MONROE — The city has come up with a way to save money, help farmers and get rid of tons of waste.
By April, the city plans to begin turning its wastewater treatment plant leftovers into compost at a new facility on the former state Department of Corrections Honor Farm.
The deal could save the city an estimated $35,000 a year, and the compost will likely end up on local farmers’ fields, said John Lande, the city’s wastewater treatment plant manager.
Monroe is already composting some of the material, called biosolids, but it doesn’t have enough room to compost it all, he said.
The city hauls the sloppy, wet biosolids away — 200 tons last year — to a facility in Lake Stevens that processes the material into a soil amendment that is spread on Douglas County wheat fields.
The city signed an agreement with Qualco Energy Corp., a nonprofit organization setting up a biogas plant that will convert dairy waste into energy. Qualco also is installing several gigantic drum-shaped composters. As part of the deal, Monroe will haul the biosolids, operate the composters and oversee the compost process. Qualco will own the finished compost.
Qualco will provide at no charge a fiber byproduct from the biogas plant that will be used in the compost as a bulking material. The city uses sawdust in its own operation and the cost of sawdust has doubled.
The city will pay Qualco $35 per cubic yard of biosolids delivered.
Qualco is expecting the composters to be delivered soon, said Dale Reiner, president of Qualco. The vessels are 8 feet in diameter and 36 feet long. The city will drop its biosolids into a mixer where the fiber will be added and then a conveyer belt will pull the material into the drums. They’ll rotate slowly for four days and then drop the material onto another conveyer that will take the material to a barn for curing.
Biosolids are what’s left after wastewater and sewage is treated. And it makes great compost, Lande said.
The compost will be the highest rated in quality, he said, appropriate even for vegetable gardens.
“The product will be returned to local fields and grow more corn and green silage for cows to turn into fuel. It completes the cycle,” he said.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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