At a joint meeting of the Chilmark selectmen and town finance committee on Sept. 10, Don Hatch, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District (MVRDRRD), described a major overhaul of the district’s Edgartown transfer station. Mr. Hatch is making the rounds of the four-town district to ask selectmen to place a borrowing article for up to $2.5 million on upcoming special town-meeting warrants.
The money would be used to finance the restructuring of traffic flow and residential drop-off at the district’s main Edgartown transfer station off West Tisbury Road, near the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
The current facility design can handle more than 500 vehicles a day. The proposed facility would be designed to handle over 2,500 vehicles a day, making it able to handle the entire Island’s waste stream in the future if needed, Mr. Hatch told town officials.
The district comprises Edgartown, Chilmark, West Tisbury, and Aquinnah; it annually processes and ships more than 11,000 tons of regular household waste, as well as construction and demolition material. Approval must be granted unanimously from all four district towns in order for the district to borrow the money. If all goes as planned, construction of phase 1 is expected to begin in fall 2015 and be completed by the close of 2016.
Oak Bluffs and Tisbury currently utilize a separate transfer station owned by the town of Oak Bluffs and operated by Bruno’s, a private trash hauler.
Mr. Hatch provided a brief overview of the problem and the proposed solution to Chilmark town officials last Wednesday. “We are running out of ways to separate products, and traffic flow is a nightmare,” Mr. Hatch said.
He said there is congestion at the gatehouse and the areas of recycling, drop-off, and scale. Currently residential and commercial vehicles use the same traffic pattern. This makes a snarled mess, especially in the summer months, with waits up to 45 minutes to dispose of trash, according to Mr. Hatch. There are also small and large vehicles simultaneously unloading inside the transfer station, creating a potentially hazardous situation.
The transfer-station property is 22 acres, but less than 7 acres are utilized, Mr. Hatch said. About half the total acreage is used to provide a 200-foot buffer zone around the property. None of that would change, Mr. Hatch told The Times in later comments. The proposed residential drop-off area would be built within the original facility footprint.
Mr. Hatch explained, “We want to separate residential from commercial and free up some usable space to make a safer facility.”
The $2.5 million request is only for phase 1 of a two-phase project. The first phase is designed to separate residential traffic flow from commercial traffic flow by relocating the residential drop-off. There would be a new residential entrance at the southern end, leading to a one-way road around the perimeter of the buffer zone. Residents would drive along the perimeter and enter the new proposed residential drop-off area on the east side of the property. Residential traffic would then continue in one direction to exit the facility at the north end of the property. Commercial traffic flow would remain as is.
In phase 2, the size of the current solid-waste building would be doubled, and a food-compost area would be included. A second scale would be added to help improve traffic flow. Doubling the solid-waste building size would allow solid waste to be placed in one area and construction and demolition waste in a second area. Mr. Hatch said if the budget allows, the additional scale would be added in phase 1.
The food-compost area is in line with a current directive by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. In 2014, large restaurants and grocery stores must separate out their food waste and send it to compost. Residential food-waste separation will follow.
“We have no way to handle the food-waste separation at this time,” said Mr. Hatch. “The district has to start supporting smaller users and residents in food-waste handling.”
“We are trying to grow for the future and plan ahead,” Mr. Hatch told The Times. Mr. Hatch explained that Massachusetts has a 50-year plan to achieve zero waste, and thus there will be more and more restrictions on separating materials going forward.
Selectmen and members of the finance committee agreed there is a problem to address, but told Mr. Hatch to tighten up his numbers. “In principle we agree that we’re willing to support a bond issue to rebuild the area,” Selectman Warren Doty said at the conclusion of the presentation, “but we’re concerned about some of the costs, and we need a real tight budget.”