The long and winding road to private operation of the Orcas Island and San Juan Island solid waste transfer stations may be about to take some sharp turns at the Nov. 20 county council meeting.

San Juan

The Vendor Selection Committee report for the San Juan Island station is expected to recommend that the county negotiate a contract with Kentec Energy USA of Lynnwood and Lautenbach Industries of Mt. Vernon to operate the garbage and recycling drop off facility on Sutton Road.

“Kentec is offering an innovative approach that may be a long-term solution to the county’s solid waste problems,” said County Councilman Rich Peterson, who is also a selection committee member.

Kentec USA is the American  affiliate of Ken-Tec Korea, which builds and operates waste gasification plants in South Korea and Europe. Kentec USA is proposing to build and operate a 10 to 20 ton-per-day gasification plant on San Juan Island. Lautenbach would continue to operate the present transfer station, and is proposing a variety of changes to the present facility, including perhaps rebuilding the tipping floor to permit the Town of Friday Harbor to dispose of trash and recycling now being trucked to Skagit County.

Kentec claims their plant will operate with zero emissions and will incinerate all garbage, including processed or unprocessed human waste, from the entire county. According to Kentec, the reclaimed gases can be used to generate electricity on the island or sold to reprocessing companies for use as fuel for a variety of applications, and the carbon-ash residue can be used in road-building or other applications.

The $8 million cost of the plant and the extensive environmental and regulatory hurdles that Kentec USA must overcome was recognized as a potential problem by the selection committee, but the draft selection committee report notes that the county will incur little or no financial risk from the gasification plant part of the project and that Lautenbach promises uninterrupted services whether or not the gasification plant is built.

Orcas

At the upcoming meeting, Public Works Director Frank Mulcahy will also be reporting to the council on contract negotiations with Cimarron Trucking and Orcas Recycling Services to operate the Orcas Island tipping floor and drop box.

On Orcas Island, Orcas Recycling Services, the nonprofit that now operates The Exchange reuse facility, continues to press the county to designate them as the sole operator of the facility, including operation of the tipping floor now utilized by San Juan Sanitation, the company that collects garbage and recycling throughout San Juan County and empties their trucks at the Orcas transfer station.

County Public Works Director Mulcahy says he will outline “three options” for the county council on Tuesday.

Mulcahy says the first option – splitting the contract and the functions between Cimarron and Orcas Recycling Services – has become “problematic” because Orcas Recycling feels the income from the tipping floor is necessary to make the recycling, reuse and waste reduction functions viable.

“We could force the issue with ORS,” said Mulcahy, “but the increased cost for the consumer and desire for local control may make that option unattractive to the council.”

The other two options, according to Mulcahy, are to contract with Cimarron only or to contract with Orcas Recycling only. Mulcahy said the council must decide between Cimarron and Orcas Recycling.

Mark De Tray, Executive Director of Orcas Recycling, said, “I’m as optimistic as I’ve ever been that our proposal to operate the transfer station will work and will be accepted by the county council.”

De Tray points to letters of intent from Waste Management and Waste Connections, both national companies, to take the garbage, and from Tri-County Recycling of Burlington to take recycling materials as evidence “we can do the job.” De Tray said, “the people involved in forming the Lopez Solid Waste District provided our budget model” and credits the same people with “being our mentors.” He said ORS was in the process of retaining an experienced solid waste operational consultant to assist the ORS board.

Blair Estenson, President of Cimarron, confirmed that negotiations for an operating contract for Orcas Island had reached an impasse, but thought a resolution which included Cimarron was still possible.

“We look forward to serving San Juan County under whatever contractual arrangement can be reached,” said Estenson.

Estenson said he was aware that the vendor selection committee for San Juan Island operations was going to recommend the Kentec Energy USA proposal, but said Cimarron would appear before the council on Tuesday to argue the merits of the Cimarron proposal.

County council action on both the San Juan Island recommendation and the Orcas Island contract decision is expected soon because the present contract with Waste Management for disposal of both garbage and recycling material at both facilities ends Dec. 31, 2012.