Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home, Lebanon and Albany officials are proposing to study the feasibility of a regional biosolids recycling program.
As part of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvement Project, Sweet Home officials intend to begin recycling biosolid waste left over from the process. The city currently pays to haul it away to a landfill.
Public Works Director Greg Springman and City Manager Ray Towry outlined the proposal to the City Council during its regular meeting on Aug. 27.
The compost process changes the biosolid waste from “class B” material to “class A” material, Towry said. Composting eliminates danger and liability for the material.
“While I wouldn’t advise it, you could eat it,” Towry said.
Biosolids can be composted with wood chips into a product that meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “exceptional quality” safety standards, Springman said in a memo to the council. The compost may be used on public lands, like parks and schools, and it can be distributed to citizens for use on lawns and gardens without limitation or liability.
“It turns a waste product into a valuable resource,” Springman said.
Biosolid disposal is a problem for every community, Towry said, and with local plans to begin a recycling program, city officials reached out to Sweet Home’s neighbors.
Albany has been going down this road for a couple of years, Springman said, and the city has already done some pilot projects. Right now, Albany is hauling away some of Lebanon’s biosolids.
All three cities are “all kind of heading down this path,” Springman said. A joint facility would save the cities capital costs, without requiring three sets of mixers, infrastructure and property.
Both Lebanon and Albany officials are interested in a regional biosolids composting program, Springman said. Staff from the three cities reached a consensus to ask the Murraysmith engineering firm to perform a feasibility study for a regional facility. Albany and Lebanon officials plan to introduce the concept to their governing bodies in the coming days.
The cities plan to reach out to the state Department of Environmental Quality and Business Oregon as potential funding sources for all or part of the feasibility study, Springman said. Sweet Home’s share is about $15,000.
At this point, there is no commitment to the study, Springman said.
Present at the meeting were councilors Cortney Nash, Susan Coleman, Lisa Gourley, Mayor Greg Mahler, Diane Gerson and Dave Trask. James Goble was absent.