[USCC] Composting questions from the Netherlands

[Giuranna.Mike@epamail.epa.gov]

I am interested in the project of the bioreactor landfill because as a
chemical engineer (BS, Enschede)I also advise one of our local political
parties on local environmental matters in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

One pressing matter is our local municipal waste incinerator AVIRA, a
very polluting plant. AVIRO handles the municipal waste of our 145 000
inhabitants. Not only does it pollute the immediate area, but the
immediate pollution fallout is eaten up by the cows which graze in it's
near vicinity, thus entering our foodchain by way of dairy products. We
are so limited in space in this country, that we just do not have any
other options when it comes to local cow-grazing grounds.

In the past few years, green waste and gray waste has been collected
separately. Recently, a national government study has concluded, that it
is no more cost effective to collect and process the two waste streams
separately then if they were collected and processed combined in the
incinerator, thereby eliminating the need of separated waste collection.
This study provides no conclusions on the environmental consequence of
increased municipal waste incineration.Needless to say, not every
inhabitant of Arnhem, or other cities, agrees with this
conclusion.Alternatieves are being sought.

For example, if the rate of composting in landfill bioreactors can be
sped up, as your project has proven, overall costs of handling and
treating the green waste stream may be radically reduced.Since we are
very limited in space, any landfill will have to be compacted to
extremes.

I would like to ask several questions that I hope may inspire you as
well in future work. I do not know if I may ask these questions as I am
not from the United States, and I hope that I am not causing any
inconvenience by asking them.

1. Do you have experience in landfills where the waste consists entirely
of green municipal waste from residential kitchens and gardens, and
where the green waste is compacted (for example shredded, pushed down)
as much as possible, to reduce bulk? Could a resulting increase in
pressure from the compacting contribute to an increase in rate of
composting?

2. Can the gasses from this process be caught, refined and separated,
and reused, for example the methane as a biofuel, and the carbon dioxide
as a greenhouse industry growing enhancer? Over here we already use CO2
from Shell in our greenhouse industry in the westland (in the west of
Holland) to enhance plantgrowth and thus reduce carbondioxide emission.
In the past, greenhouse growers have produced their own carbon dioxide
by simply burning fuel underneath their greenhouses, an expensive and
wasteful process. Two or three years ago, after a successful experiment,
Shell has layed pipes from their plant to the greenhouses in the
westland. Greenhouse growers have reduced costs, less fuel is consumed,
less wasteproduct from Shell enters the atmosphere, and the plants in
the greenhouses respond well.

3. Would it be possible, to design a green-waste composting landfill in
such a way, that synergetic gas-processing industrial plants and perhaps
end-users such as greenhouse growers, can be added on to the landfill
site or in it's vicinity?

I would like to thank you sincerely in advance for taking the time to
look at my message, and am looking very forward to your response.

Kind regards,
mrs. E. Noll Arnhem,
the Netherlands
question_j
edie.noll at wanadoo.nl

Mike Giuranna, Solid Waste Specialist
EPA, Region III
1650 Arch Street (3WC21)
Phila, PA  19103-2029
ph: 215-814-3298   fax:215-814-3163
giuranna.mike at epa.gov