The next time Orange County leaders talk about reducing the county’s waste stream by going after the “low-hanging fruit” they just might mean literal fruit -- and moldy bread and rotten veggies.

Elected officials learned last week that Orange County has gained another two years on the life of the landfill on Eubanks Road. It’s now expected to last until 2013.

They also learned that the single biggest source of commercial garbage brought to the county landfill last fiscal year – 25.5 percent – was food waste.

“It seems like we have a huge opportunity,” said Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade.

“It seems like one of these low-hanging fruits we need to push on,” Chapel Hill Town Council member Jim Ward told county staff. “And I encourage you to push.” 

The county has now reduced its waste stream 54 percent, its highest level. But with the county poised to start shipping waste to a Durham transfer station when the landfill closes, some leaders wanted to know if they could reduce that more by finding even more to recycle.

County staff caution that it’s unlikely the county can squeeze much more time out of the landfill. The recent gain came from the way the garbage has settled and more efficient compacting.

“It’s an imprecise science,” said solid waste planner Blair Pollock. “It’s the nature of garbage.”

Still, food waste recycling has potential. Read more about this in tomorrow's Chapel Hill News.

All Durham's solid-waste customers will have to live with their garbage 24 more hours than usual this week. Due to freezing temperatures tonight and freezing rain expected Tuesday morning, collections have been rescheduled a day later than usual.

Tuesday pickups will be done Wednesday and so on (weather permitting, Bull's Eye assumes). However, bulky-item and yard trash collection is cancelled for this week.

More good news from the city budget front: The Solid Waste Department is taking a $9.7-million cut in its 2009-'10 pocketbook, but making household service better.

Starting July 1, director Donald Long told the City Council this afternoon, trash collectors will be picking up bulky items every week. Currently that's a once-a-month service.

Yard trash and bulky items will be collected the day after garbage pickup. However, all three kinds of refuse should be set at the curb by 7:30 a.m. on garbage-pickup day.

Homeowner associations that have a problem with that will have their attitudes adjusted, if the proposal survives the City Council's review.

Council member Mike Woodard expressed concern about how it would look to have derelict refrigerators sitting at curbside overnight.

Mayor Bill Bell pointed out that not everybody in town is going to be junking a refrigerator at the same time, or very often.

Durham taxpayers are going to start getting more for their money Oct. 6, when the city starts monthly trash collections of bulky stuff like sofas, treadmills and vacuum cleaners.

Orange County just got another estimate on its landfill lifespan.

But it didn't gain any time. The landfill is still expected to fill up and close in April 2011, says a consultant's estimate released this week.

Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said he'd hoped to gain a few months, and that the landfill bought a new compactor to try and squeeze in more trash. But a change in state regulations about what can go into construction waste dumps means more construction-type trash has to go into the municipal landfill, he said.

The county is in the middle of a search to find a transfer station site for a building where trash will be collected to be shipped out of the county.

There's a possibility the transfer station won't be ready in time, Wilson said. The county may need an interim solution, possibly an open-air concrete slab that would serve as a temporary transfer station.

The Orange County Commissioners had originally decided to put the transfer station where the landfill is now. But neighbors say they've lived next to the solid waste operations for long enough, and the board decided to reopen the search process late last year.

The city will collect storm debris from all Durham residents — even those who don't pay the annual fee to have their yard waste removed.

Debris should be placed at the curb by 6 a.m. on residents' regular household collection day. Monday customers will have their storm debris collected Wednesday.

Limbs and brush should be tied in bundles no larger than 18 inches in diameter and no longer than four feet.

To report a missed storm debris pick up, call Durham One Call at (919) 560-1200.