Ramsey County, Minnesota, is requesting copies of contracts between
municipalities and private operators of materials recovery facilities
(MRFs), plus copies of RFPs, if any, that led to such contracts.
Part of the Twin Cities and with a population of 500,000, Ramsey County
currently owns a MRF that is operated under contract with a private
vendor. The contract expires next year. Under the current contract,
the vendor must accept certain materials and market them. There is a
revenue-sharing formula based on a floor price for each material; the
vendor and County split the costs or revenues above or below this floor
price. The County supplies the buildings and some equipment, but the
vendor provides most of the equipment. Collectors of recyclables use
the facility voluntarily; the County does not guarantee any minimum
tonnage delivered, but does provide a flat monthly processing fee.
The County is examining several options to help ensure that recyclable
materials collected in municipally-sponsored recycling programs
(primarily residential recycling, but also some recyclables from
businesses) can continue to be processed and marketed. The County may
continue to provide a facility, may instead contract with
privately-owned MRF capacity, or might only provide some type of subsidy
to MRFs and/or end markets that is triggered by certain market
conditions. Some County Board members have expressed concern about
having some controls on the maximum financial exposure for the County
during times of poor markets.
We would welcome copies of any types of contracts and RFPs for MRFs
where the private sector either operates a publicly-owned facility or
provides both facility and operation. We are particularly interested in
risk-sharing issues, such as: mechanisms for paying private vendors for
processing and sharing marketing risk; how equipment for processing is
funded-e.g., total vendor responsibility or amortized through a
multi-year processing subsidy; whether the vendor can accept recyclables
from other sources than the municipality, and under what conditions; and
whether vendors are required to market all materials received no matter
what the market conditions are. We are also interested in hearing about
any other types of subsidy arrangements to ensure recyclables are
marketed.
Please send contracts and RFPs to: Norm Schiferl, Environmental Health
Section, 1670 Beam Ave., Suite A, Maplewood, MN 55109-1176; fax =
651-773-4454; email = Norm.Schiferl@co.ramsey.mn.us
<mailto:Norm.Schiferl@co.ramsey.mn.us> ; phone = 651-773-4450.
Thank you very much.