Appendices to Integrated Resources & Solid Waste Management Plan - Dec 2009

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HAWAII COUNTY MECHANICAL - BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT FACILITY CONCEPTUAL DESIGN extensive source capture or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems with coatings and liners. Humidity and dust within an enclosed composting facility generally result in high maintenance costs for both fixed and mobile equipment. To mitigate the resulting negative effects on equipment, preventative or predictive maintenance is required which typically includes: • More frequent greasing of bearings • Replacing worn parts on a more frequent schedule • Increased frequency of fluid and filter changes • Flushing of aeration and leachate pipes • Particulate removal from HVAC ducting • Changing odor control system media • General cleaning and housekeeping The required maintenance and the associated costs required to operate an MBT facility is similar to what is required at food processing or manufacturing facilities, chemical manufacturing plants, and wastewater treatment plants. Owners new to the composting industry, and even those who have been involved with outdoor composting operations, may be familiar with these types of mitigation measures, and may not be prepared for the resources and costs required to sustain operations. In some cases these requirements have been underestimated during the feasibility study or during the project budgeting processes, resulting in insufficient allocation of funds and resources. Experience at other MBT facilities has demonstrated that the failure to allocate proper resources for facility maintenance has had significant impacts on the lifespan of the asset. For municipal facilities, inadequate maintenance and the resulting issues (higher than anticipated operating costs, fugitive emissions, etc.) can also have an impact on public or political support for the project. Product Marketing There are a number of value -added compost products that can be produced from organic waste feedstocks. Traditional uses for these products include compost for general horticultural and agricultural use, top dressing (finer texture), mulch, and for use in manufactured top soils. Over the past five years, several new uses have emerged for compost products including incorporation into specialty growing media, use in erosion control applications (where the product is pneumatically applied either on its own or as a mixture with seed or fertilizer), use in storm water filtration products, and in retaining wall applications (e.g., Filtrexx's Living Wall TM and GreenloXx TM). Historically, many compost programs have been set up with little thought given to the needs of the end users that will buy the product, or based on the assumption that all of the compost products will be sold to homeowners. While the homeowner market is important, it is certainly not the only market, and typically producers do not sell large volumes of product directly to homeowners. More often homeowners purchase bulk compost from landscape or garden supply centers, or in bagged form through larger retail outlets (e.g., Home Depot, Lowes). Depending on local availability of similar products, both of these markets can potentially be difficult to penetrate. In the case of retail "bag" markets, the investment required in equipment and quality assurance/ quality control (QA /QC) is also significant, and the return on investment is generally low unless a large volume of bags can be packaged and sold.