Agenda - 09-02-2008 - 7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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to the Orange County Landfill or out -of -county facilities. The County owns the local municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill which is expected to reach capacity in the next few years. A new County construction and demolition waste landfill area was recently developed and is expected to last approximately 15 -20 years depending on rate of use. Another solid waste management strategy the County may want to consider is third in the hierarchy: waste processing to reduce the volume for land disposal. While waste processing technologies (WPT) can include methods of volume reduction (shredding, compaction, baling, etc.), most such technologies involve some form of controlled thermal treatment - incineration - with fuel production or energy recovery. The County may want to consider the need to address such waste processing technologies as possible alternatives to landfill disposal. The capital intensive approaches such as WTE require a sufficient quantity of waste to be cost effective: the more waste, the lower the per ton price. The purpose of this white paper is to initiate that evaluation and brief the County's solid waste staff, elected officials, Solid Waste Advisory Board, and citizens on state - of- the -art solid waste processing technologies, emerging technologies and their applicability to the County's needs, and the potential of these technologies to contribute to the County's overall solid waste management system. Section 2.0 summarizes the future waste disposal needs identified in the Plan and how waste processing could affect the amount of landfill disposal required. Section 3.0 discusses the worldwide experience of WPT and respective vendors in the United States and other countries, as some of these technologies have operating demonstrations or facilities outside of the U.S. Section 4.0 reviews most of the recent activity in the evaluation and procurement of waste processing technologies by other U.S. cities and counties. These localities are exploring alternatives for increasing their diversion rates, recovering more resources from their solid waste, and delivering better service to their citizens. Section 5.0 explores the economic feasibility, effectiveness, and environmental issues surrounding the use of the waste processing technologies discussed. Section 6.0 presents opinions as to the most applicable technologies for further consideration by the County. Appendix B reviews the available "proven" waste processing technologies, all of which are incineration - based, their track record and operating characteristics, and a listing of facilities operating in the region. In addition, Appendix B details "emerging" waste processing technologies including high- temperature gasification, fluidized -bed combustion, plasma -arc processing, and some non - thermal anaerobic digestion. GBB /C08027 -01 2 August 15, 2008