three sometimes competing goals:
• maintaining the financial health of the solid waste enterprise fund with tipping fees for garbage
disposal providing nearly 100% of revenues
• Providing waste diversion opportunities that require spending outlays that diminish revenue
• maintaining as low a tipping fee as possible and providing a discount for low-income residents
who may be otherwise unable to afford the fee
This may be best described as managing a de facto triple bottom line business or a B Corp where the
Fiscal Health, Environmental Stewardship and Social Responsibility elements of a “business plan” are
ideally arranged in balance with each other. The 2016 Jefferson County Solid Waste Management Plan
(SWMP) provides limited direction on this balancing act in Chapter 1 of the SWMP, under GOALS OF THE
SWMP, with the goal to: “maintain an economically responsible program for solid waste management
that recognizes the needs for environmental protection and service to the citizens of the County”.
The fiscal health of the solid waste enterprise fund is measured by two “benchmarks” found in
Resolution No. 28 23, adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on July 3, 2023. These are:
• A projected year-end reserved capital fund balance of 25 percent of current capital
replacement value in equipment and buildings, excluding any GO bond funds
• A projected year end reserved operations fund balance of 25 percent of the projected annual
total solid waste operation expenditures
The below table shows that short term operational fund balances are healthy and that we are one front-
end loader replacement away from exhausting capital reserves.
Benchmark 2025 Target Year
End Balance
January 1,
2025 Actual
+/- Target
Balance
Year End Capital Fund Balance* $2,361,555 $546,205 -$1,815,350
Year End Reserved Operations Fund Balance $1,310,923 $1,813,199 +$502,276
*Target Capital Fund Balance is 25% of the 2022 estimated facility replacement value of $8.2M with a
multiplier of 5% for each of years 2023, 2024 and 2025
Spending allocations for the recycling program relative to expenditures for other landfill diversion
activities are inconsistent with the direction of the SWMP. Chapter 1 of the SWMP, under GOALS OF
THE SWMP, provides a hierarchy of landfill diversion activities and lists in descending order of priority, a
solid waste management system that:
• Reduces the waste stream
• Promotes reuse
• Promotes recycling
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Estimated 2024 Spending Allocation by Landfill Diversion Activity
These issues have been discussed with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) at open public and
duly noticed meetings on July 25, 2024, September 26, 2024, and January 23, 2025. A poll of SWAC
members at the September 26, 2024 meeting showed an equal split of opinion in either “agreeing” or
“strongly agreeing” that Public Works should advance the idea of ending the subsidy for recycling and
moving toward a mixed-materials curbside cart collection model as all other Counties in Washington
State with the exception of Whatcom County has done. Public Works introduced this idea to the Board
of County Commissioners at a workshop on November 12, 2024.
The five (5) year recycling services agreement between Jefferson County and Skookum Contract Services
expires on March 31, 2026. Public Works staff seeks direction from the Board of County Commissioners
on whether to publish a Request for Proposals for the continued operation of the recycling program in
its current service delivery model with customer drop-off sites and funded with tipping fee revenue or
to sunset the tipping fee subsidy and transition to a curbside collection program with customers paying
the service provider directly with rates governed by a Washington Utilities and Transportation tariff.
Analysis:
Contractor fees are offset by revenue from the sale of recyclable commodities and through a grant from
the Department of Ecology. Tipping fee subsidies for the July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025 grant cycle are
forecasted at $639,877, or nearly $14 for every per ton charge of solid waste disposal.
July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2025
Contract Fees $ 1,162,974.00
Less Grant Funds $ 241,666.00
Subtotal $ 921,308.00
Less Commodity Sales $ 322,057.52
Subtotal $ 599,250.48
Plus Labor & Other Costs $ 54,168
Two Year Cost $ 653,418.66
3rd Priority
1st and 2nd
Priority
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July 1, 2023 – December 31, 2024 actuals + 6-month forecast based on 2024 actuals
Predicted Grant Period Tons 47,042
Grant Period Contract Costs $ 653,419
Per Ton Tipping Fee Subsidy $ 13.89
Material contamination continues to reduce commodity sale revenues used to offset program costs. A
2021 materials audit found the below contamination rate by material type at the Port Ludlow and
Quilcene drop-off sites and in City of Port Townsend curbside bins:
This rate of contamination also diminishes the environmental benefit of recycling by increasing the
program’s carbon footprint in shipping and processing the material twice; once at the material recovery
center in Puyallup and again at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill.
Illegal dumping outside of the bins at unstaffed drop-off locations continues to be a problem. The three-
year trend in illegal dumping at drop-off locations is shown below:
Year Tons of Garbage Removed from Drop-off Locations
2022 26 tons
2023 30 tons
2024 41 tons
Illegal dumping of garbage inside the bins also continues to be a problem with two residents identified
by mailing labels warned about this activity in February, 2024.
Public Works can achieve a better balance between the SWMP goals in either of two ways:
Option A:
Identify a Contractor through an RFP process for the provision of recycling services under the current
drop box arrangement and with continued subsidy from the tipping fee, while also:
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• Updating the SWMP with recycling identified as the principle focus for meeting
environmental stewardship goals and with waste reduction and reuse activities described as
aspirational and contingent on new revenue
• Eliminating the Solid Waste Education Coordinator position
• Discontinuing support of waste reduction and reuse efforts such as coordinating unused
food deliveries between producers/retailers and food banks, JeffCo Repair workshops,
composting classes and the nascent Sustainability Stars program that would recognize
businesses that reduce waste
• Discontinuing support of the employment program for individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities
Option B:
Notify the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission G-Cert hauler that the County is
desirous of a curbside collection in unincorporated Jefferson County using a mixed-material roll cart
service model as provided in Clallam County, while also:
• Scheduling the removal of drop-off bins at all current locations for the last week of March,
2026
• Adopting a Level of Service Ordinance (LOS) that governs the types of services to be
delivered for recycling such as bin sizes offered, frequency of service, materials accepted,
and the rates that service subscribers would pay depending on their choice of service level
• Including a provision in the LOS for a low-income rate (Jefferson County would be the first
County in the State with this tariff rate)
• Including a provision in the LOS for glass drop-off locations should a regional market develop
• Sunsetting the subsidy for the recycling program beginning April 1, 2026
• Providing a single recycling drop off area at the transfer station behind the scales for
unincorporated Jefferson County residents who cannot get curbside service due to road/site
constraints and charge the minimum or per ton fee based on load weight
• Reallocating the tipping fee subsidy to “upstream” reduction and reuse programs and
blunting future fee increases
• Retaining the Solid Waste Education Coordinator position
Fiscal Impact/Cost Benefit Analysis:
Option A:
Retention of the current service delivery model and tipping fee subsidy can be predicted to cost a
minimum $323,000 per annum beginning in April, 2026 under a new recycling services agreement.
Should the BoCC wish to retain the current service delivery model and subsidy but not wish to increase
the tipping fee there are several options for cost saving program revisions that would, in combination,
come within $14,193 of offsetting the recycling program costs as shown in the table below:
Program Annual Cost
Solid Waste Education 72,073$
Low-Income Discount 53,000$
IDD Employment 63,444$
Transfer to Public Health Abatement Program 24,000$
Quilcene Drop Box (Loss)40,000$
HHW Collection Events 60,000$
Total Cost Savings 312,517$
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Option B:
Sunsetting the program subsidy and transitioning to a private sector service delivery model would
provide continued funding for waste reduction and reuse activities and reduce future fee increases.
Recommendation:
Public Works recommends:
• Utilizing the UTC G-Cert hauler for curbside collection in unincorporated Jefferson County using
a mixed-material roll cart service model
• Sunsetting the subsidy for recycling on April 1, 2026 with payment for services made directly
between the customer and service provider
• Reallocating the recycling program subsidy toward waste reduction and reuse activities
identified in the SWMP as higher priority activities