The most promising proposal regarding recycling and garbage collection in Escambia County in years is on the table.

State Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, was the broker between administrators in Escambia County and at the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority.

“Like many of my constituents, I am both an Escambia County taxpayer as well as an ECUA rate payer and see this proposed partnership as a true win-win scenario,” Ingram said. “If adopted, the partnership will protect the financial well-being of the Escambia County Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, help control ECUA’s costs, and will result in the creation of 120-220 new jobs.”

The draft proposal would see the construction of a facility similar to one in Montgomery that processes recycling and garbage without any separate pickups required.

It could bring between 120 and 220 new jobs depending on the size of the facility constructed. It also would signal a significant change in the tone of the relationship between the two government bodies, which has been marked by rancor in the past.

The proposal has to go before both the ECUA board and the County Commissioners.

Flooding and financial problems closed West Florida Recycling earlier this year. Its closure left the entities that collect recycling scrambling to find another processor.

ECUA has a two-year contract with the company that manages the facility in Montgomery to process recyclables from ECUA. ECUA has a contract with Santa Rosa County to process its curbside recyclables, which it also takes to Montgomery.

The City of Pensacola also is taking its recyclables to Montgomery, which is home to a $35 million facility called the  Infinitus Renewal Energy Park. It boasts state-of-the-art technology that recovers recyclables from the normal flow of household trash. Watch a video of the facility here.

According to the draft of the proposed agreement, ECUA Administrator Steve Sorrell and County administrator Jack Brown believe a public-private partnership to build an advanced mixed materials recycling facility is the most financially feasible.

“Neither the County nor the ECUA have the financial capacity or the technical skills to build and operate an AMMRF,” the agreement reads.

The proposal

The conceptual apparatus and the governing principles are as follows:

-- Escambia County and the ECUA agree to strive to reach the State of Florida 75 percent recycling goal, reduce the solid waste collection and disposal costs, and extend the life of the Perdido Landfill.

-- Escambia County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection would retain the regulatory and permitting authority over solid waste disposal and processing activities in Escambia County.

-- Escambia County and the ECUA agree to eliminate or drop all legal challenges and regulatory and operational impediments via action by the Board of County Commissioners and/or the ECUA Board.

-- A public/private partnership will be developed utilizing the most viable technology to advance the practice of recycling in Escambia County and the surrounding region via an advanced mixed materials recycling facility (AMMRF). The AMMRF would be located in Escambia County, along with the 120-220 jobs it will provide.

-- The selected private vendor would determine the most feasible and economically advantageous site on which to construct the AMMRF within Escambia County. Sites will be suggested by the County and ECUA, and the final site will be selected by the private contractor based on sound business considerations.

-- Escambia County and the ECUA agree to allow the project to proceed without legal challenges. The facility would be entirely funded by the private vendor, with no capital, operating or property acquisition expenditures from the County or ECUA. This means there would be no cost to either the County or the ECUA. The estimated $35 million to $50 million investment for the property and the AMMRF will be the sole responsibility of the private vendor.

-- Escambia County and ECUA agree that monies required for Escambia County programs that were previously funded through tipping fees at the Perdido Landfill would be provided through operating cost savings at the Perdido Landfill, host fees paid by the vendor for all tonnage delivered to the AMMRF for processing, the economic benefits from property taxes and jobs created at the facility, and a reasonable increase in the existing commercial waste franchise fees and/or a new franchise fee on residential solid waste collection.

-- An appropriately sized Perdido Landfill would continue to be operated by Escambia County to accept residue from the AMMRF, bulk waste, special waste, and other materials that cannot be processed at the AMMRF.

-- There will be an interlocal agreement between Escambia County and the ECUA to support the public/private partnership. The County would remain responsible for disposal of solid waste; the ECUA would be responsible for collection of solid waste, and the private company would be responsible for construction, operation and all of the costs associated with the AMMRF. The ECUA and the County would guarantee their waste streams would be delivered to the AMMRF for processing. Any residue would be disposed of at the Perdido Landfill.

-- The private sector partner will be selected and the contractual details negotiated as expeditiously as possible.

-- Other agencies within Escambia County and those in adjoining counties and states would be encouraged to utilize the facility and a host fee would be applied to the tonnage that is processed at the facility. Escambia County would be the recipient of the host fees for the tonnages brought to the AMMRF from other agencies.

Next steps

The ECUA Board next meets on Aug. 28. Brown said he will bring the proposal to the Commissioners at the committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 12.

“We have a conceptual agreement that we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re working together in a spirit of cooperation and trying to do make sure we’re a leader in recycling,” Brown said.

Nathalie Bowers, ECUA spokeswoman, said the proposal fits “our goal has been to have something that is close to home and further our recycling goals and be available for the region.”

What turned around the spirit and tone between ECUA and the county from the acrimony of the recent past?

“John Asmar was involved and from what I’ve heard he was positive influence on the process,” Bowers said. “I think having some new players and Mr. Brown not having any history here. I think it was positive to have Rep. Ingram involved.

“This is something we have said we wanted to work toward.”

Escambia County and ECUA have had a tense relationship in the past. Last year the county put out an RFP for a single-stream recycling facility to be built at the county-owned Perdido Landfill.

The only response came from Envision Waste Services LLC, a Cleveland, Ohio, based company formed in 2008 and owned by Steven Viny. Envision designed and built two mixed waste processing facilities in Ohio, one in Medina and one in Dayton, according to their response to the county’s RFP.

Representatives of Infinitus have said in the past they could be interested in the Northwest Florida if the market and terms were right.

Ingram said he hopes both branches of government work quickly to adopt the proposal.

“Speedy adoption of the proposal is imperative as interests from outside of the region have shown intent to build a recycling facility here without participation from either party, which would have a devastating financial impact on our community.

“I am excited about the spirit of cooperation exemplified by both parties for the good of our community and look forward to working together to seeing the project completed.”