A city or county can run organics processing in one of seven broad ways: own and operate it with its own staff, build it through design-bid-build or design-build and then operate it, hand design, construction and operation to one contractor, send material to a private facility under contract, share the project with a private partner, or join other public agencies in a regional authority. The right model is the one that puts each risk (feedstock, permit, technology, labor, product market) with the party best able to manage it, at a level of control the governing body will accept.<\/p>\n
Councils often ask “who will run it?” before anyone has asked “how will it be built?” Separate the two.<\/p>\n
Delivery method<\/strong> covers design and construction:<\/p>\n Operating arrangement<\/strong> covers who receives, mixes, builds piles, monitors, screens and sells: public staff, a contract operator, the design-build contractor, a private processor on its own site, a partner, or a regional agency.<\/p>\n\n
The seven models at a glance<\/h2>\n