[USCC] Fw: Sludge Watch ==> Charleston WV - Sludge Compost is Expensive Mess

Sat May 6 08:15:00 CDT 2006

The story on the composting facility did not tell the whole story or truth.

I was involved with the law suite against the engineering company that built the facility. The facility design was faulty and very poor.

The facility is an IPS agitated bed. Except for the IPS turner all the equipment installed by the engineering firm was faulty and had to be replaced.  This included the grinder, mixer, hopper, etc. Charlston was not able to produce a Class A biosolids compost and had to take the product to a landfill as per State regultations.

There was little or no training of employees.

The City sued the engineering firm and manufacturers of some of the equipment. Retrofitting the facility was prohibitive.

Therefore, do not blame the City, they got bad advice. When working properly the City could produce a good, high quality biosolids product and be cost effective.

Maureen's comment suggest landfilling, producing methane gas and greenhouse gases, and polluting ground water is the right solution.

Eliot Epstein

>From: The Rubins <rubinhial at cox.net>
>Date: Wed May 03 20:08:53 CDT 2006
>To: Composting List Serve <compost at composter.com>
>Subject: [USCC] Fw: Sludge Watch ==> Charleston WV - Sludge Compost is	Expensive Mess

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>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: <maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca>
>To: <Sludgewatch-l at list.web.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 1:41 PM
>Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Charleston WV - Sludge Compost is Expensive Mess
>
>
>> Editorials:
>> Sewage sludge
>> + grass = mess
>>
>> The city's trash-to-treasure plan
>> ended up costing taxpayers millions
>>
>> Wednesday May 03, 2006
>>
>> IN 1998, the city of Charleston embarked upon a grand experiment: It 
>> opened a $6 million composting facility to turn treated human waste and 
>> grass clippings into treasure.
>>
>> The idea was to marry 55 tons of sewage sludge with yard waste and sell 36 
>> tons of compost a day.
>>
>> What could be more pleasing?
>>
>> In 1993, city officials told the Daily Mail's Karen Klein they expected 
>> the product to be worth $3 a ton.
>>
>> By 2000, they told then-reporter Monica Orosz that they hoped for a profit 
>> of $50,000 to $75,000 a year.
>>
>> But by 2002, it was clear that the city had created a mess, not a 
>> moneymaker.
>>
>> Deanna Wrenn reported that 1) the city was renting a machine for $30,000 a 
>> month to pre-treat the sludge, 2) the compost wasn't selling and the city 
>> sometimes couldn't give it away, and 3) the city would save a quarter of a 
>> million dollars a year if it stopped.
>>
>> This week, the Daily Mail's Justin Anderson reported that it would take 
>> $2.8 million to keep the facility going. The Sanitary Board doesn't have 
>> it.
>>
>> So the board -- sewer bill payers -- will pay $556,000 a year to take the 
>> sludge to the landfill. And city taxpayers will pay about $168,000 a year 
>> to haul yard waste to the same place.
>>
>> That's patently ridiculous.
>>
>> But it's cheaper than paying about $913,000 a year to continue the ruinous 
>> compost adventure.
>>
>> http://www.dailymail.com/news/Opinion/200605031/
>>
>>
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Eliot Epstein
15 Grape shot Rd.
Sharon, MA 02067
Tel: 781-784-5195
Cell: 781-603-7151