I’ve written here several times about composting, the
high-minded effort to turn waste into re-usable mulch. When it comes to setting
up large-scale composting operations, these efforts tend to follow a familiar sad
sequence. The initial proposal assures the public that the facility will be run
according to the latest best practices and result in minimal odor, if any. Once
the operation gets underway, nearby residents start to notice objectionable
smells. The facility may deny being the source; there may be a back-and-forth
as the town tries to document the stink and locate its origin. The facility may
own up to being the source, and offer assurances that the smell is a mere
hiccup that will disappear once the operation is fully optimized. When the
smell and local objections continue, the town hires consultants who recommend
installing some sort of odor remediation system. The result: the entire project
comes in heavily over budget and leaves a lot of ill will in its wake.
A common feature of these episodes is a failure to take
potential odor issues seriously from the very start of the project. Why does
this happen? I think it’s because proponents of large-scale composting don’t anticipate
issues of scale.
Home composting enthusiasts maintain little heaps of banana
peels, apple cores, and lawn clippings in their backyards. These produce a
small amount of innocuous odor. So what’s the problem in just adding everyone’s
little heap to a town compost pile?
The problem is that the amount of biomass in a commercial or
municipal composting facility is exponentially larger than a backyard heap, and
that the resulting odor production will also be exponentially larger. Massive
odor generation is a certainty—it’s an operational issue that ought to be dealt
with in detail at the preliminary engineering stage. It is not enough for
planners and proponents to blithely claim that proper “turning over” and
aeration of the pile will minimize odor.
Now comes a story out of Longmont, Colorado, roughly 35
miles south of FirstNerve headquarters. Three residents have filed a lawsuit
against a proposed composting facility—one that hasn’t even been built. Among
other things, the lawsuit anticipates loss of property values should the
facility-to-be emit “noxious odors.” Is this simply a case of NIMBYism or is
there something more to it?
What is at issue is a proposal by Boulder County to build
the facility on ~40 acres of land that was purchased, with voter approval, as preserved
open space with a perpetual conservation easement. By law, the county’s open
space “can be used solely for passive recreation, agriculture or environmental
preservation purposes.” But that’s no problem for the three county
commissioners. By using an obscure real estate doctrine and a recent land
purchase they claim to have extinguished the conservation easement, giving
themselves the ability to build a compost facility on the land. The
commissioners pushed their plan through with a minimum of public notice.
The 235-page plan is a classic instance of blithe disregard
for potential odor issues. It mentions odor only four times:
(1) In the architect’s narrative under “Buildings”, it
states that waste will be delivered to a 17,590 square foot “tipping building”:
“This building is a fully enclosed, fully contained component of the operation
that will minimize odors, provide visual screening, and prevent any leaching of
feedstock liquids into the surrounding soil.”
(2) In the “Operations” section under “Odor control”: “The
CASP [“covered aerated static pile”] bunkers have been shown to reduce odors by
90-95% over conventional open pile windrow systems.”
(3) In the “Proposed Conditions” section under “landscaping:
“Newly landscaped areas are strategically located for visual screening and to
reduce sound and odor impacts of the facility.”
(4) And on page 12: “The existing site border of trees
creates a natural setback from the road and would provide visual and odor
screening.”
The idea that a line of trees and other landscaping features
will reduce and screen odors is laughable. The tipping building may indeed contain
odors—as long as the doors are never opened. And once the dumped waste is moved
out of the building for composting, the odor issue pops right back up. Finally,
even assuming that the claim about CASP bunkers is correct, that residual 5 to
10% of odors may still reach obnoxious levels, especially since the county
intends to process “125 million pounds of animal manure, sewage sludge and food
waste per year.”
Yes, that’s right: this is not just a food waste compost
pile. It includes massive amounts of animal manure and sewage sludge (i.e.,
human manure).
The city of Boulder gives Berkeley, California a run for its
money when it comes to progressive politics. Boulder County has a “Zero Waste Action
Plan” that aims for a goal of zero waste by 2025. The three county
commissioners (all Democrats) seem hell-bent on getting there, even if it means
overriding the declared intent of county residents. Will three residents be
able to stop the onrushing tide of sludge? Stay tuned. You can track their battle here.
UPDATE March 22, 2021
The Boulder County commissioners caved and will no longer consider placing a composting facility on the open space in question. The county has filed motions to dismiss lawsuits by neighboring property owners. Story here.
