Ads by Google Ads by Google

ASPA seeks private sector partner for recycling

After losing money by operating a recycling service of its own, the American Samoa Power Authority is now looking at two possibilities: A joint venture with a private entrepreneur, and plastics collected for recycling to be used as feedstock for ASPA’s Waste to Energy plant in Futiga.

 

ASPA has recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) titled ‘ASPA and Public Joint Venture for Recycling Services’ with a closing date of July 17. (The RFP is published elsewhere in today’s edition as an ASPA advertisement).

 

ASPA last year halted its own recycling program while it looked for land to operate the program or at least a private firm with which they could partner. The recycling program, located at the ASPA Tafuna compound, was a major hit with residents, causing traffic problems on the airport road on ‘recycling’ days.

 

Asked why ASPA is seeking a joint venture when it had operated a recycling service before, the authority’s executive director Utu Abe Malae said it was due to the fact that ASPA lost over $800,000 when it operated the program on its own.

 

“Private entrepreneurs tend to come up with many good ideas and move quickly to execute those good ideas,” Utu said, adding that “ASPA does not wish to operate a baling operation within its Tafuna compound because we have other plans for the space.”

 

In the joint venture, ASPA will provide its current recycling equipment, including bailing equipment for metal. Asked how much money ASPA will put into this joint venture, Utu said, “we don’t know yet” but it cannot be more than the existing budget.

 

(Samoa News should point out that the RFP has already attracted the attention of some lawmakers, who plan to question ASPA officials about the planned joint venture and the cost to ASPA, when the Fono convenes next month.)

 

As for the private firm which will be awarded the contract, Utu said the contractor “may” be required to post a performance bond.

 

Asked to comment on the benefit to the community from the proposed joint venture, Utu said, “scrap metal and other recyclables can be managed better: collected, baled, recycled and accounted for.

 

“It is hoped that the profit motive of the private company will be the driving force for improved management,” he said noting that among the recycled items under this proposal  plastic bottles and aluminum cans are included.

 

 He did share that plastics and tires will be “used as feedstock” for the Waste to Energy Plant next to the Futiga landfill.

 

Meanwhile, the Economic Development Implementation Plan (EDIP), put together by a government task force to boost local economic growth, recommends building a Waste to Energy Plant at Futiga that “will use suitable solid waste as feedstock, reducing volume tipped at landfill to a fraction of the present 60 tons per day”.

 

The task force also noted that ASPA had completed the RFP and is negotiating with a mainland company to build a Waste to Energy plant in Futiga, adding that the land right of way/ lease negotiation is proceeding. It further says that metal recycling is currently being done in Tafuna; with scrap metal already shipped from Manu’a and Aunu’u to Tutuila.

 

The task forced cited this issue in the EDIP as a way to extend the life of solid waste landfill(s).

 

In its second quarter performance report, ASPA says it is still in negotiations with a company called ICRC — which had the only proposal received for the Waste to Energy (WTE) project — on rate structure and other project costs.

 

According to the report, ICRC proposed to fund the entire project, while ASPA provides assistance with the supply of electricity and water at the point of connection to the WTE plant. ASPA is also asked to pay for the lease on the proposed property, which is four acres, located beside the Futiga landfill.