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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0563.004 2004-2006 4OJYTV OF M+w+4 ~ 6i;,~, Barbara Bell Director Harry Kim Ma or ..._...,yR_ _ Y .•f,i,'. _=_Yeq~, Nelson Ho +rj uF•M~'~ Deputy Director Cnnixtlt~r of ~ttfutzii DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 25 Aupuni Street, Room 210 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8083 • Fax (SOB) 961-8086 htto~//co ha aii hi us/direc[orv/dir envmne htm March 8, 2006 The Honorable Stacy Higa, Chair And Members of the Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Re: Bi11184 West Hawaii Composting Facility Dear Council Members, I have enclosed additional information relating to our request for CIP funding for aCounty- funded West Hawaii Composting Facility. The proposed site of this composting infrastructure is adjacent to the West Hawaii Sanitary Landfill on the County's pazcel at Pu'uanahulu. Hopefully, this information will assist you in better understanding why the Department of Environmental Management is requesting this CIP funding for FY OS-06. If you require further clarification or have additional questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Approved: Barbara Bell (,Harry Kim `DIRECTOR II MAYOR enclosure cc: Michael Dworsky, SWD Chief Eileen O'Hora-Weir, County Recycling Programs Coordinator Comm. No. S ~D3 Ref. To: Re#. Uat°~`~~~ Hawaii County is an equal apporMnity provider and employer. "~1,~ JMYY•or M+y i i~V%e„ Barbara Bell Director Harry Kim Mayor '•`~"-gin-.- Nelson Ho •i'~. , +ri n4•d~'0 Deputy Director C~uun#~ of ~rzfutt'tt DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 25 Aupuni Street, Room 210 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-0252 (808) 961-8083 • Fax (808) 961-8086 cohdem@co. hawaii.hi. u s March 2006 COMPOSTING AND FOGS INFRASTRUCTURE CIP FUNDING FOR FY OS-06 Presented are some of the issues involved with this proposal so that you may better understand why the Department of Environmental Management, Solid Waste Division, is proposing to construct a County-funded composting infrastructure including collection of fats, oils, and grease (FOGS) for processing into alternative fuels adjacent to the West Hawaii Sanitary Landfill on the County's pazcel at Pu'uanahulu. The Department immediately began implementing the Update to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan after it passed Council approval in November 2002. The transitions from where we were to where the plan leads us will involve change. The plan lays a path so the changes aze taken in a logical way. GOALS OF THE GREENWASTE AND ORGANICS DIVERSION PROGRAM: • Maintain compliance with Department of Health regulations. • Reduce costs associated with landfilling. • Protect existing air space in the island's landfills by diverting traditional greenwaste while adding other acceptable organic materials including wood waste, food scraps, biosolids, used cooking oil, and grease trap waste. • Provide an incentive to separate acceptable organics from mixed solid waste loads. • Promote value-added local businesses. Locally-made certified compost and alternative fuels eliminate the need to import product from other islands thus reducing the cost of business for visitor industry transportation companies, resorts, landscapers and agricultural industries. • Reduce fire risks and labor costs to the County relating to managing mulch piles in Kona where there is insufficient demand for the product. • Offset additional costs incurred by producing certified compost from shredded greenwaste, biosolids, wood chips, and food scraps through a reduced tip fee for commercially hauled and generated greenwaste as already approved by Council. • Eventually produce a certified compost which will: • Reduce shipping of imported compost, providing space for other commodities. • Provide landscapers with a reduced cost, quality product to take with them, after they have dropped unprocessed organics and greenwaste. A backhaul option is an essential component of this program design. • Reduce risks of spreading unwanted pests (coqui), pathogens and weed species. • Eliminate the health issues stemming from fugitive dust and foul odors. • Add approximately IS new jobs. Howai ~i County is nn egua! opportunity provider and employer. Page 2 Promote a biodiesel/alternative fuel industry, as it will be a companion to the composting process in West Hawaii. ORGANICS SUMMARY Fiscal Year Hilo Kona TotaUTons % increase Total Amount/$ Average Price per Ending Ton 1995 I50 150 1996 749 749 400% 1997 1,138 1,138 52% 1998 1,498 1,498 32% 1999 3,063 3,063 105% 2000 3,554 2,170 5,724 87% 2001 4,864 4,086 8,950 56% $283,636.11 $31.69 2002 5,794 6,202 11,996 34% $384,496.36 $32.05 2003 7,778 6,392 14,170 18% $452,836.81 $31.96 2004 6,961 10,708 17,669 24% $611,007.05 $34.58 2005 11,369 22,848 34,217 94% $1,251,582.85 $36.58 2006* 26,203 26,203 52,406 94% $1,864,081.00 $35.57 * FY 2005-06 is an estimate for the entire fiscal year based on mid-year data and includes mulching ofpre-existing stockpiles of unprocessed greenwaste estimated to have contributed 15,000 tons [o this total tonnage SHORT HISTORY OF GREENWASTE PROGRAM: • There is insufficient demand for the cun•ent mulch product in Kona resulting in liabilities related to stockpiling materials. • The County's greenwaste diversion program has allowed for both residential and commercial drop-off with no tipping fees. • Diverted greenwaste continues to be approximately 12-15% of the waste tonnage accounted for on this island. • We are presently diverting approximately 66% of our greenwaste from the landfills although segregated loads of raw greenwaste aze still entering transfer stations and, to a lesser extent, the West Hawaii Sanitazy Landfill. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR GREENWASTE DIVERSION: Depaztment of Health, Hawaii Administrative Rules Title 11, Chapter 58.1 `Solid Waste Management Control' 11-58.1-65 Special solid waste controls. (b) Green wastes. Solid waste disposal facilities shall have in place by December 31, 1994, a plan to ban or require source sepazation of green waste from entering the disposal facility. The plan shall detail requirements for diversion of seventy-five percent of all commercially generated green waste by December 31, 1995 and fifty percent of al] residential green waste by December 31, 1996. If, based on data submitted by the operator as part of the annual report, Page 3 these diversion rates are not achieved, all commercial green waste shall be banned from the facility by December 31, 1995, and residential green waste by December 31, 1996." REAL ISSUES CONCERNING PRESENT PROGRAM: • Given the incoming quantities, there is insufficient space at the present West Hawaii location at Kealakehe Transfer Station to safely process (grinding) into mulch or to further process to produce compost. Additionally, the site is difficult for the public to access given traffic congestion in the greater Kailua-Kona azea. • The current Department of Health (DOH) permits require that the stockpiles of both unprocessed greenwaste and shredded greenwaste (mulch) be maintained at specified heights and quantities to mitigate fire and environmental hazards. The stockpiles are now reduced to within compliance with DOH permits, which has involved great effort and extra expense. At the Kona site, incoming quantities exceed outgoing quantities of the low-value mulch. • Both Hilo and Kealakehe/Kailua are currently stockpiling and processing greenwaste in azeas that have been determined to be contaminated by previous scrap metal programs. These Brownfield sites need to be remediated, proper drainage provided, and properly capped.. • Composting is not possible at the present East Hawaii site due to excessive rainfall and the demand for the mulch currently matches the output of shredded greenwaste. • Geenwaste continues to be a significant portion of the Solid Waste stream and the law specifies that approximately 65-70% of greenwaste generated for disposal on this island cannot enter our landfills. REASONS TO EXPAND GREENWASTE PROCESSING TO COMPOSTING: • The largest and most cost-effective gains in overall diversion can be achieved quickly through an organics diversion program. • Thirty percent of the waste entering landfills is characterized as organic of which approximately 15% is food waste and 9% is clean (untreated) lumber waste. • Expanding to an organics diversion program allows for additional diversion from landfills by channeling food waste, untreated lumber, biosolids, and fats, oils and grease (FOGS) which can be included in properly processed compost or processed into biodiesel or a vegetative equivalent of bunker fuel used for electric generation. • Unprocessed greenwaste is generally not used as fuel stock for incinerators and other types of waste-to-energy technologies as it is mostly water and must be processed first for that type of use. When used in awaste-to-energy application, there is no resultant value-added product such as certified compost or biodiesel. REASONS TO UPGRADE TO COMPOSTING PER U.S. COMPOSTING COUNCIL UNDER ITS SEAL OF TESTING ASSURANCE PROGRAM: • Composting produces avalue-added product that is in much demand by our island's diversified agriculture and landscaping industries. • Composting eliminates concerns of spreading invasive weed species and other undesirable alien species including insects, diseases and vertebrate pests such as coqui frogs, fire ants and caterpillars. • Requiring U.S. Composting Council's seal ensures a quality product that meets all requirements relating to public health and safety. Page 4 COSTS/PAYBACK IN FY OS-06 DOLLARS: • The average cost of landfilling is $86/ton. The average cost of landfilling, after collection from a Transfer Station is $113/ton. The operational costs/year of composting and diverting FOGS for alternative fuel production are $57.50/ton. Once composting infrastructure is provided at the West Hawaii Sanitary Landfill, the County will receive revenues from the commercial greenwaste tipping fee which will help to offset the costs of the program. Hawaii County Code calls for this tip fee to be 25% of the solid waste tip fee (presently $65/ton). That will result in revenues of approximately $325,000 to $350,000 at FY OS-06 amounts and fees. • If we just look at the comparison of landfilling versus composting, at our last fiscal year's amounts of greenwaste, the payback of $1.12 Million ($1 Million CIP, plus $120,000 from FY04- OS Operating budget for design) is less than two years. Calculated as: 1) $86/ton (landfill cost) - $57.50/ton (composting cost) _ $29.50 savings. 2) 34,217 tons (FY OS island-wide amount) x 60% (Kona collections only) = 20,530 tons. 3) $29.50 x 20,530 = $605,640/year savings. 4) $1,120,000 / $605,640 = 1.84 years.