The Alternative Press

SUMMIT, NJ - The recently-extended lease agreement between the Union County Utilities Authority and Covanta Energy, the manager of the county waste-to-energy facility in Rahway, will result in rebates of $90,000 to Summit and $41,000 to New Providence. These totals represent costs incurred during 2011 for disposing of trash from the two municipalities at the county facility.

The lease, that now will terminate in 2031, was recently approved by the utilities authority and the savings will be passed on to 14 county municipalities with direct control over their trash hauling that use the Rahway plant, according to Daniel Sullivan, acting executive director of the authority.

Because the new contract is retroactive to January 1, 2011, Sullivan told The Alternative Press, the 14 communities, including Summit and New Providence, would receive rebate checks for that year’s disposal costs.

The utilities authority official also said the new agreement is expected to save Summit about $1.2 million in tipping fees over the life of the contract and to bring about $500,000 in savings to New Providence. Tipping fees are charged to haulers when they bring garbage to a disposal facility.

He noted the extended lease would reduce the cost to the municipalities by $12 per ton. The overall savings to all the municipalities is estimated at $100 million over the length of the lease, or $4 million per year.

Sullivan said the new agreement is the result of negotiations between the authority and Covanta that have been ongoing for a few years, since the county looked into the possibility of selling the Rahway incinerator.

He noted the original management agreement for the incinerator was signed in 1998.

Officials in Summit and New Providence had expressed concerns that the added emphasis on recycling would result in less trash being hauled to the Rahway facility. This, they said, might result in the two communities not meeting their yearly minimum tonnage requirements for the facility.

Sullivan said, however, since 1998 the authority never has assessed a penalty on a community for not meeting minimum tonnage requirements.

If anything, he noted, most communities exceed the minimums, although there has been some dropoff due to the downturn in the economy.

He added the authority also has the ability to take on other sources of trash if the totals from the municipalities do not meet expectations.

The director anticipates no advances in garbage disposal technology that would make the Rahway plant ineffective or obsolete prior to the 2031 expiration date of the new agreement.

Any new technology, he added, also would come at a higher cost than the current system.

Energy produced from the incineration of trash at the Rahway facility is purchased by utilities and can power about 30,000 homes, Sullivan said.

He noted with the rising cost of providing energy, utilities are unlikely to find a cost-effective substitute for what they purchase from the county incinerator.

Sullivan also said the county utilities authority only controls trash picked up in those communities that either have a municipal garbage utility or a community-wide contract with a garbage hauler.

Therefore, the agreement does not affect Berkeley Heights and Westfield, two other Union County communities covered by The Alternative Press, because residents in these municipalities contract individually for garbage collection.