District suspends program for shared use of garden waste equipment

County Commissioners Jean Foschi and Kelly Neiderer voted to end the program last week after county staff failed to extend insurance coverage for the equipment. Commissioner Gary Eichelberger was absent.

In January, a county-owned horizontal shredder was damaged by an engine fire while the facility was being rented by a municipality, said recycling coordinator Justin Miller.

“This brought the program under scrutiny from insurers,” he said. “Initially, our current provider required significant changes to our written agreements with municipalities to maintain coverage after June 30. However, after further review, the insurer later stated that the program and equipment pose enormous risk. They will no longer insure the leased equipment after June 30.”

An insurance broker tried unsuccessfully to obtain coverage from other companies that cited similar risk concerns and a history of claims related to yard waste processing equipment, Miller said.

On May 20, the county’s Recycling and Solid Waste Authority Board of Directors recommended that commissioners permanently suspend the program after June 30.

“We believe all options to continue the program have been exhausted,” Miller said. “We have been discussing this issue for two months.”

“The staff has done an incredible amount of work to ensure that the county has no alternatives,” Foschi said. “I really appreciate that hard work.”

In follow-up motions, Foschi and Neiderer authorized staff to notify municipalities of the suspension and to develop options for potentially transferring ownership of the equipment to municipalities and districts.

The county started the program in 1994 as a rental service to save municipalities the cost of purchasing expensive equipment for limited use. One goal was to expand existing municipal programs for the collection and drop-off of leaves and yard waste.

In the first year, the county had two lathes and a drum grinder to serve five communities. Over the course of 30 years, more equipment was purchased and the number of communities served nearly quadrupled to 18, according to a post on the county’s website.

“Because the equipment is funded by grants, we also have to work with the DEP,” Miller said, referring to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

In general, the state agency prefers that ownership of the equipment be transferred to another government entity, Miller said. “We want to try to keep the equipment in the county so it continues to be available to the communities.”

“This program has been very important to our communities,” Foschi said. “I’m very happy that we’re going to work on developing options. This is a good thing.”

In a related proceeding, the commissioners authorized Miller to apply for a $14,182 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The grant will reimburse the county for part of the cost of hosting an event on April 11, during which 354 customers collected 14,800 kilograms of household hazardous waste. The county generated $15,350 in revenue from user fees at the event.