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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0011.001 2006-2008 y... rk MtY Or ~1W o°~.r' ~ ~4 b~+%<, Barbara Bell Director Harry Kim Mayor y,='.=t"•~~ Nelson Ho oi'Ma'+ Deputy Director ~uixixf~r ~f ~ttfuttii DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT r~..~ 25 Aupuni Street, Room 210 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-0252 Gr'> (SOS) 961-8083 • Fax (808) 961-8086 ~ hHp~//co hawaii hi us/directory/dir emmn~htm ~ !-ry rrr December 4, 2006 ~ - The Honorable Pete Hoffmann, Chairperson 3 And Members of the Hawaii County Council T 25 Aupuni Street u'I ' Hilo, HI 96720 _ cv Re: Organics and Greenwaste Composting Infrastructure in West Hawaii Dear Chairperson Hoffmann and Council Members, We ask that you amend the Capital Improvement Projects Budget for Fiscal Year 06-07 to include an organics and greenwaste composting infrastructure project at Pu'uanahulu, adjacent to the West Hawaii Landfill at Pu'uanahulu. Our present site at Kealakehe is much too small, which exacerbates problems with increasing volumes of greenwaste, as well as safety concerns between customers and operations. Enclosed is a summary dated March 2006, for the project. It provides background and explains the goals, issues and a simple cost/payback analysis. Since the cost estimates have risen since then, we recalculated the payback time. It increases only by one year, from 1.8 years to 2.8 years. Though this request deals only with a West Hawai i facility, we are actively pursuing any and all measures that will eliminate or greatly reduce greenwaste and other organics out of our island-wide waste stream. In discussion with the USDA regarding allowable organics for any bale and barge operation, we have been given preliminary information that we have about twice as much greenwaste in our waste stream as will be allowed. Whether a composting facility is the most ?ogical, or more mulching at more locations in East Hawaii is the solution, we are not sure at this time. We are in the process of preparing, in house, an invitation for bids for expanded greenwaste collection and/or mulching operations where composting may not be economically feasible. We will keep you apprised of this project as we progress. W e do ask for your support today in approving this Bill for an Ordinance. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Barbara Bell DIRECTOR cc: Mayor Comm. No. Enclosure Ref. To: ~ieau _ Ref. Uate DE 19 2006 Hawaii County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. w~ JNty or h,~'' c Barbara Bell Director Harry Kim Mayor ~ Nelson Ho •r~rF'•f'N•~'• Deputy Director C~alzntg oaf ~ttfuttii DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 25 Aupuni Street, Room 210 • Hilo, Haweri 96720-0252 (808) 961-8083 • Fax (808) 961-8086 cohdem@co.hewaii.h i.us 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 parcel 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 15 new jobs. Hawai ~i County is an equal 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 TotaVTons % increase Total Amount/$ Average Price per Ending Ton 1995 150 150 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 yeaz based on mid-yeaz data and includes mulching ofpre-existing stockpiles of unprocessed greenwaste estimated to have contributed 15,000 tons to this total tonnage SHORT HISTORY OF GREENWASTE PROGRAM: • There is insufficient demand for the current 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 are still entering transfer stations and, to a lesser extent, the West Hawaii Sanitary Landfill. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH REQUIREMENTS FOR GREENWASTE DIVERSION: Department 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 separation 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 all 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 Hawai' i 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 hazazds. 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 aze currently stockpiling and processing greenwaste in areas 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. • Greenwaste 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 chazacterized as organic of which approximately I S% 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 al] 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 yeaz'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 yeazs. 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.