RIRRC Wastewater Plant Promotes Green, Environmentally Sound Principles
By Tracey
C. O’Neill
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| Site of the new $40 million Leachate facility at RIRRC. (Photo Tracey C. O’Neill) |
Rhode Island – The
Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) continues to move the
state’s Central Landfill and recycling facilities forward.
Garnering the
industry Gold Standard Award for its recycling facility and announcing
construction on a $40 million leachate (wastewater treatment) plant, the
organization continues to develop and improve its facilities at the
Johnston site.
Environment, compliance and
savings
A
quasi-state environmental agency tasked with providing Rhode Island with
environmentally sound programs and waste management facilities, RIRRC broke
ground last week on its newest facility at the landfill. Announcing
commencement on the build of a $40 Million wastewater treatment facility, RIRRC
began construction last week on an on-site leachate pre-treatment plant, a
major advancement for the site overall, allowing more environmentally friendly
processes, advancing regulatory compliance and saving money by treating the
leachate at the source.
“Not too long ago, it became a state initiative to cut down on the
nitrogen that’s being discharged into the waterways and the leachate that goes
through our landfill has a high ammonia content which has high nitrogen in it,”
said O’Connell. “[Before] we could send it anywhere, whether that was Cranston
or NBC (Narragansett Bay Commission), where we’re going to send it, we would
have to pre-treat it to knock out the lion’s share of the nitrogen in our
leachate before it’s sent to a discharge station.”
RIRRC currently holds a permit for discharge with the City of
Cranston, but contracted with the Narraganset Bay Commission to discharge at
their Field’s Point Facility once the new plant is complete.
“We
talked to the officials at NBC,” said O’Connell. “They were very business-like.
They were very above-board. We felt we could have a true business relationship
with them rather than a political relationship.”
What is leacheate?
Leachate
is produced from water already present in the waste and from natural
uncontrollable sources such as rainwater. It includes organic and inorganic
compounds that are dissolved or remain, leaving the surrounding ground and
surface waters susceptible to pollutants.
“If
heavy nitrogen goes into the waterways, there are algae blooms and fish kills
and that’s really the main reason for the tighter limits on nitrogen,” said
O’Connell.
Leachate
treatment and discharge is regulated locally by the RI Department of
Environmental Management, through the Office of Waste Management. DEM standards
require that:
“All water used in processing the solid
waste, and cleaning the facility, as well as all leachate
from the refuse collected in storage pits and transfer areas, shall be
disposed of in a manner that will not pollute any source of private or public
water supply, or any of the waters or groundwaters of the State.”
Funding approved
The facility is being funded by prior bond approval. The $40
million borrowed includes infrastructure costs estimated at $10 million and the
wastewater treatment plant at $26-27 million, with the remainder being held as
a project buffer.
Infrastructure
costs, per O’Connell included the installation of storage tanks on site to
equalize flow during increased and heavy rainfall periods and a $2 million
piping system, already complete, connecting the site with the NBC’s Field’s
Point Facility.
Each discharge station sets limits for wastewater discharge
through its facility, and the RIRRC site and bid process were designed with NBC
limits in mind.
The
RIRRC facilities and operational costs are funded wholly through fees collected
for the services they provide.
Green building principles
employed
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| Sunset over the Central Landfill. (photo Tracey C. O’Neill) |
The facility construction and design were planned to meet the new
standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency for wastewater
treatment. Utilizing green principles the plant itself was designed to
create an energy efficient system capable of properly treating Resource
Recovery wastewater before it is released into the municipal sewer system.
In
a release prior to groundbreaking, the agency touted the facility’s
environmental protection and awareness measures, designed with a focus on green
principles, leading to long-term environmental stability.
“The
building has been designed with great detail paid to various architectural and
operational considerations – water efficient landscaping, construction waste and
air quality management procedures. Water use reduction and the use of building
materials with recycled content will all be incorporated into the building’s
construction. These considerations, among many others, will provide for a
reduced consumption of natural resources over time.”
According to O’Connell, construction will involve the use of
recycled and environmentally friendly materials whenever and wherever possible.
“We
bid the project so that they would employ the latest environmentally sound
processes,” he said.
Part
of RIRRC’s long-term plan to comply with wastewater discharge limitations, the
plant will use biological treatment technology and green principles to create
an efficient pre-treatment system, reducing nitrogen components in the wastewater.
RIRRC efforts furthering
economic development, creating jobs
The
construction phase of the project, expected to take anywhere from 15 to 18
months is projected to employ approximately 160 Rhode Island workers in
the construction sector. Once complete, operation of the facility which is not
labor-intensive, requiring monitoring and maintenance, will employ a half dozen
workers.
The project through its initial planning and design phase has been
in the making for more than three years. Working with regulators, the
Narragansett Bay Commission, design consultants and engineers, the project was
built on sound and tested technology.
Two
out-of-state firms, Carlin Contracting Company, Inc. of Connecticut and O’Brien
& Gere Engineers, Inc. of New York were chosen as the design/build team for
the project. The two firms will provide engineering, construction, control
systems integration, commissioning and operational expertise for the project.
The project target completion is early 2015.
“It’s
proven technology,” said O’Connell. “We follow proven technology, and use what
we know will work. When we start up the facility, it will work.”
RIRRC Recycling program received Gold
Standard in Excellence
The
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) awarded Rhode Island Resource
Recovery Corporation the Gold “Excellence Award” in September,
recognizing the agency for recycling systems excellence.
“It
was a great opportunity for us,” said Sara Kite, Director of Recycling
Services. “In putting the package together for consideration, you can really
showcase all of your innovations. You can describe in detail to an industry
group of professionals, who actually know what you’re talking about, everything
that you do. That was the key. We did things that were unique and innovative
that will hopefully be helpful to other recycling facilities across the
country, to help them achieve some of the same or better results that we’ve
been able to achieve.”
The
award was accepted September 19th at SWANA’s national conference with Kite and Brian Dubis, MRF Operations
Supervisor, on hand to accept the award.
Recycle Together RI puts
RIRRC facility on top
The
award was based on two innovative measures taken by RIRRC, the single-stream
Recycle Together RI program and installation of more efficient machinery.
In
June of 2012, RIRRC converted its recycling program and Materials Recycling
Facility (MRF) from a dual-stream recycling system to single stream, leading to
the a more efficient recycling process and recognition by industry colleagues
and experts.
RIRRC
accomplished the Transition from dual stream recycling to the more
efficient automated, 50 tons per hour
single stream facility, with cost-saving measures in mind. Instead of building
a new facility, the agency retrofitted the present MRF facility, at half the
cost.
“The
system is working beautifully,” said Kite. “We are producing a material that is
up to our quality that we had before the switch.”
The Rhode Island facility was the first in the country to employ a
ballistic separator, formerly only used in Europe and now being installed in
recycling facilities across the country. The ballistic separator further
separates the paper from containers and was installed by the RIRRC contractor,
Van Dyk Recycling Solutions when designing the facility. The machinery
did not fit into the RIRRC budget, but the contractor, seeing the need and
opportunity for the Johnston facility, put the separator in, without an
increase in cost to the agency.
“To be recognized by such a distinguished organization in our
industry is a true honor,” said O’Connell in a written statement. “When we
launched Recycle Together RI, we knew that it would have many benefits – to our
municipalities, our economy and the overall environmental well-being of our
state. This award recognizes the hard work completed by our entire staff to
make single stream recycling a success and verifies the commitment our state
has made to be leaders in recycling.”
“The
recipients of the SWANA Excellence Awards represent the best solid waste
management practices in North America today,” said John H. Skinner, Ph.D.,
SWANA Executive Director and CEO in a release. “Community leaders should be
very proud of the valuable contributions that these projects provide to their
citizens.”
