COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Regardless of whether the facility is community (publicly) owned and operated or privately owned and operated, community involvement is a very important part of the planning process. It must begin early in the process. This could involve the following:

• Education as to the benefits of composting and your program. Awareness that hazardous waste will not be taken into the facility. That the objective is organic recycling, reducing waste to other waste management facilities such as landfills, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Odor panels

• Complaint response procedure

• Description of successful facilities

• Brochures or newsletter

The key is communication and is discussed in Chapter 16.

Site evaluation is one of the most important phases of planning. This involves:

1. Local and state regulations and requirements. The regulations related to composting facilities could differ depending on the type and quantity of the feedstock. Thought should be given to future potential use of materi-als. For example, in planning and designing a yard waste facility, should one consider the potential for accepting food waste or biowaste? In the future these materials may prove to be either regulated or an important source of income.

Regulations may affect distance to receptors and require setbacks to residences, and commercial receptors. There may be requirements related to bodies of water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates pathogens in sew-age sludge and biosolids under 40CFR503. Many states use the same regu-lations for other wastes. Therefore, the facility plan needs to consider the design and operations as related to these regulations.

TABLE 5.1

Facility Ownership and Management Options for Communities

Facility Type Ownership Operator Arrangement Advantages Disadvantages Public Community/

Privatized Private vendor Private vendor A private vendor is

Merchant Private vendor Private vendor Facility is owned and

2. Location. Some of the important considerations are proximity to neighbors and feedstock sources. Proximity to feedstocks could affect transportation costs, and traffic can have an effect on neighbors. At one facility the most important complaint and attempt to close or restrict the facility was the daily truck traf-fic. This also prevented potential expansion and economic considerations.

Some of the other considerations in the location of the site are visibil-ity to neighbors, buffer zones related to distances from watercourses, odor impacts, traffic flow, distance from feedstock sources, distance to markets, and site characteristics.

3. Site characteristics. Some of the most important site considerations are slope and topography, drainage, potential for surface runoff and erosion, subsurface considerations, soil characteristics, and archaeological aspects.

A slope of 2% is often preferable, as it allows proper drainage and avoid-ance of ponding. Ponding can lead to odors and be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. A greater slope may require grading and the expenses associated with the movement of materials, as well as prevention of runoff and erosion.

Proper drainage is necessary and storm water and runoff need to be directed either to a pond or discharged to other facilities. Water stored in the pond could be used in the composting process or for fire protection. Small amounts of runoff could be discharged (depending on permitting require-ments) onto a grassed area.

Some of the soil characteristics that may need to be considered are soil type, percolation rates, and depth to groundwater.

In some locations, archaeological information must be provided as a per-mitting requirement.

4. Environmental considerations. As was pointed out several times, odor aspects and potential impact to receptors require serious consideration. An odor assessment in the surrounding area could be very valuable. An exist-ing odor source should be determined and its characteristics evaluated. This can be very valuable in the event the compost facility is accused of odors.

In one legal case, it was shown that the odor that receptors smelled did not come from the composting facility but from an animal farm. An industry even located at some distance may be a source of odors. It may be valuable to conduct odor modeling once the facility design and system is selected.

The odor model may suggest that the system needs to be changed, e.g., from windrow to aerated static pile, or location of certain operations enclosed or located in a different area on the site.

Other considerations are noise and dust. Dust from grinding operations, screening, or traffic may need to be mitigated. Grinding and screening operations may need a misting system to mitigate dust. Certain roadways may need pavement.

Visibility can influence human perception. Often people smell with their eyes. Steam produced during a composting operation may suggest to the public a source of chemical discharge. Often tree barriers can reduce vis-ibility impacts. Appearance can also have a positive or negative impact by the public. Clean sites suggest good management.

5. Resource management. Resource management involves both the incom-ing feedstocks and bulkincom-ing agents and the marketincom-ing of the compost.

Proximity to availability of feedstocks and bulking agents reduces trans-portation costs. This will also minimize traffic and potential complaints.

Prior to selecting a site, it is important to identify the sources of feed-stocks, sources of bulking agents, and sources of potential markets. A com-post market analysis may well be worthwhile.