Gregory County Trasnfer Station	Hartington Transfer Station	Mid-Plains Composting Facility	Southern Missouri Regional Landfill	Vermillion/ Yankton Regional Landfill

 

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Recovery Facility and Composting Operation Pilot Project 

Mid-Plains Waste Management; O'Neill, Nebraska

Mid-plains Waste Management selected Eisenbraun and Associates to complete the permit and design of the Materials Recovery Facility and Composting Operation in O’Neill, Nebraska. The design by Eisenbraun and Associates included a physical facility consisting of a five-acre building. Transfer vehicles entered and exited the building through a single sliding door and mechanically dumped loads onto a designated concrete tipping floor area. An operator utilized a motorized loader for transferring the solid waste from the tipping floor to a motorized conveyor belt that carried municipal solid waste to the recycling pickers. During this transfer process the loader operator would scan for hazardous waste that may have been undetected during collection or previous transfer operations. Recyclable and non-compostable materials would be removed and placed into separate containers by the pickers. Compostable materials and glass remained on the conveyor that feeds into a vertical mill that reduces particle size prior to composting. A magnet located at the grinder entrance removes metallic objects that remain on the conveyor. Material received during an operational day was processed in a timely manner to control litter, odor, and disease vectors.

The compost site operated under controlled conditions. The windrows were placed upon a concrete floor that was in good condition and were managed to provide optimum decomposition. The moisture content management of the compost windrows ensured that free liquids did not leach away from the windrows. Compostable materials were conveyed into a vertical mill that reduced particle size prior to composting. Moisture was added to the ground material via a spray manifold on the vertical mill outflow chute as it is loaded onto a dump truck for placement into composting windrows. Each windrow was managed for optimum biological decomposition through controlled aeration, temperature control, and moisture content. The process required 8-10 weeks to obtain a stabilized product that underwent temperatures of 55 degrees centigrade and above for pathogen destruction. When the windrow material stabilized, it was dried and screened through a trommel mill. The compost material was then transferred to a compost curing pile within the building. Eisenbraun and Associates’ design of a municipal solid waste material recovery facility and composting operation was successfully implemented.