Ball Ford Compost Facility expands to Food Recycling

 A ribbon cutting was held in mid-September to mark the completion of the Balls Ford Composting Facility expansion. Prince William County residents have long been encouraged to bring yard waste, such as grass, leaves and small branches, to the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility in Manassas.

With the newly completed $10 million two year expansion has nearly tripled its capacity to produce compost. In addition to yard waste, the facility can now recycle food waste using state-of-the-art composting equipment and processes. Freestate Farms, who operates the Balls Ford Road Facility paid for the expansion  This is a part of the Prince William County’s efforts to recycle more, be more sustainable, to take more material that previously went into the landfill and make usable soil amendments to improve our environment.”

Before the expansion, yard waste of leaves, grass and brush is piled high into long rows that have to be manually turned with heavy equipment. The new system will significantly decrease the time it takes to make compost. According to Prince William County’s Acting Director of Public Works, Tom Smith “The new facility will use an advanced aerobic composting technology where the leaves and grass will be mixed and placed in large bunkers. Those bunkers will have a series of pipes underneath so air can be drawn … through the piles. It will be constantly monitored by computers, so it’s a much more efficient operation. The process now takes six to nine months. Under this new system, we can have compost within 30 to 45 days.”

The air used in the bunkers will also pass through bio-filters to control any smell that might otherwise come off of the composting piles, Smith said.

Turning yard and food waste into compost at the facility will keep tons of this material out of the landfill. Mr. Smith went on to say that collecting this type of waste, which would normally enter the landfill, would increase the useful life of the county’s main landfill past its current lifespan of 2060. “Based upon studies we have done, approximately 30 % of the waste going into the landfill is organics, leaves, grass, food waste, etc. If we can divert that waste into this facility to make usable products, we can increase the landfill life by 10 to 15 years.”

Freestate Farms will ultimately employ 20 to 25 people at the facility. The company will profit from the operation by charging commercial interests a “tip fee” on a per-ton basis. The company will also sell the compost, fertilizer and mulch it creates from organic waste. Residents will not be charged to drop off organic material and can purchase the products at competitive prices, Smith said.

If you are thinking of composting food waste at Balls Ford Road, you might want to bring your glass bottles and jars with you. If you bring glass bottles and jars to the compost facility and place them in the purple bins they will be recycled/reused. All colors of glass- clear, green and brown of glass food and beverage bottles and jars are acceptable for recycling/reuse and can be place in the purple bins.

Do not place glass dishes, drinking glasses, vases, shower doors, windshields, window and door glasses, and mirrors in the purple bins.  Put those items in the trash.

Time to Start Composting

Fairfax County temporarily eliminated yard waste pickup to protect solid waste employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Loudoun County officials are asking residents to reduce yard waste and in Prince William County only bagged household garbage and recycling will be accepted.

With all the rain and warmer weather this means that many of us will have yard waste materials readily available for composting, and with more people eating at home, it’s the perfect time to start composting food waste. Composting is merely the managed decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that can be used to enrich garden soil. It is one way to recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, reduce the volume of garbage you send to landfills and live a more sustainable life. According to 2017 data 12% of U.S. trash is food and another 13% is yard waste. By composting these items we can reduce trash to landfills by 25%.

According to Christine McCoy of the Fairfax Solid Waste Management Program Yard and food waste can be composted except for:

• meat, fat, grease
• fireplace ashes
• dairy products
• pet waste
• yard waste that contains noxious weeds, invasive plants, is diseased or too bulky also do not compost black walnuts.

Meat and fat attract rodents and flies; pet waste may contain parasites and bacteria; and large sticks and logs take too long to break down, though the pile of wood next to the fire pit in our yard is well on its way.

The structure and composition of compost determines a successful outcome. It is necessary to have 70%t carbon (brown) and 30 % nitrogen (green) mix.:

• Brown waste are: newspaper, cardboard, dead leaves and small twigs
• Greens waste are grass clippings and food waste, including fruit

Your approach to composing to a large extent will be dictated by how large your yard is and your interest in the project. Because I have acres of land and woods I have the luxury of utilizing the lazy girl’s methods of composting. The most basic and passive form of composting is backyard mulching. The largest amount of green waste generated at the suburban home is from the garden. Grass clippings should be left on the ground, they will decompose and add nutrients to the soil, improving the quality of your yard. There are mulching blades for the mower.

With lots of land I can create a mulch pile in a sunny location away from the house. The sun ‘cooks’ the compost, using heat to breakdown the material. The internal compost pile temperature should be between 90 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit an easy thing in a Virginia summer. The pile should be kept moist but not wet. Food waste should be buried about a foot deep into the pile. Keeping the pile moist and turning it every few days with a garden pitchfork will accelerate the decomposition process.

If you live in a small lot suburban or urban environment that does not collect your kitchen scraps, then you will have to utilize a rodent proof and enclosed method of composting. There are basically three enclosed methods of composting which can be used for interior, garage or small yard/patio composting:

Bokashi is done inside your home. Kitchen waste is placed into a container which can be sealed with an air tight lid to contain the smell. Kitchen scraps are layered with a Bokashi carrier, wheat bran, rice hulls or saw dust that has been inoculated with composting micro-organisms. When using this method, it is best to have more than one container and to fill the second while the bacteria in the first are completing their work.

Vermiculture is the method of composting using worms. Worm composting typically uses a commercial worm bin. Bedding material must be used, typically, shredded newspaper that has been moistened. A handful or two of soil, ground limestone, or well-crushed eggshells every couple of months is good for providing grit and calcium. You fill the bin with moistened bedding, toss in a few handfuls of soil, and add the worms and food scraps. Red worms are sold for the purpose. Be sure to keep your worm composter at moderate temperatures, which basically requires keeping it in the garage.

A sealed drum composter can be used if you have any outdoor space. These systems are rotating drums of various sizes. You simply rotate the drum three times a week during warm weather to ensure perfect mix and proper air circulation. When the weather is freezing do not turn the drum

However, you may not have time for yet one more thing in your life, or just are put off by tending garbage especially in the summer. There is one other option. You can buy your composting. Fairfax county lists two licensed composting companies that pick up you organic waste from the curb and bring it back to you for gardening. Of course there is a fee, but it may be the way to go for the busy household.The two companies are Veteran Compost and Compost Crew.

Prince William County Landfill and Renewable Energy

On Friday, July 8th at the Potomac Watershed Roundtable meeting Thomas Smith, Solid Waste Division Chief of the Prince William County Public Works Department gave a presentation on Utilizing the Landfill Gas for Renewable Energy Production followed by a tour of the Prince William Landfill.

Prince William County residents pay a flat fee ($70) every year on their property taxes so there is no tippage fee at the landfill. This fixed fee that grows with population allows the landfill to have a steady cash flow to maintain their monitoring and remediation programs and plan smooth expansion and improvement programs. Trash generation in general grows with population, but it is surprisingly subject to the economy. The population of Prince William County was 281,287 in 2000 and grew more than 43% to 402,002 in 2010. In 2000 238 thousand tons of trash was disposed at the PW Landfill. The peak tons of trash disposed the PW Landfill was 367 thousand tons in 2007 in 2010 285 thousand tons of trash were disposed at the landfill. To put that in perspective, in 2007 it was estimated that Prince William Residents generated about 6 lbs of trash per day per person; today that number is less than 4 lbs of trash per day per person. Approximately, 32% of the trash is recycled, 10% is recovered as energy, and 58% is buried in the landfill. According to Mr. Smith much of the trash going to the landfill could have been recycled, but recycling and the recycling center at the landfill is a topic for another day.

Prince William Landfill is right off of Dumfries Road in Manassas, VA and has operated at this location since 1972. The oldest section of the landfill contained 57 acres that were closed in 1991 when the state law known as HB 1205 went into effect. That area is currently used for little league fields and have been undergoing retrofit with liners and leachate and landfill gas collection systems to protect the environment. Today Prince William County Landfill is engineered and built as a series of cells. The cells include liners of plastic membranes and watertight geosynthetic clay liner fabric on the bottom along with a leachate collection system. At the end of each day, earth covers the trash deposited in the cell, to keep animals away and improve aesthetics. When a cell if full it is capped to prevent (or at least limit) the rain that percolates through the landfill and covered in soil. Currently, the landfill is capping the Phase I section and opening up a newly lined cell in the Phase II area.

The PW Landfill has 48 groundwater monitoring wells that are observed and/or sampled quarterly to ensure that groundwater is not impacted or any impact is contained and 78 landfill gas extraction wells. Landfill gas is generated during the natural process of bacterial decomposition of organic material contained in the trash buried in the landfill. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide. Landfill gas also contains varying amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, sulfur, and other contaminants. The gases produced within the landfill are either collected and flared off or used to produce heat and electricity. The landfill gas cannot be allowed to build up in the landfill because of the explosive potential. PW Landfill has operated for almost 40 years and has more than 7 million tons of trash buried at the landfill. That trash currently generates 2,700 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas up from 1,600 scf/m in 1999.

Landfill gas can be used as a source of energy to create electricity or heat. It is classified as a medium-Btu gas with a heating value of 350 to 600 Btu per cubic foot, approximately half that of natural gas, and can be used in place of propane and natural gas in some application. It is a reliable source of energy because it is generated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Landfill gas is a renewable energy source. Landfill gas that is used to produce energy does not have to be flared and wasted to prevent explosive gas build up. Flaring of landfill gas at PW landfill is done in a candle flare an open air flame that you have probably seen at night. In 1998 the County formed a partnership with NEO Prince William to install a landfill gas collection system and a 1.9 MW energy recover facility which is a two engine turbine that burns the gas to make electricity that is sold to NOVEC, the local electric cooperative. The 1.9 MW energy recovery system was utilizing less than 25% of the currently available landfill gas for energy recovery.

NEO was acquired by Fortistar Methane Group. Fortistar has since obtained the VDEQ permits for four additional engine turbines. Negotiations with NOVEC were more difficult because Virginia has no renewable energy requirements, but 3 MW of additional engines will go on line this year for a total constant energy production of 5 MW. This will produce $40,000 annual revenue to the Solid Waste Fund and $20,000 in personal property tax revenue in the first year. Even after the new engines go online this year there will still be 200 scf/m excess landfill gas available. A new gas pipeline has been installed to provide landfill gas to heat the landfill’s Fleet Maintenance Building and extended to provide fuel to the County animal shelter cremation incinerator to replace propane. The payback for the pipeline installation is estimated to be 8-10 years. Propane use will be reduced 56% and the savings to the general fund will be $25,000-$35,000 annually.

As the landfill continues to operate, adding closed cells and opening new cells, more landfill gas will be produced for generations. Prince William County views the landfill as an under utilized resource and is studying options for creating a Prince William Renewable Energy Park. The PW Landfill has applied to EPA for technical assistance in performing feasibility studies for the potential options.