NBSWMD Will Look To Covanta For Possible Sludge Disposal
ADAMS, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District may seek regionalization opportunities for the disposal of wastewater treatment plant sludge.
The district granted Adams representative Edward Driscoll permission to contact the city of Pittsfield to see if there was any interest in utilizing the Covanta facility to burn sludge.
"Do we want to reach out and ask if we can be a service to them or if they could be a service to us?" Driscoll said. "Their business is down and they are getting less trash, which means less steam to sell. Maybe they are looking to diversify."
The waste burning plant on Hubbard Avenue planned to close in the next year because it could not afford needed repairs. Pittsfield decided to kick in $562,000 to help make repairs and keep the waste-to-energy facility running.
Program Coordinator Sandy Totter said the district technically already works with Covanta because its contracted trash hauler, Republic, currently brings trash to the plant.
Driscoll said sludge was his real concern and suggested that the district could contribute to help upgrade the plant so they can burn sludge.
"We should throw that out to the mayor because they want to put all this money into the plant for the city of Pittsfield maybe they want to add to it," he said. "We can kick something in if they add that on and then they have more business coming in."
Driscoll brought up the option because of recent upticks in sludge removal costs. The Adams sludge removal vendor increased its price by 20 percent.
Totter said all vendors have increased fees and many communities are concerned about rising costs.
Driscoll also asked Williamstown representative Timothy Kaiser to inquire about the Hoosac Water Quality District facility that composts sludge for reuse.
"I will give them a call and see if there is any interest and if they have any capacity," Kaiser said. "When they first started the process they had some issues: they had odor issues and quality issues but they have really cleaned up their act and they have a good product now."
Driscoll said any time the district can regionalize it can be a real cost saver that can open them up for grants.
"Anytime we have a chance to reach out and regionalize we should because volume is the only we are ever going to save money in this business," Driscoll said.
Tags: alternative energy, NBSWD, waste district,
