Background

The Commission operated a dual stream recycling material recovery facility in Davenport, Iowa since 1996. Foth assisted the Commission to evaluate the feasibility of converting the dual stream collection and processing recycling system to single stream including collection improvements, volume of recycling material, projected composition, projected market value of processed recyclables, sources of additional material, financial model for the system to identify costs, revenues and volumes that would create a viable single stream system, concepts for conversion of the existing facility, and methods for single stream cart procurement.

Approach

Foth developed and managed parallel processes for the design-bid-construction of building and site improvements and the Commission’s procurement of processing equipment. The net change orders for the construction contracts for facility and equipment totaled approximately 2% of the total construction cost.

Results

This approach saved the Commission approximately $300,000 and reduced the duration of the project from design to start-up to approximately 13 months. Material volumes being received during the first twelve months of operation exceeded the initial predictive modeling used in the financial feasibility analysis.