Waiver Request

Please review the documents below for additional information on Stehekin solid waste management. The Rate Proposal Handout provides an overview of the park's proposed waiver request, with information on the proposed reduced rate for trash disposal and estimates of annual costs for various users. The Discussion Topics Handout will be used to guide discussions during the public meetings and provides additional background information for specific topic questions, which are also listed below.

Topic Questions Instructions:

If you reside within the Stehekin community and generate or expect to generate any type of solid waste (e.g. trash, recycling, compost, household hazardous waste, etc.), please consider responding to any or all of the following questions. Your answers will help the NPS develop a more efficient and responsive solid waste management service for the Stehekin community.

Topic Questions:

1. The NPS is in the process of replacing and upgrading trash compaction equipment, which is expected to reduce the number of labor hours needed to process waste by approximately 30%, e approximately $5,000 in annual material costs, relative to the current trash compaction system. Are there additional efficiency improvements you would suggest to keep operating costs low?

2. What are the best and worst days of the week and hours of the day for transfer station operating hours?

3. What are the minimum requirements for summer operations (May - Oct) and winter operations (Nov - Apr)?

4. Trash and recycling will only be accepted from users who have an established account with the NPS for invoicing and billing. Accepted payment methods for electronic payment (via www.pay.gov) include bank account, PayPal account, and debit or credit card. Checks may be submitted for payment, as well, although electronic payment is preferred. Cash will not be accepted at the transfer station. Are you willing to use an electronic payment system (preferred), or do you have limiting circumstances that require you to pay via check?

5. What is the least-frequent billing cycle that would acceptable to you? E.g. quarterly, biannually, annually, etc.

6. If you are a business owner, are invoicing/billing needs different from your needs as a residential customer?

7. Large, bulky items like appliances, furniture, construction and demolition debris, and other items not conducive to processing via compaction have typically been left adjacent to the transfer station on a platform, where they are then individually loaded by the NPS contracted solid waste hauler onto a truck for transport and disposal. What is the most appropriate and equitable fee structure for large, bulky items? E.g. weight-based, volume-based, appliance flat-rate, etc.

8. The NPS instead intends to fully subsidize the recycling program, thereby offering free recycling to all users. Recyclable materials must be sorted and will be limited to those items that are accepted at the Chelan Transfer Station. The NPS also intends to continue accepting household hazardous waste items for free as long as Chelan County continues to offer their annual free collection event. Do you expect to increase the amount of material you recycle or divert from the landfill under this plan? If so, by how much?

9. The NPS maintains a small vermicomposting operation near the transfer station that is used to compost shredded paper and organics. Food scraps tend to have high moisture content, making them heavy and thus expensive to dispose of when trash disposal rates are weight-based. Would you use an NPS-managed centralized composting system for organics, or do you have a wildlife-resistant composting system that you intend to use for diverting organics from the waste stream?

10. The Stehekin community has benefited greatly from collective use of

11. Do you consider the reduced rate - including free recycling, no increase in rates resulting from capital improvements, and a phase-in of the remaining costs over six years - to be fair and reasonable given the logistical challenges and expense of solid waste management in a remote community like Stehekin?

12. Are there any other factors that would prevent you from participating in an NPS solid waste management service?

Document Content:

Public Meeting Rate Proposal Handout.pdf   (273.2 KB, PDF file) Public Meeting Discussion Topics.pdf   (140.6 KB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.