Managing Organic Residuals
PWT Meeting Summary
Cornell Waste Management
Institute
December 14, 2006 from 10 AM - 3 PM
Coffee at 9:30
Location: Tony Boffa's
Restaurant,
Introductions and Updates
Attendees:
Marsh Aikens
Rose Baglia,
CCE of
Jean Bonhotal, Cornell Waste Management Institute
Ken
Martha Clarvoe,
Byron Clough,
Jeff Cooper, Onondaga
John Crockett, Mother NatureÕs Farms
Kelly Crossett, Cayuga
Dick Dale, Agricultural Consultant Services
Deron Davis, USDA NRCS
Wayne Davis, Maine Environmental Services
Mike DesGaines
Tyler Etzel, Ace Farm
Gary Feinland, NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation
Brian Fleury, WeCare Organics
Nora Goldstein, BioCycle
Brenda Grober,
John Halenar
Ellen Harrison, Cornell Waste Management Institute
Jim Hotaling,
Cayuga
Ed Hubbard, Town of
Allison Jack,
Scott Johnson, City of
Patrick Kennedy,
Les Kirby, Sullivan County SWCD
Stephen Klemann, FCR/Casella
John Kowalchyk,
Town of
Theresa Laibach, NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation
Jeff LeBlanc, WeCare Organics
Jerry Leone, Casella Waste Systems
Liz Manning
Kevin Mathers,
CCE of
Steve Mojo, BPI
Nancy Ngou, Core Business Services People Leader
Connie Patterson, Patterson Farms
Jonathan Patterson, Patterson Farms
Bill Powers, Town of
Jim Proctor, Cayuga Compost/P&S Excavating
Andrew Radin,
Onondaga
Sally Rowland, NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation
Robert Rynk, SUNY Cobleskill
Mary Schwarz, Cornell Waste Management Institute
Susan & Roy Sineo
George Stang, USDA NRCS
Holly Taylor, Intervale Compost Products
Lee Telega,
Judy OÕBrien Van Put, Country Folks
Kenneth Vanalstine, Vanalstine Nursery
Mark Wittig, Cayuga
Compost/P&S
Testing
CWMI
is looking for data on yard waste composts
Rowland
Ð DEC may have some data from some permitted facilities, nutrients, metals,
Fleury will talk
with US Composting Council about analyses done by the STA labs and whether
those might be made available.
DOTs may have data
if they have used such composts
On Farm compost handbook will collect data from labs as part of the current
revision
Town
of
Testing
frequency Ðhow often should it be tested?
It
depends of whether the recipe and process are consistent.
DEC:
For permitted facilities, the required frequency is based on size. Varies from weekly to quarterly. These facilities generally
have consistent processes.
Sampling
issues Ð how to get a representative sample.
Are
there protocols? Is there guidance?
CWMI has a Testing Compost Fact Sheet on their www site that addresses
sampling, choice of labs, parameters to test for. See: http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/compostfs4.pdf
Woods
End Laboratory WWW site has a sampling protocol.
Digesters
Patterson
Ð digesting manure, food waste 18000 GPD from cream cheese plant - whey and slop. Put digester in for odor control. Got funding. Pleased with odor control. They get a tip fee for food waste
but volume is equal to 800 more cows so much be able to handle the volume of
liquids. They are removing manure
solids before digestion because they didnÕt have enough solids for bedding if
they digested first. Temp 100 degrees F, 22 days holding time.
DEC
solid waste rules depending on type of waste Ð do not deal with manure. Biosolids yes. Depends a lot on what is feedstock.
U.
California- Davis is developing a high solids food scrap anaerobic digester.
Some waste water treatment plants are taking pulped food scraps. Waste Mgmt in
Adding
food scrap gets enhanced gas production. Also get more BOD reduction.
How to
manage post-digestion solids?
Compost
quality of digested vs undigested solids. Would be less
nutrients, less odor, less volume in digested solids.
Capturing food wastes
It is
a challenge to get waste into recycling and digester facilities vs down the drain or in the trash. Also a challenge to
transport and manage them.
Adding
a task in the kitchen is a problem.
If you
can send it down the drain, it is ÒfreeÓ.
So keeping these organics from going down the drain or into landfills
may require regulation.
A ban
on Yard Waste in landfills is in place in some states.
MA
landfill ban allowed 2 years from passage to implementation.
In MA,
grocery stores are ÒinspiredÓ to divert scrap. MADEP did training. Julia Wolf
at MADEP supermarket program emphasized stressing that supermarkets have a
robust recycling program as well as organics diversion. Consider taking not
just organics, but also grease/oil, corrugated waxed.
MA tip
fees are higher than NYS. Harder to get people to divert wastes in NYS where landfilling is cheap.
In NYC
food waste is a particular issue due to lots of restaurants. There was fledgling effort in NYC to get
restaurant food scrap to composting facilities in NJ, but the composting facilities
closed.
Residential
disposals are now legal in NYC.
For
farms, taking food scrap may be regulatory concern. Small on-farm facilities under current
scheme would require permit if >1000 yd3/yr of food waste.
Discussion: Siting and Management of Large
Composting Facilities
There have been a number of sites where neighbors are complaining of various impacts and it seems likely that as residences move into rural areas, we will see more tensions. We discussed ways to minimize these conflicts.
A summary of the literature on ÒCompost Bioaerosols and HealthÓ that CWMI is drafting was discussed. It will be available on the CWMI WWW site.
Questions:
1. If management measures are taken that help control odors, does that mean that bioaerosols and potential symptoms of neighbors will also be controlled? We really donÕt know that.
2. What do we know about movement of dust, odors, bioaerosols. Do they move with dust. If we know good ways to control dust and odor Ð does that equate to control of bioaerosols?
3. Adequate moisture can help keep down dust. Does it also help reduce bioaerosols?
4. Are most problems associated with registered (vs. exempt and permitted) facilities? There are only ~60 facilities with permits and few of those are in violation. There are ~300 exempt and registered facilities. DEC does not know their location.
Odor and Neighbors:
Many PWT participants observed that ALL composting facilities have an odor. In fact all organic material processing facilities have an odor. So a well-run composting facility that was in full legal compliance could/would have odors, though if they are a Ònuisance,Ó then they are in violation. How much odor with what frequency is Òtoo much?Ó
Good communication with neighbors can help avoid major confrontations.
Whether an odor is considered objectionable depends on many factors.
More objective measure of odors, such as a nasal ranger, and a standard reporting system could be useful.
Outreach to site neighbors may be helpful. It needs to come from the individual facilities.
Setbacks for new compost facilities that are not exempt from NYS DEC rules are 500 feet for a permitted facility and 200 feet for registered. A larger setback can be required. They are established primarily to deal with odors. Setback is to house from the active operation. Neighbors change over time and new homes are encroaching. There is thus a need for continued and consistent outreach.
Health
A relationship between odors and health is not always found although some reported that they had never had illness complaints without odor complaints. One research paper showed that people reporting illness do not necessarily report odors. This implies that controlling odors will not necessarily minimize potential health impacts.
Illness may have nothing to do with odors or with operation. Discharges may cause illness regardless of management.
There may be a cumulative impact if there are a number of facilities nearby.
Best Management Practices:
Good operations are critical.
When piles should be turned is based on microbial needs, not a set schedule.
Moisture levels are important both for microbial activity and for dust suppression.
Feedstocks can create odors if not managed promptly.
DEC permitted facilities have a specifically approved compost recipe.
Know which way the wind is blowing and disturb materials when wind is not blowing towards sensitive receptors. For facilities with DEC permits, wind direction during turning may be specified.
Keep sites from allowing ponding in tracks and other low spots.
There is a distinction between composter trying to make a product vs. others (like many municipalities) that may be focused on disposing of waste.
There is an opportunity to create public/private partnerships to address both the need to reduce wastes and the need to create a product.
Record-keeping and oversight:
Operators of all permitted and registered sites should be required to keep a record of temperatures (perhaps weekly) in the compost piles; feedstocks; processing steps (like turning).
Some provision for periodic site visits to both permitted and registered sites could help promote good management practices. This could be conducted by DEC, by a local entity or by a private third party. Funding such oversight is an issue.
Decentralized smaller
facilities:
In NYS, under the 360 rules, small facilities taking selected organic residuals are either exempt or can be registered rather than going through a full permit process. The sense is that such facilities would have less of a potential impact. However, it also allows for the possibility that there would be many such facilities in a small area such that a resident might be impacted by many facilities and thus a large amount of waste. The regulations allow for an operator to avoid getting a permit by dividing up operations into a number of smaller sites. Even on the same property, if it is divided into different tax parcels, facilities on different parcels would be considered separately and thus would be eligible to meet limits for exemption or registration.
The group discussed this Òloop holeÓ and suggested consideration of an amendment to the 360 rules that would restrict the number of registered and permitted sites and/or the total amount of material that might be handled within some radial distance or within a town. Whether DEC has legislative authority for such a rule needs to be considered. NYC has a law that certain kinds of facilities cannot be sited within a certain distance of a similar facility. This is NYC regulation stemming from environmental justice concerns.
Enforcement:
Even when a violation is noted, if the operator is not cooperative, the legal process can take several years.
Many odor complaints are in early morning or in the evening (probably due to air movement and due to when residents are at home) when most environmental and health agency personnel are not at work.
There seem to be sites where operators may be taking more and different materials than they are allowed. Who/how is this being monitored?
The idea of making permits good only for a year (vs. 5) was discussed. It was noted that facilities have the right to a permit renewal and a denial would trigger an adjudicative hearing so it may not make a lot of difference.
Training and Certification of
Operators:
Smaller facilities, especially municipally operated, need education.
Protecting worker health is a justification for training.
Education regarding marketing compost is needed by many, especially municipalities.
Requiring certification and training might be good. Need a strong carrot or stick. If not
required, it will not reach all operators.
Could training be specifically offered to municipalities and could it be done locally? Is there a ÒcarrotÓ to offer? Such as lower insurance rates?
Would a training DVD be useful? SWANA may have such a distance learning option.
Pennsylvania Organics Council does centralized several day training and then does specialty one day trainings around the state. Funded by the state DEP.
DEC constraints regarding staffing and funding are a concern in requiring a training and certification program.
DEC requires landfill operators to be certified. Operators can receive training from a number of sources and must then pass a test.
Continuing education credits could be required and could be given for attending conferences and courses.
DEC permit for NYC Dept. of Sanitation composting facilities requires DEC approval if operator changes since the current operator is viewed as well qualified.
360 update, Sally Rowland, NYS DEC Ð no scheduled changes to 360
Compost applications to turf, vineyards, and landscaping, research and extension project nearing completion by CWMI and Horticulture Dept.
NYSDOT composting road kill pathogen research/outreach project, CWMI project. Data collection is complete. Workshops planned for summer 07.
Mortality and flesh composting; Avian influenza guidance, CWMI has a contract with NYS DEC.
Dried manure as dairy barn bedding, CWMI and others conducting research and outreach.
Bioassay of sludge applications using earthworms. CWMI and Cornell faculty research project.
Outreach Ð materials available or coming soon:
Additional compost fact sheets,
CWMI
DVD and fact sheet on roadkill composting (including a Spanish translation of the
FS)