Communities share tub grinder to cut costs

In 1988, when Pennsylvania banned leaves from landfills in larger municipalities, Cumberland County began working on a plan to assist its 34 boroughs and townships with yard waste recycling.

The solution, implemented last year, is a program in which the county shares two windrow turners and a tub grinder with participating municipalities at low cost.

Since municipalities that mandate recycling often ban leaf burning and have a limited capacity for composting on home lots, the county’s Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM), with the support of 31 of the 34 county municipalities, recommended purchasing organic recycling equipment, says Department Director Tom Imphong.

Each municipality generally would use a windrow turner or tub grinder once a month. In addition, the county had access to grants from a recycling fund that favored joint activities rather than individual purchases. “We needed to find the best way for all of our municipalities to share equipment without creating an administrative headache,” Imphong says.

The DSWM does not own or operate a central county drop-off site or waste processing facility. However, the county wanted to provide each municipality access to machines to improve their site efficiency and compost product quality.

Once it settled on the equipment, the DSWM went to work on a purchase-and-use plan, under which the county would purchase equipment with 90 percent state grant funds and 10 percent county funds and would be responsible for maintenance. Municipalities could use the equipment as needed, but would be required to transport it between sites, provide an operator (trained by the manufacturer), refuel the machines after use and contribute an equal share toward maintenance based on projected annual use.

The DSWM drafted an agreement and appointed a committee to determine specific equipment needs, obtain bids and anticipate use and maintenance costs for each municipality based on past activity. In May 1994, Cumberland County purchased a Toro ProGrind 2000 tub grinder, with a 10-foot tub and removable sections for transporting and two SCAT 482 windrow turners.

The program has run flawlessly, Imphong says. His office maintains a schedule on each machine, and municipalities call to arrange use times. The municipality is responsible for picking up the equipment from the last user and for storing it or delivering it to the next user.

The DSWM also maintains checklists that are kept with each machine to record any maintenance problems at each pickup and delivery and to keep daily records of scheduled inspections, problems and hours used. Imphong says this update is crucial because there is no one operator keeping track of regular maintenance. If a problem occurs, the user contacts the DSWM, which coordinates and pays for the maintenance with usage fees.

Currently, nine of the 11 Cumberland County municipalities mandated to recycle organic waste are participating in the program, Imphong says. Each municipality’s contract is renewed annually, and fees are reviewed and adjusted as required to reflect actual usage.

Cost savings have been substantial. One municipality had been paying $3,000 annually for a contractor to screen and pulverize composted leaves for municipal use. Now, in addition to processing its own waste and saving the money, it is able to offer high-quality compost to its residents. Another municipality paid $1,000 to use a contractor’s tub grinder for one day; this year it will pay $700 for unlimited use throughout the year.

“We’re saving money for the county and giving the end users much more flexibility through our sharing system,” Imphong says.