County plans to discontinue county recycling and waste authority in 2025
After 50 years of service, the Cumberland County Recycling and Waste Authority will likely cease to exist sometime in 2025, Commissioner Gary Eichelberger said last week.
"The authority is facing an inflection point," he told fellow commissioners. "The waste management plan that is in place is going to require us to take action next year. The authority is set to expire. The plan recommends letting that authority expire."
Over the years, the functions of the authority have been absorbed into the county recycling and waste department, Eichelberger said. About a decade ago, the authority lost its ability to float bonds for capital projects, he said.
The plan is to convert the authority into a solid waste advisory committee, Eichelberger said. This would require appointing volunteers to serve on the committee.
Formerly the Solid Waste Authority of Cumberland County, the authority was incorporated in 1975, according to a brief history posted on a county website. The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act of 1988 placed upon Pennsylvania counties the responsibility for planning municipal waste management within their boundaries.
The law allowed counties to delegate the implementation of a county plan to an individual or group. In 1991, the county delegated that responsibility to the authority.
Since then, the authority has advised the county on matters relating to solid waste. The authority was also instrumental in setting up a county solid waste department to conduct everyday functions.
Equipment program
As one authority is being phased out, work is underway to establish a new joint authority. This one would take over the yard waste equipment sharing program that Cumberland County once had with local municipalities.
"They are making good headway on a transition," Eichelberger said last week. "Hampden [Township] is fully set to take the equipment. The question is how soon we are going to make the transfer. They are working on that answer. They still have to determine the insurance implications of the other municipalities that would be involved."
The county started its program in 1994 as a rental service to spare municipalities the cost of buying expensive equipment for limited use. One goal was to expand municipal leaf and yard waste collection/drop-off programs.
The county program came under scrutiny in January after an engine fire damaged a county-owned horizontal grinder while East Pennsboro Township was renting it.
After months of back-and-forth with county officials, the carrier providing liability insurance advised the county that, given the risk, it will no longer cover the leased equipment after June 30.
That prompted the governing board of the county authority to recommend the commissioners permanently suspend the program when coverage expired in late June. Since then, Hampden Township has taken the lead in finding a way to continue the equipment sharing program.
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