Attachment_2_-_InspectionContaminationAssmtProtocol.pdf

ATTACHMENT 2

INSPECTION AND CONTAMINANT ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL

1. Guidelines

The County and the Contractor agree the purpose of the MRF is to accept, process, and prepare Program Materials for shipment to end markets. The County and Contractor also agree that reasonable, practical, and timely efforts shall be required by the County and the Contractor to ensure that load inspections are conducted in an efficient manner and follow the following guidelines. The guidelines contained herein are intended to assure compliance with the requirements of Florida Statutes 403.706 (22)(b).

A. The Contractor shall inspect all inbound deliveries of Program Materials. Should the Contractor believe that contamination exceeds the Contamination Threshold or hazardous materials exist in a given load the Contractor has the right to perform a Contamination Assessment.

B. The Contractor shall determine whether an individual load is contaminated utilizing standard industry procedures that have been adopted by the Contractor and described in the Operations Plan, which is subject to approval by the County.

C. The County and the Contractor may modify the load inspection or Contamination Assessment processes by mutual agreement of the County Project Manager, or its designee and the Contractor, if such agreement is documented in writing (e.g., an exchange of emails), and the Operations Plan will be amended thereto.

2. Minimum Procedure Requirements for Inspection and Contamination Assessment

The Contractor shall develop and implement a mutually acceptable process for conducting Contamination Assessments of Program Materials delivered to the MRF. The process shall be formally adopted as part of the Contractor’s Operations Plan and updates, according to the approach to Inspection and Contamination Assessment in Form E submitted by the Contractor.

Contractor shall develop and utilize the Contamination Assessment on a load-by-load basis upon delivery to determine suitability for processing.

A. Contractor shall use commercially reasonable efforts to accept all deliveries of Program Materials to the MRF. For example, if a delivery contains a potentially hazardous material (e.g., a propane tank, that can be removed safely and easily), the Contractor shall remove it from the load and then accept the remainder of the delivery.

B. The scope and extent of a Contamination Assessment may vary upon the circumstances.

For example, a cursory visual inspection may suffice in instances where a load appears to contain little or no Contamination, but a more thorough inspection may be required in cases where the Contamination is more extensive.

C. Program Materials delivered to the MRF may be designated Contaminated Program Materials, if the load consists of Program Materials over the Contamination Threshold. The Contractor shall not be required to process Contaminated Program Materials. The Contractor may manage such materials as described below after County approval.

D. Inspection

The Contractor shall record the date, time, scale ticket number, truck number, County collection route number, estimated percentage of contamination, and whether the load should be accepted or rejected. The inspection shall be documented electronically.

a) The Contractor shall inspect each incoming delivery to estimate the Contamination percentage.

b) The Contractor shall not designate any delivery of Program Materials as Contaminated Program Materials unless the County confirms the assessment or waives its right to confirm the assessment.

c) The Contractor and the County shall make a good faith effort to reach consensus concerning how to manage a Load contains Contaminated Program Materials:

i. The Contractor may load and transport the Contaminated Program Materials to its approved disposal facility. The Contractor shall pay the applicable Disposal Fee for such material. In recompense, the County shall pay the applicable Program Material Reject Fee to the Contractor, or,

ii. The Contractor may process the Contaminated Program Materials in exchange for the current Contamination Surcharge payment per ton for the weight of the load in question.

E. Contaminated Loads

If the Contractor believes a delivery contains Contaminated Program Materials, the Contractor shall promptly notify the County and provide an estimate concerning the amount of Contamination in the Load.

a) The County shall be given one hour to inspect the identified delivery of Contaminated Program Materials, either in person or through Contractor-submitted visual image documentation. The hour shall be measured from the time the Contractor notifies the County (e.g., via email) that a suspected Contaminated Load has been received on the tipping floor.

b) If the County fails to respond within one hour after notification, the delivery shall be deemed Contaminated Program Materials. The County shall forfeit and waive any claim unless the County exercises its right to inspect within one hour of receiving notice from the Contractor.

c) The County may: (1) physically inspect the delivery and determine whether the Program Materials should be processed; (2) inspect and decide whether the Program Materials are contaminated based on photographs or other information from the Contractor; or (3) waive its right to make such a determination. Any waiver shall be provided in writing (e.g., email).

i. If the County physically inspects a rejected delivery, the Contractor shall grant the County’s designated inspector access to the delivery in question at a location within the MRF where a safe inspection and Contamination Assessment can be undertaken.

ii. If the County chooses not to physically inspect the delivery, the County may decide to examine photographs of the delivery or rely on any other information provided by the Contractor within the one-hour timeframe.

iii. When the County inspector has completed and documented the inspection, the inspector shall make a reasonable determination as to whether the delivery constitutes Contaminated Program Materials or is to be accepted, and shall promptly notify the Contractor of the determination.

F. Dispute Resolution

a) If the Parties disagree, they may request further consideration by the County’s Project Manager, or its designee, or the Contractor’s MRF Manager.

b) Should such disputes not be resolved thereafter, each Party shall reasonably estimate the amount of Contamination in the load as a percentage.

i. The average of their two estimates shall be used to determine whether the load is a Contaminated Load or acceptable for processing.

ii. If this procedure results in a load being rejected or still disputed, the County shall have the right to take possession of the load and have a Composition Study performed on the load by an independent third party. If the third party concludes that the load should not have been rejected (i.e., the load is not Contaminated Program Materials), the cost of the Composition Study and any disposal of the load shall be paid by the Contractor.

1. In all cases, the Contractor and the County shall make a good faith effort to reach consensus as to whether a load is an Acceptable Delivery of Program Materials at any point during the process.

G. Contamination Reporting

In cases where the Contractor and the County agree that a load is Contaminated Program Materials, in addition to itemizing Rejected Loads for invoicing purposes, each load should be documented by the Contractor and included in its monthly report to the County in a mutually agreeable format.