Agenda Information Sheet
DEPARTMENT: Solid Waste
CM/ ACM: Mario Canizares
Date: September 11, 2017
SUBJECT
Title
Receive a report, hold a discussion, and provide a recommendation regarding the Solid Waste Department's landfill mining operation.
Body
BACKGROUND
In 2015, the City of Denton's Solid Waste Department recommended a multi-year landfill mining operation as a new program in the department's proposed FY 2015-16 budget. The Public Utilities Board (PUB) and City Council were briefed on the program as part of the budget process before eventually approving the operation as part of the City's FY 2015-16 budget.
On August 4, 2015, the City Council approved a three (3) year interagency agreement between the City of Denton and the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) for landfill mining research. During a work session on November 17, 2015, the City Council received a briefing on landfill mining which included results from existing UTA research and a report on the various benefits of landfill mining. During that discussion, staff expressed that mining would begin in mid-2016. It is worth noting that neither a financial analysis nor a feasibility study was provided as part of the aforementioned presentations.
Beginning in January 2016, a series of equipment purchases totaling $4.56 million were authorized by the PUB and Council, and Solid Waste staff began reorganizing operations to prepare for landfill mining. To date, $3.51 million has been expended on equipment and additional operational expenses have been incurred. Despite these expenditures, the mining operation has not broken ground and a number of operational challenges have not been addressed.
Following recent organizational changes, staff began evaluating a number of Solid Waste projects and operations. As part of this effort, a financial analysis of the landfill mining operation was performed. After reviewing the results, staff halted further investments into the mining operation an...
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