Background
The Waste Commission of Scott County, IA, 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, which included:
- 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
- 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
The parallel approach saved the Commission approximately $300,000 and reduced the project’s duration from design to start-up to approximately 13 months. Material volumes being received during the first six months of operation exceeded the initial predictive modeling used in the financial feasibility analysis.