Board set to consider new green initiative

The Board of Supervisors will be asked to green-light three innovative projects at waste-recycling and transfer facilities in Riverside and Orange Counties as alternatives to solid-waste disposal in area landfills. The projects will be monitored and evaluated to develop future opportunities to pursue similar projects within Los Angeles County.

Under the proposal, the county’s Department of Public Works would engage CR&R Inc., International Environmental Solutions and Rainbow Disposal Company, Inc. to operate the facilities. The department would also enter into a four-year, $1.3 million contract with environmental consultant Alternative Resources Inc., to design and oversee the Southern California Conversion Technology Demonstration Project.

The three projects will be located near existing waste disposal facilities to reduce truck trips and focus on solid waste that cannot be recycled. Each facility will use a different method to break down the non-recyclable waste:

• anaerobic digestion (bacteria breaking down organic materials without oxygen)

• pyrolysis (indirect heat cooking out compounds in the absence of oxygen)

• gasification (using heat, pressure, and steam to convert materials into gas)

Japan, Europe and Canada, where landfill space has long been at a premium, already widely use such facilities and technologies with great success—and their appeal should be obvious to anyone living near a landfill, caught in a traffic jam behind a massive waste-hauling truck, or generally concerned about global warming.

Such projects hold the potential to lower the demand for precious landfill capacity and comply with state solid-waste reduction mandates, reduce associated air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, create new sources of clean energy and help stimulate the emerging green economy with the promise of new jobs.

Posted 4-15-10