Modesto dumps recycling program for composting

Earlier this week the blog GoingGreenatHome.com detailed the innovative ways the city of Modesto, Calif. plans to replace its recycling program with a full-scale composting plan, in full effect by the end of August. Residents separate their waste into regular trash and organic scraps – which includes yard clippings and food scraps that can be composted and processed for used at Pacific Gas & Electricity.

According to the informative article (that you can read in full here):

Modesto’s composting program, wһісһ turns yard clippings аnԁ prunings іntο soil supplements, һаѕ bееn mаkіnɡ mulch ѕіnсе 1997.

Tһе Modesto Bee editorial notes, “Itѕ composting facility һаѕ bееח operating ѕіnсе 1997, аnԁ іn tһе last few years, wіtһ tһе addition οf nеw equipment tο screen аnԁ sort, tһе city now composts paper, cardboard аnԁ food scraps, including sizable volumes frοm restaurants аחԁ hospitals.”  250 tons οf natural waste comes іntο tһеіr composting facility еνеrу day, wһеrе іt’s composted іntο soil.

Modesto аƖѕο contracts wіtһ another facility tο send tһеіr 800 tons οf daily garbage tο a processing plant, wһеrе іt’s converted tο energy аnԁ sold tο Pacific Gas & Electricity.  Tһеіr Stanislaus Resource Recovery Facility сrеаtеѕ a 90-percent volume reduction, аѕ well аѕ 22 megawatts οf electricity, enough tο power 20,000 homes іn tһе Modesto community.

This is just one way to create electricity through anaerobic digestion from composting organic waste. And it supports the economic infrastructure of the city.

What are your thoughts on the plan being put into place in Modesto? How does your city handle recycling or composting?

This post is brought to you by Harvest Power. Follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook.

New Job, Fertile Soil

By Lacey de los Reyes

Hello, my name is Lacey and I am the Office Manager for the Seattle office of Harvest Power.  Most of my experience has been in the construction and logistics industry.  I started working here five months ago.  In that time I have learned more each day about the many different forms of renewable energy sources, composting, recycling, etc. Aside from the basic residential recycling that exists in the Pacific Northwest, I confess I am new to the deeper meaning of what being “green” is all about on a personal level.

I have been so excited about all of my new found knowledge that I have been sharing the information with my family and friends. My enthusiasm is infectious: I find my friends and family bringing compostable cutlery and other recyclable products to our barbeques. I’ve also found myself taking spontaneous pictures of soil and recycling containers while out and about or on vacation.

So imagine my excitement at my first visit with CTO, Jan Allen and a fellow composter, Don Bailey to our Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre facility. On the drive up to Richmond, BC I had the pleasure of hearing how Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre came to be and the wonderful family history involved in our compost facility. I think it’s really great that not only did a small family create this business, but that the daughters grew up with this business as a part of their lives and are now working there as an integral part of the team which makes Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre run each day.

Once we arrived at Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre, our first stop was at our new, beautiful, royal blue and key lime green scale house where I had the pleasure of meeting some of our hard working team. The scalehouse looks great and I love the one hundred year old Douglas Fir and Beetle-Kill Pine woodwork in the front entrance, along with the beautiful new conference table made of gorgeous reclaimed Fir!

Next in our visit was a tour of the facility. Since Jan is “crippled”, having broken his leg recently in a bike accident, he couldn’t give us a walking tour of the site.  But, we were lucky enough to have Cor Diekman, (Lead Operator for odour control and security) give us the tour in one of his trucks.  It was so nice to finally be able to see for myself everything I’ve been learning about and helping with for the last several months.  I saw all the new trees that we just had planted on the berms.  We also drove over to the biofilters where I got to get out and give it my own “sniff test”… no odour escaping that biofilter! We then drove over to the screening plant and to our finished product area … we have some nice-smelling and nice-looking soil products!  I must say the one thing that really surprised me was the size of the site.  I’ve seen the site plans and photos, but none of them do justice compared to being there.

The final stop on our tour was one of my favorite parts… the 75 cubic yard front loader.  I couldn’t get over the size of the bucket and the tires! Cor was nice enough to take some photos of me and this enormous piece of equipment. I was a little envious of the girls (six women operators by Jan’s count) who get to drive them around the facility.

When our tour and meetings were over it was time to head back to Seattle. However, we did get to make one last stop over at our Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre office. We said a quick hello and I was able to meet the rest of our fantastic Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre team. I had a great time touring our facility, meeting everyone who makes the magic of our compost happen, and seeing for myself what is a very important part of Harvest Power and the Canadian operations related to our office here in Seattle.

Harvest Power, Triple T Trucking work toward zero waste

Today, Harvest Power’s partnership with New Hampshire-based Triple T Trucking was featured in the Brattleboro Reformer. The story, by staff writer Chris Garofalo, presented plans to create an organics to energy and recycling station in the New England area that works toward a common goal of zero waste while creating renewable energy.

Harvest CEO Paul Sellew was interviewed for the piece. He explained that both the renewable energy and compost production model for this project differ from earlier methods of eliminating waste:

To remove organic materials from the waste stream, Harvest will produce high quality compost products while generating electricity from food and yard waste.

“So our view is to combine these two, increase diversion from landfills, recycle these organic materials and beneficially reuse them through the production of renewable energy and high-value compost,” said Sellew. “We think this is the next evolution in the development of the organics industry in the United States.”

The company presently operates a similar facility in British Colombia, Canada, but has several others that are expected to go online by the end of the year.

The story also does a clear and concise job of explaining the technology behind this plan.

Harvest uses High Solids Anaerobic Digestion (HSAD) at its facilities, the degradation and stabilization of organic materials with a solids content between 25 and 50 percent. By comparison, a wet anaerobic digestion system processes the same materials with a solids content between only 2 and 15 percent.

Anaerobic digestion reflects the same process that occurs in a cow’s stomach — using similar micro-organisms in a large chamber and capture the biogas as it is produced in an ideal environment.

Through HSAD, Harvest operators break down food and yard waste using naturally occurring bacteria to produce renewable biogas energy. Workers then aerobically compost the remaining digestate to capture the nutrients and organic matter to create a high quality compost-based product.

The partnership with Triple T represents a mutual interest in environmental sustainability for this region. Though the initiative has the ability to create jobs, improve air quality and boost recycling efforts, the article also notes the challenges yet to come.

Read the story in its entirety here. Let us know your thoughts.

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