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Comprehensive Plan Solid Waste Sub -Element Processing of waste that arrives at the landfill is an important part of the entire system. At the processing site, the various waste types are separated and treated accordingly. Then, each type of waste needs a different method of processing in order to sufficiently reduce the total waste volume and ensure that the waste will receive the appropriate treatment. The prerequisite for ensuring proper processing is appropriate separation of the solid waste. Overall, materials collected and shipped to processing centers for recycling must be free of contamination. Contaminated materials are returned to the landfill. While separation of different types of solid waste is costly, time consuming and in some cases requires special equipment, the existing County system is generally adequate to handle various types of solid waste. An important part of the solid waste processing system is the availability of equipment to handle all materials appropriately. In the future, there may be a need for additional equipment to facilitate the separation of materials entering the landfill. As technology improves, the County should acquire new equipment to handle all materials appropriately. There may also be a need for equipment to reduce the amount of waste and to recycle some of the waste stream. Because the County is sending several types of solid waste materials to processing centers for recycling, the County does not need any additional recycling equipment at the landfill at this time. For general landfill operations, however, the County must maintain its heavy machinery such as bulldozers, loaders, compactors, and scrapers. Even though the County is currently under contract with Waste Management, Inc. to operate the Class I Landfill, the county must still maintain a suite of equipment for emergency use. For such emergencies, the County has entered into a rental agreement with a local equipment supplier. The final part of a processing/disposal system is the disposal of processed or raw waste in the landfill. In disposing of waste, the county must ensure that the disposed material does not have an adverse impact on the environment and that sufficient landfill capacity is available for disposal of the processed or raw waste. With Segment II of the landfill designed according to federal and state standards and being monitored regularly, the County ensures that there will be no adverse environmental effects from the landfill. Consistent with the Solid Waste Master Plan, the County maintains at least three years of landfill disposal capacity at all times, thereby allowing sufficient time for permitting and construction of a new active segment. With respect to disposal, the County has three options. First, the County can continue to recycle as much solid waste as possible and dispose of the remainder in the landfill. Second, the County can contract with a regional landfill, such as the Okeechobee Landfill in Okeechobee County or the JED Landfill in Holopaw, Osceola County, and transfer solid waste to that disposal site. Third, the County can pursue development of a waste -to -energy (WTE) facility, if that technology is determined to be feasible for the County. At present, option one seems to be the most workable for the County. Although the County recently initiated negotiations with INPB for a WTE conversion project for ethanol production in the County, it is still necessary for the SWDD to conduct a feasibility study and a cost/benefit analysis of all three options and utilize any combination of options as appropriate. With options two and three, however, the County would need to continue to maintain the landfill for backup and for disposal of some solid waste as well as for disposal of residue from a WTE facility. Community Development Department Indian River County 24