Composting
- Old Macon Road Landfill Biosolids Composting Facility - Laurens County Solid Waste Management Authority
- Dunlap Road Biosolids Composting Facility - Athens-Clarke County Consolidated Government
- Food Composting Facility - Greenco Environmental, LLC
Old Macon Road Landfill Biosolids Composting Facility - Laurens County Solid Waste Management Authority
Dublin, Georgia - As general solid waste engineering consultant to the LCSWMA, ACC assisted in obtaining the permit for the landfill to become the first facility in the state to compost biosolids (sewage sludge) and yard waste. GA EPD approved the permit in June 2008. Over 2,000 tons of biosolids from the City of Dublin WPCP were being disposed of in the 498-acre Old Macon Road landfill annually. Since the initiation of the program, biosolids and chipped yard waste are transported to the landfill where they are dropped off at designated areas. The compost operations are being conducted within several lined MSW landfill cells that have received a lift of waste. Diverting the biosolids from the landfill will save 3,333 CY of air space annually.
At an adjacent mixing area, the feedstock is mixed by a front-end loader. After the mixing, windrows are constructed by lifting the material with the front end loader 
and letting it cascade down to form loose piles. Periodically, the windrows are turned, moving the mixed materials from the outside to the inside, to loosen and fluff the material so it will be more porous, allow air to move more freely throughout, and accelerate the decomposition process. On-site, the finished compost will be used to assist in the reclamation of borrow areas and to establish vegetation on the landfill. Off-site, the product will be used by local farmers. The compost piles are monitored daily for temperature and levels of oxygen to ensure the control of vectors. Additionally, groundwater and methane gas are monitored in accordance with GA EPD requirements. Odor from the compost facility will be managed by proper control of the carbon to nitrogen ratio and moisture content. To ensure public safety, samples of the finished product are collected per the protocol of the U.S. Composting Council each calendar month and shipped to a laboratory for analysis.
Dunlap Road Biosolids Composting Facility - Athens-Clarke County Consolidated Government
Athens, Georgia - In the early 2000's, 1,500 tons of biosolids were being sent to the Dunlap Road Landfill for disposal. The Public Utilities Department received a permit by GA EPD to begin mixing the biosolids with yard debris at the WWTP to form a compost which is distributed to the public as "Classic City Compost". An expansion of the WWTP made it necessary to relocate this operation to the landfill. As the general solid waste engineering consultant to Athens-Clarke Co. Solid Waste Department, ACC assisted in obtaining a permit from the EPD for the composting operation which was expanded to include food waste along with the biosolids and yard waste. ACC's services also included providing construction documents, construction administration engineering and construction quality assurance. The composting process is started by adding wood chips and ground yard debris to the sewage sludge (biosolids) as food source for the bacteria. Once it is mixed, windrows are constructed by lifting the material by a front-end loader and letting the material cascade down to form loose piles. This operation takes place on an asphalt pad. Runoff from the pad is collected and either used for moisture control in the compost or pumped to the landfill's leachate storage tanks from which it is either recirculated into the landfill or hauled to the WWTP for treatment. The windrows are turned periodically to allow air flow and promote decomposition. Additionally, the windrows are monitored daily for temperature and levels of oxygen. Groundwater and methane gas are monitored in accordance with GA EPD requirements. Odor from the compost facility will be managed by proper control of the carbon to nitrogen ratio and moisture content. To ensure public safety, samples of the finished compost are collected per the protocol of the U.S. Composting Council each calendar month and shipped to a laboratory for analysis. The Classic City Compost has received Exceptional Quality Status and is a popular and effective garden supplement to their citizens as it promotes strong plant growth.
Food Composting Facility - Greenco Environmental, LLC
Lamar County, Georgia - Atlantic Coast Consulting, Inc. was selected by Greenco Environmental, LLC to design the first permitted food waste composting facility in the state of Georgia. Greenco received their solid waste handling permit from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division on October 8, 2008. The compost facility is located on 34.1 acres of land in an industrial park in Lamar County, Georgia. The civil engineering design included the access roads; entrance and scalehouse area; a yard waste receiving area and pads for the composting operation; stormwater collection structures and detention ponds for stormwater runoff; and a pump to re-circulate stormwater to be used to
hydrate the compost. Additionally, ACC handled the NPDES permitting and notes for the site.
At the composting facility, yard waste, such as leaves, straw, chipped wood material, grass, other vegetative material and food waste is converted by a mixing and turning
process into a compost which will be transported in bulk to end users, such as agricultural product growers, and also will be bagged to sell to retailers/wholesalers to be sold to consumers. The initial construction capacity of the Facility will allow for 21,000 tons of food waste and 65,000 tons of yard waste to be accepted to the
facility annually. These original volumes of waste will yield approximately 21,500 cubic yards of compost based on a 75% shrinkage rate due to decomposition and water evaporation from the material forming the compost.
The food waste composting facility allows natural resources within the County to be turned into a usable product which goes back into the soil and becomes a renewable food source for the earth. It also allows the County to divert yard waste out of the landfill in order to attain their waste reduction goals cited in their Solid Waste Management Plan.