The Finance Committee of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority board heard Thursday of moves to cut the losses the authority has sustained from its deal to process Charleston County recyclables.

According to HCSWA staff, Charleston County will pay the cost of transportation of its recyclables to Horry County for November, December and January in an attempt to allow the HCSWA to recoup its current losses.

In addition, any amount above 14.5% of residuals will be shipped back to Charleston for disposal.

But, even if the excess of 14.5% is shipped back to Charleston, that won’t solve the other key assumption in the contract that must be met if the HCSWA is ever going to turn a profit from the deal.

Every ton of recyclables above the 14.5% residual threshold means lost revenue that is needed for a profit to be realized.

The estimated profit of $1 million per year is based on a residual rate of not more than 14.5% and the ability to realize an average of $135 per ton revenue from the remaining 85.5% of recyclables processed.

One other problem is the amount of recyclable waste going to the HCSWA landfill.

Horry County Council made it specifically clear that it did not want any Charleston recyclables going into the HCSWA landfill. That space must be saved for Horry County trash and extended as much as possible.

The HCSWA told council it had an arrangement to send C&D waste out of the county in an amount equal to the excess recyclable residual amount realized. This was an airspace neutral arrangement.

The HCSWA claims a historic 14.5% residual rate for recyclables from Horry County.