What is the CleanLane Resource Recovery Facility or IMERF? 

It is a brand new $178,000,000 solid waste sorting facility proposal by Lane County located in Goshen to be built in 2025. Lane County is partnering with Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) with this new facility. The facility will process residential garbage, commingled recycling, and organic waste. 

How will this be paid for? 

The entire operation/financing will be paid for by tipping fee increases, which are paid by users (haulers and private parties) of Lane County Solid Waste Facilities. The County has already voted an 11% increase for 2024 and 11% in 2025. The County anticipates a 9% increase in 2026 and 9% in 2027. In dollar terms, the tipping fee would increase from $91.32 to $133.67 in 2027, a 46% increase over 4 years. 

How do these increases relate to my garbage prices? 

Many factors go into garbage prices; gas, tipping fees & taxes, equipment, labor, insurance, city or county residents, etc. If you live in a city, your city has to approve a garbage price increase, if you live in the county it is up to your hauler. For example, in July Eugene authorized a 4% increase due to the tipping fee increase and has pledged to raise the price of garbage when the county raises their tipping fee. If you're a rural customer, this would likely be a 5%-8% increase per year.  

Lane County Waste Management Stakeholders Opposition:

• All Waste Haulers/Garbage & Recycling Companies 

• EPUD is opposed to this project because it is destructive to their gas recovery investments and will result in higher energy costs for their customers. www.epud.org/call-to-action-short-mountain/ 

• Other Recycling Processors: Garten Services, International Paper, and Ecosort, have pointed out that the commingled recycling line on CleanLane is a competitive advantage achieved by government funding. They all claim this will result in job losses for their company.

• Most of the cities in Lane County have expressed opposition to or concerns. 

The county paints a great picture of this project why is there opposition? 

It’s Costly: Since the RFP, the cost of the project has gone from 65 mil to 100 mil to 155 mil. The county only has a 30% design of the project, so we believe the costs could increase. Additionally, the 26-acre plot of land for CleanLane has significant wetlands that will drive up the cost of building the CleanLane facility. 

Garbage Prices: The county previously claimed garbage prices would only increase by .50-.70 per month per year. However, the first increase resulted in a $1.05 increase for a 32-gallon container for a Eugene resident. The county has since revised its predictions to a $2 increase for the first two years. 

CleanLane, a Redundancy of Investments: CleanLane creates a new processing facility that cuts into the current waste ecosystem. Current Recycling Processors: International Paper, Ecosort, Garten Services. Organics Processors: Rexius & Lane Forest Products. Landfill Gas Recovery: EPUD. Most of the features of CleanLane are already features of the Lane County Waste Stakeholders. 

Lane County Diversion Rate Goal: Lane County has a diversion rate goal of 63% currently they are at 54%, one of the highest in the state. Lane County has achieved this level because of the current system. Lane County could achieve its goal with much smaller investments in the current system. Additionally, they could meet their goal by simply doing nothing by letting the market continue to move our diversion rate forward and allow the Recycling Modernization Act work to create more end markets for recycling.  

Lane County Can’t Control the Flow of Waste: In the draft contract for CleanLane the county must guarantee a certain amount of garbage to CleanLane, however, the county doesn’t have control of the flow of waste. Where the majority of waste is produced in the cities, they have the authority over waste flow issues. When the price of dumping garbage at Lane County becomes too high, haulers will find options elsewhere. Garbage has been sent out of the county already because of more affordable and amicable options elsewhere. If CleanLane doesn’t receive waste, it will not make any money; however, the county will have to pay BHS for its operations regardless. If the county is out of compliance with its flow obligations for an extended period of time, Lane County would be in default, which would result in the county purchasing the equipment from BHS. That’s right, the County is guaranteeing a private corporation's operation even if it doesn’t work. 

The bottom line is that CleanLane is expensive, redundant, and will not work as intended. If the county commissioners move forward with this risky project, we will be paying for it for years to come. 

Lane County's CleanLane project will raise your garbage and electric rates at a time when the cost of living is already a major concern.