Composting facility in the works

Humboldt County is working on getting its own composting facility up and running as part of its effort to get the infrastructure in place to divert food scraps and other organic waste from landfills.

Last week, Eric Keller-Heckman, the Humboldt Waste Management Authority’s director of operations, told the Board of Directors that the county is “on schedule” with a project that would convert the Eureka Recycling Center to an organic waste processing facility. The conversion would be to help Humboldt County get in compliance with Senate Bill 1383, a bill passed in 2016 mandating local municipalities begin organic waste collection.

Keller-Heckman said staff “has been to assess the infrastructure needs of the Eureka Recycling Center and what it’s going to take to transform that to the organics processing facility. And right now, everything is currently on track with no change to the timeline that was presented last month.”

The Eureka Recycling Center was chosen because the site has a solid waste facility permit and applying for a new one at a different location could take two to five years.

The county is being helped by Sacramento-based waste management consulting firm Edgar and Associates. The firm’s president, Evan Edgar, told the board in May that while organics can be processed in Humboldt County soon, it will take more time to permit a composting facility.

“What would happen next, is that there would be many requests for a proposal to transfer those organics to a permitted food waste compost facility,” Edgar said. “And at the same time, over the short term, to try to permit a compost facility solely within county could be three to five years, but in the interim, they’ll be transferred to a permitted food waste compost facility within California. So it’s critical to stay on path and make a substantial effort.”

SB 1383 aims to reduce methane gas emissions by diverting organic waste from landfills. Organic waste releases methane as it decomposes and is responsible for 20% of California’s total methane emissions.