SOLID WASTE AND RESOURCE RECOVERY ELEMENT of the PINELLAS COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN Prepared By: The Pinellas County Planning Department as staff to the LOCAL PLANNING AGENCY for THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA Adopted March 27, 2012 (Ordinance 12-10) Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element i
Preface In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pinellas County adopted its first Comprehensive Plan for managing growth in the County. In 1985, the Florida Legislature strengthened the growth management provisions of Chapter 163, Florida Statutes, and Pinellas County began to develop its new Plan, with a greater emphasis on integrated planning and consistency with other State and Regional planning efforts. In 1989, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners was one of the first governments to meet the new growth management requirements with the adoption of its new Comprehensive Plan. This Plan placed new emphasis on financial feasibility, and the assurance that public services and facilities would be available concurrent with the impacts of development. Chapter 163, Florida Statutes, also includes specific requirements for regularly evaluating the continued effectiveness of the Comprehensive Plan, and requires that local governments update their Plans to address significant issues identified through this evaluation and appraisal process. The first major update to the Comprehensive Plan was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in 1998. In 2008, the Board of County Commissioners adopted the next significant update to the Plan, following a multi-year evaluation process, which included extensive public and agency involvement to ensure that the Plan remained relevant, providing appropriate direction to decision-making and sound guidance for future planning. Today, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners has a mature Comprehensive Plan and growth management program, based on over 30 years of comprehensive planning experience. The emphasis and theme of the Plan is the need to plan appropriately today in order to achieve a sustainable future, and a quality community where people will Plan to Stay. The individual Elements and related components of the Plan provide an integrated long range planning program designed to address both existing and future needs. Where multijurisdictional responsibilities exist, the Elements may address the entire County; other Elements address just the unincorporated County. Following are the Elements and related components of the Pinellas County Comprehensive Plan: Planning to Stay, Future Land Use and Quality Communities; Transportation; Natural Resource Conservation and Management; Coastal Management; Housing; Intergovernmental Coordination; Recreation, Open Space and Culture; Potable Water, Wastewater and Reuse; Solid Waste and Resource Recovery; Surface Water Management; Capital Improvements; Public School Facilities, Economic, The Concurrency Management System; and The Monitoring and Evaluation Procedures. Pinellas County complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To obtain accessible formats of this document, please contact the Pinellas County Communications Department at (727) 464-4600 / TDD (727) 464-4431. Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element i
State of Florida Map and Pinellas County Location Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element ii
Table of Contents PREFACE... i LOCATION MAP... ii GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES*... GOPs-1 INTRODUCTION... Intro -1 1- INVENTORY Planning Area... 1-1 Environmental Conditions... 1-5 Geology and Soils... 1-5 Geohydrologic Units... 1-6 Drainage Basins... 1-6 Flood-Prone Areas... 1-6 2- SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT Planning For Resource Recovery... 2-1 Selection of Contractor... 2-2 Energy Agreements... 2-3 Expansion... 2-3 Enterprise System... 2-3 Shared Facilities and Proportional Capacity... 2-4 Solid Waste Collection Systems... 2-6 Collection Arrangements... 2-6 Unincorporated Area... 2-7 Transfer Stations... 2-8 Charitable Organizations... 2-9 Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Facility... 2-9 Waste-To-Energy Facility... 2-9 Overview of Pinellas County Waste-to-Energy Facility... 2-10 Vehicle Route... 2-11 The Combustion Process... 2-12 Energy Recovery... 2-15 Materials Recovery... 2-16 Operation Management... 2-16 Design Capacity... 2-19 Current Demand on Facility Capacity... 2-19 Air Quality... 2-19 Landfills... 2-21 Bridgeway Acres Sanitary Landfill... 2-21 Illegal Dumping... 2-24 Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element iii
Table of Contents (continued) Small Incinerators... 2-24 Artificial Reef Construction Program... 2-28 Solid Waste Generation... 2-30 Transportation... 2-32 Hazardous Waste Management... 2-32 Federal Legislation... 2-34 Florida Legislation... 2-34 Pinellas County Programs... 2-36 Hazardous Waste Assessment... 3-38 Right-to-Know Laws... 2-39 Household Hazardous Waste... 2-41 Solid Waste Requirements for Asbestos... 2-41 Hazardous Waste and Known Pollution Problems... 2-42 Stauffer Chemical Plant... 2-42 Soil Contamination... 2-42 Department of Energy (G.E. Plant)... 2-43 Waste Reduction and Recycling... 2-43 Recycling in Florida... 2-44 Waste Reduction and Recycling in Pinellas County... 2-45 Solid Waste Technical Management Committee & Recycling Subcommittee... 2-46 Public Education... 2-48 Waste Reduction Plan... 2-49 Land Use and Zoning... 2-52 Financial Management... 2-52 Disaster Plan... 2-53 3- ANALYSIS Evaluation of Existing Facilities... 3-1 Population Projections... 3-1 Solid Waste Projections and Levels of Service... 3-2 Impact of Facility on Natural Resources... 3-5 Recycling... 3-6 Recycling Programs... 3-8 Measuring Recycling Program Success and Opportunities... 3-8 Recycling Interlocal Agreement... 3-9 Recycling Other Types of Wastes... 3-9 Hazardous Waste Management... 3-10 Projected Capital Improvement Needs... 3-11 Capital Improvement Projects... 3-12 Financing Mechanisms and Revenue Sources... 3-12 Bonds... 3-12 User Fees... 3-12 Impact Fees... 3-12 Franchise Fees... 3-13 Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element iv
Table of Contents (continued) Monitoring and Evaluation... 3-14 State and Regional Plan Consistency... 3-14 Internal Consistency... 3-14 Intergovernmental Coordination... 3-15 State Consistency... 3-15 Regional Consistency... 3-16 4- CONCLUSION... 4-1 DEFINITIONS... Def-1 BIBLIOGRAPHY... Biblio-1 * This item is an adopted component of the Comprehensive Plan Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element v
List of Tables 1 Revenue Projections... 2-4 2 Milestones In the Pinellas County Resource Recovery Program... 2-5 3 Refuse Collection Systems within Pinellas County... 2-7 4 Rates and Charges for Users of Pinellas County Solid Waste Facilities ($/ton)... 2-14 5 Energy Production and Revenues Received... 2-17 6 Waste-To-Energy Plant Performance 1986-2006... 2-20 7 Incinerators in Pinellas County... 2-27 8 Solid Waste Generation 1987-2006... 2-31 9 Estimated Hazardous Waste Produced Annually... 2-40 10 Municipal Solid Waste Collected and Recycled 1988-2005... 2-46 11 Recycling In Pinellas County... 2-51 12 Year 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2025 Projected Population... 3-2 13 Solid Waste Projections... 3-4 14 Projected Levels of Solid Waste Incinerated and Landfilled... 3-4 15 2000 Solid Waste Composition By Weight... 3-11 16 Solid Waste & Recovery Capital Improvement Needs... 3-13 Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element vi
List of Figures 1 Location of Pinellas County, Florida... 1-2 2 Pinellas County and Its 24 Municipalities... 1-3 3 Countywide Planning Sectors... 1-4 4 Index Map and Geologic Fence Diagram... 1-7 5 Hydrogeologic Cross Section... 1-8 6 Drainage Basins... 1-9 7 Flood Prone Areas... 1-10 8 Facility Site Plan... 2-12 9 Facility Section View... 2-15 10 Location of Air Monitoring Stations... 2-22 11 Location of Solid Waste & Recycling Sites... 2-25 12 Artificial Reef Location... 2-29 13 Road Network/Truck Route Plan... 2-33 14 Chemicals and Electronics Collected Through HEC3 Programs... 2-38 Solid Waste & Resource Recovery Element vii