[USCC] Composting facility idea gets interest

[McNelly, Patrick]

Composting facility idea gets interest


SUNOL: County officials look at proposals for potential waste locations
By Chris Metinko


CONTRA COSTA TIMES

After plans for a composting facility in Sunol fell apart last summer,
Alameda County waste officials are set to hear ideas for a potential new
facility.

At least three companies and the East Bay Municipal Utility District
have approached the county's Waste Management Authority about possible
composting sites, with most favoring locations in eastern Alameda
County.

Both Biosolids Recycling Inc. and Material Recovery Industries Inc. have
shown interest in developing a new composting facility at the Jess Ranch
site off Interstate 580 east of the Altamont hills. Waste Management of
Alameda County has proposed another nearby site, the Altamont landfill
near Livermore.

Other sites proposed for such a facility include EBMUD's wastewater
plant in Oakland. Material Recovery has also suggested a 40-acre site
next to Hayward's wastewater plant.

The county has also received suggestions from three others for potential
transfer sites in the county, with the organic waste then sent to
composting facilities in Santa Clara, San Joaquin or possibly other
counties.

One city not mentioned in any of the proposal as of yet is Pleasanton.
In September, Mayor Jennifer Hosterman said she has had "very
preliminary" talks with a developer about a possible 20-acre composting
facility on unspecified land in the city to handle some of the organic
waste from the Tri-Valley.

"It's still a possibility," said Hosterman, a member of the waste
management board. "We haven't had those discussions. Right now there is
another site, the Hayward treatment plant site, that seems to hold out a
lot of promise. There's a good amount of land, the wastewater treatment
plant is right next to it and there's no neighborhood around it. That
was the problem in Sunol."

In July, the board killed a plan for a 600-ton-a-day facility on Andrade
Road in Sunol after spending nine years and $2.1 million on research and
planning. Sunol residents feared the 40-acre facility would produce
odors and worried about potential health problems from gases and
airborne particles.

The authority wants to build a large-scale composting facility, or
several smaller ones, to help reach the voter-mandated goal of diverting
75 percent of waste sent to county landfills by 2010.

Hosterman said a smaller facility might still be viable in Pleasanton.

"This is a regional responsibility," Hosterman said "But you also need
to ask not only, 'What do we need?' but also 'What do we need to do so
it's environmentally friendly to the host community?'"

Thus far, only Newark and Dublin officials have said there is not an
appropriate site in their cities for a composting facility.

The authority's board is expected to hear presentations on the proposed
composting facilities from the interested companies and public agencies
when it meets on Jan. 24.

Reach Chris Metinko at 510-763-5418 or cmetinko at cctimes.com.

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Patrick McNelly
Principal Staff Analyst
Regional Assets and Services Department
Orange County Sanitation District