California has a statewide goal to divert 75 percent of waste from the landfill by 2020. In February 2007, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) adopted Strategic Directive (SD) 6.1, which calls for a 50 percent reduction in the amount of organics being disposed in landfills by 2020. Organic waste makes up approximately one third of the 42.7 million tons of waste that is currently going to the landfills in California. To aid in meeting the statewide 75 percent goal, Assembly Bill 1826 was passed in September 2014 requiring businesses, including state agencies, which generate certain amounts of organic waste per week to have organic waste recycling programs on or after April 1, 2016.
Between 2006 and 2015 the Division of Integrated Waste Management received $322,554 in grant funding from CalRecycle and the California Energy Commission (CEC) for two innovative Anaerobic Composter demonstration projects in collaboration with University of California at Davis. The Anaerobic Composter project utilizes space on an existing landfilled area to create a series of reusable digester cells that recover methane gas for electricity generation while decomposing organic material into compost product. Placing the Anaerobic Composter cells on top of a lined landfill has several advantages. First, the underlying groundwater is better protected and second, by utilizing on-site gas collection facility and other liquid and gas collection piping, the project requires less capital cost, which makes this project more cost effective. After the methane generation and organic material decomposition rates attenuate, the system is operated aerobically to cure the residual decomposed organics, and is excavated to remove the compost, and the cell is reused to receive the next batch of organic waste. The compost is a sellable product that has applications in agriculture and horticulture and can be used as a soil amendment on or off-site.
In September of 2017 the California Regional Water Quality Control Board approved the plans and specifications for the construction of Anaerobic Composter. The construction project was advertised for bidding on January 19, 2018 and on March 9, 2018 three bids were received. The lowest responsive bidder was COMANCO Environmental Corporation. It is anticipated that the construction will start in May 2018, and will finish by July 2018.
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