Agenda - Council - 01/13/1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 16 - 3. ANALYSIS OF !!.~COMMENQED ~hAN The Waste Management Act does not specify how much land should be purchased by the MWCC. Therefore, the Council has to set a basic policy. How many years should any site last? How much sludge will be incinerated? How much sludge should be marketed? Should the existing program of land disposal on private land be . continued? If so, what percentage of the total land disposal program should be made up of land disposal on private land? Should disposal on MWCC-owned land be used only in emergencie~ and as a safeguard to other disposal methods? Should landfilling or landspreading of sludge be the final disposal method? All of these questions need to be answered. Some of the qustions will be addressed in this report and others will be addressed in subsequent reports; but before the final selection of any site is made, all of these quesions will be answered. . The MWCC's plan covers a 20-year planning period. It, therefore, appears reasonable for the Commission to purchase enough land to handle the sludge and solid waste disposal for a 20-year period. However, all of the land need not be purchased at once. The MWCC could purchase only one-half the land needed and option the remaining land. In this way, all the land need not be taken off the tax rolls at once. The reason a longer period is not chosen is because the technology for sludge and ash disposal may likely change during the next 20 years. . Upon completion of the sludge processing facilities, the MWCC will have enough incineration capacity to process all of the sludge with one incinerator out of operat-ion. All of the incin- erators will be equipped with the latest air pollution devices to achieve compliance with the proposed air quality standards. If more than one incinerator is out of operation, the MWCC will have the capability to store the sludge on-site for a periOd_of time. The exact period of time is dependent on the amount of sludge that would need storage. However, the possibility that addi- tional backup systems to the landspreading and/or marketing and incineration system will be needed appears to be very remote. Therefore, no additional acreage for the landfilling of sludge on an emergency basis will be pursued at this time. If the MWCC can justify the need for additional land for the emergency disposal of slUdge, it will be reviewed at that time. Metro ~lant The MWCC recommends inCinerating primary sludge all the time and marketing a heat-dried secondary sludge. This disposal method during the next 20 years would require 226 acres for an ash landfill and 25,000 acres of private land for the disposal of the heat-dred sludge if the industrial pretreatment program is implemented. If the MWCC could not market the heat-dried sludge, the next least costly alternative is to incinerate all the sludge for six months and landspread the secondary sludge and incinerate the primary sludge for the other six months. This option would