TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. \u2013 A cutting-edge solid waste disposal facility to turn trash into gas is being negotiated for a five-acre section adjacent to the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency complex at 999 Flatbush Avenue\/state Route 32.<\/p>\n
Executive Director Marc Rider was given authority to work out the details with London-based developer Global NRG during a Friday, Dec. 12, board meeting.<\/p>\n
Under the proposal, Global NRG would lease the property but build, own, and operate a facility estimated to cost about $100 million. It would take in all of agency\u2019s municipal solid waste, which in 2025 is forecast to total 107,100 tons, with expectations there will be a 70% reduction in the amount going to landfills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will put everything through a mixed materials recovery facility (that) includes conveyor belts and magnets, (artificial intelligence) optical eyes, and all sorts of things,\u201d Rider said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty percent of that material (is estimated) to be recyclable that gets sold into the recyclable market and 50% will\u2026 be organic that goes through an anerobic digester,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything actually goes through a process called thermal hydrolysis, which is taking steam and getting rid of the pathogens in the material and shrinking it. It then goes on a conveyor belt, the organics basically falls through, and the (remaining) 30% of that is what ends up needing to go to the landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organics would be further dissolved to become gas that is sold for consumer use to Central Hudson and other companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are pipelines throughout Ulster County\u2026and it\u2019s renewable natural gas as opposed to fossil fuel,\u201d Rider said.<\/p>\n
Costs that will be negotiated for processing the solid waste are expected to result in a per-ton fee of between $90 and $145.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on the scope of the work,\u201d Rider said. \u201cThere are multiple options that we can select\u2026through the contract negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process will be in a building and will not use oxygen, which Rider said will minimize the production of odors during the conversion to gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a negative air system,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t allow odors to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n
The technology for each component of the processing facility can be found separately in other facilities in the U.S., but the proposal for Ulster County would be the first to bring all the elements together in one location, Rider said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s other anaerobic digesters, there\u2019s other\u2026MSW composting, but they don\u2019t use the exact same process,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are similar technologies being used in places like Georgia \u2026that are at least up in pilot project, but not necessarily like this company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creation of a solid waste process station will not stop the agency\u2019s search for a local landfill site, which was paused seven months ago while waiting for a response from the request for proposals that would provide waste reduction options.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that makes it more likely that we would be able to team up and do a regional landfill approach,\u201d Rider said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this company has the ability to really move us forward in our diversion goals, which will allow for us to have a serious conversation with our neighboring communities\u2026to figure out regionally on where we\u2019re going to site a landfill,\u201d Rider said. \u201cIf not, then we\u2019ll know that we need a smaller landfill here in Ulster County.\u201d<\/p>\n
The processing facility would not accept solid waste from outside of the county without the agency getting state Department of Environmental Conservation approval for a permit modification.<\/p>\n
Material not converted to gas or removed as recycling will be taken to a landfill at the expense of the agency, which would also have an obligation to dispose of about 35,700 tons per year of construction and demolition debris.<\/p>\n
Once a facility is operational, Rider estimated there would be a reduction from the current 15 daily trips to the landfill to about seven.<\/p>\n
Rider expects the negotiations will take about six months, and if an agreement is reached, it would take about two years to construct a facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. \u2013 A cutting-edge solid waste disposal facility to turn trash into gas is being…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":447226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,1370,728,205737,405,50,159,118480,205738,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-447225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marc-rider","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-science","tag-ulster-county","tag-ulster-county-resource-recovery-agency","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115719949672368889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}