Category: News

Modules 6 and 7 – Interim Fill Sequence Plan Development Release Date: May 17, 2021 Closing Date and Time: June 2, 2021 at 3:30 p.m. (Pacific)

The District made a $3.5 million retrofit to its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in summer 2020 to improve diversion and increase revenue of recycled materials. Even with increased contamination in the recycling stream during the pandemic (from 20% to 30% year-over-year), the MRF has increased its diversion by one percent (1%). The MRF is also on track to increase revenue $1.1 million/year.

Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), the system designer and manufacturer, installed three pieces of equipment: (1) a cardboard separation screen, (2) an optical sorter to recover bottles and cans from residue line, and (3) a fiber optical sorting system that separates smaller brown-grade cardboard (like cereal boxes) from newspaper and junk mail.

The District anticipates the payback on the capital is about three years, while the upgrades will last at least ten years. The increase in revenue is achieved by lowering facility operational costs, improving the quality and marketability of recyclables, and recovering more recyclables like California Redemption Value (CRV) bottle and cans. This investment ultimately benefits rate payers and allows for future investments in technology that furthers efficiency and diversion, including robotics and other artificial intelligence systems.

You can read more about the report out on the Residential Single Stream Fiber and Residual Recovery Retrofit in the February 2021 board packet.

Here is a video of the fiber (aka paper) optical sorting system. On the left you can see the newly separated brown-grade cardboard, which has a higher market value and makes the paper bale quality higher.

 

CalRecycle keeps an updated map with information about where you can redeem your California Redemption Value beverage bottles and cans. View the current list of locations at : https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/BevContainer/RecyclingCenters

Before you bring fire debris to the District, you must go through the correct process.  All affected properties must participate in Phase 1 Household Hazardous Waste cleanup through the EPA, and all fire debris removal post Phase 1 requires sign-off by the Monterey County Environmental Health Department or Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Department. You can find resources for 2020 Fire Recovery on the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services website or Santa Cruz County Fire Recovery Environmental Health Resources website.

The EPA has also established a hotline for communities impacted by the Carmel, River, and Dolan Fires. If you have questions about Phase 1 of Debris Removal or questions about the status of your property, you can contact the EPA at (415) 793-8794.

You can read the District’s complete Fire Waste Screening and Acceptance Procedure that outlines the steps you must take.

Here is the District’s Waste Manifest Form that you must fill out and include in your submittal package.

 

Arlene Karidis | Aug 26, 2020

In California, Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) and its neighbor, wastewater treatment plant Monterey One Water, have entered a somewhat unusual relationship with unique benefits to each. And the relationship has payoffs for its shared customers too.

The District is delivering renewable gas, sourced from its methane and produced on site, to Monterey One Water to power its operation. The two entities are working on building infrastructure to be able to directly convey the energy from the district’s plant to Monterey One’s water purification system – bypassing the utility grid.

MRWMD now can sell power at higher rates than it sells on the stock market. For Monterey One, it means a guaranteed flow of energy at a predictable cost that is cheaper than if it were to get it from the grid.

This symbiotic relationship has become especially meaningful to address a challenge that arose years ago around the region’s drinking water supply. The Monterey region is not connected to California’s water system and had to rely on water largely from the river. Policy was established to reduce the draw on the river by 70% and that water had to be replaced. Monterey One Water began developing plans to convert their effluent, stormwater and other sources to drinking water. That water treatment process has proven extremely energy intensive.

“So, we at the District suggested to Monterey One Water that we could deliver 2 megawatts (MW) of renewable power sourced from landfill gas. That formed the nexus of the partnership opportunity we developed,” says Tim Flanagan, MRWMD general manager.

The waste conversion project now underway at Monterey One’s advanced purification facility will provide a new source of drinking water for Monterey Peninsula. The project will make about one-third of the drinking water for the residents and businesses of that region.

The roughly 2 MW per year of renewable gas the District provides should fully power the operation, according to Paul Sciuto, general manager of Monterey One Water.

“Until now, we had been getting most of our power from the grid,” says Sciuto.

Work is underway to find and hire a tech company to build an interconnection.“Sooner than later we want to connect landfill gas to our advanced water purification facility where we put wastewater through four treatment stages to ultimately be used as a drinking water supply. If we get construction funds to move forward, we will go to full-blown conversion to renewable energy,” says Mike McCullough, director of external affairs at Monterey One Water.
Sciuto says there could be a possible expansion of the existing treatment plant to produce more water, creating demand for more renewable power yet.

“We are moving full steam ahead on the current project. Through this relationship with the District we realize lower rates for electricity, and we talked about the possibility of further sharing resources in the future where we would take some of their organics for our anaerobic digester, or we would send our digester gas to them for their CNG facility. And or we could possibly put together a microgrid to benefit our customers,” says Sciuto.

Historically the two entities have tried to work together in areas of common interest. Collaboration has made sense because they are located next to each other and share the same access road, which was an intentional design.

“The landfill was already built and there was only a little over a mile to go to build an outfall for the water treatment operation’s effluent. By co-locating they did not have to haul their biosolids. They could literally send it next door. So, the agencies are well aligned due to good, visionary public policy planning,” says Flanagan.

Among earlier partnerships between the two entities, the District had been running an anaerobic digester until October 2019 and distributing a small amount of power –about 80 kW –to Monterey One as a pilot.
“The project operated for six years and is part of a larger program of the District to evaluate organic waste processing methods. This is another example of us collaborating to make the most of our gas,” says Guy Petraborg, MRWMD director of engineering.

A few other solid waste and wastewater treatment plants have entered partnerships, though to co-digest wastewater sludge with organics that would otherwise go to landfill. As with the Monterey project, it’s been a way to supplement energy to power the wastewater operation and provide a means for landfills to deal with organic waste and or resulting methane.

But these resource-combing and resource-sharing relationships are not very common, especially for projects like the one between Monterey One and the District.

The relationship with the District adds value in many ways, notes McCullough.

“With the increasing cost of power and gas it’s a way to be more efficient and environmentally conscious, as well as achieve economic benefits,” he says. “It’s a win-win: We get a renewable source that’s cheaper (than grid electricity). The District’s customers and our customers win because we can pass along our cost savings. And the environment benefits too.”

Per Waste 360’s article.

SB 1383 targets greenhouse gas reductions through statewide residential and commercial organics recycling collection, edible food recovery, as well as the procurement of recycling paper, compost, and renewable natural gas. To meet deadlines for its implementation in January 2022, we need to start planning now. Learn more about the future of organics in California and how our community can plan for SB 1383.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 22, 2020

Sacramento–On behalf of Californians Against Waste, Executive Director Mark Murray has issued the following statement following today’s expiration of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order to temporarily suspend California’s bag ban:

“We are grateful that Governor Newsom has allowed the temporary suspension of California’s ban on single use plastic bags to expire this week.

We understand that, out of an abundance of caution, in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, some retailers and even some county public health officers chose to temporarily discourage consumers from bringing their own reusable bags into stores.

Along with many other changes in the way consumers conduct business, consumers will be obligated to bag their own groceries and ensure that store employees or other customers do not come in contact with their reusable bags.

We are appreciative that public health officials, including those at CALOSHA, and the public health officers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Mendocino, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara Counties have made it explicit in their orders and guidance that consumers are authorized to bring their reusable bags to retail stores, but must prevent those bags from coming in contact with store employees, other customers, and the checkstand. Health officials agree that when consumers bag their own groceries in their own reusable bags there is no risk to public health.

The discontinued use of reusable bags at many California retailers has resulted in a severe shortage of recycled paper bags and the temporary return of single-use plastic bags by some retailers. It’s projected that as many as 1 billion single-use plastic bags were distributed in California in April and May alone, costing consumers more than $20 million in higher grocery costs.

The quick return to the practice of bringing reusable bags will reduce an unnecessary source of plastic pollution, reduce grocery costs for stores and consumers, and relieve the shortage of recycled paper bags.”

Contact: Mark Murray, Californians Against Waste, 916-995-8655

https://www.cawrecycles.org/

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MRWMD budgetary constraints restrict non-essential services.

(Monterey County, CA) Monterey Regional Waste Management’s (MRWMD) popular Last Chance Mercantile re-use store will remain closed until further notice due to budgetary constraints. Last Chance Mercantile is a beloved institution and key to the District’s mission of “turning waste into resources” by fulfilling one of the seven R’s of sustainability—reuse. Unfortunately, the store has historically operated at a loss, a situation unlikely to change under current conditions of heightened health safety. Thus, the store will remain closed while the District reassesses the best path forward.

In recent months, the District has had to determine which programs and services are essential and comply with shelter in place orders. Now that the economy is slowly opening back up, they are seeing the financial effects of the shutdown and are making these assessments on a longer-term basis.

“The impact of COVID-19 has hit all sectors of our local economy, particularly in our local hospitality industry, and those downturns are impacting the MRWMD as well,” stated General Manager Tim Flanagan. “Our disposal and recycling volumes have decreased significantly. Since mid-March our revenues have dipped 15-20% below normal. This relates to a projected $4+ million reduction in revenue compared to last fiscal year. As such, we can no longer financially support non-essential programs that operate at a deficit. Like local government and industry, we have been forced to make difficult decisions in favor of the financial sustainability of the District and the essential disposal and recycling services we provide to the community.”

Part of the Last Chance Mercantile, the CRV-redemption Bottle and Can Buyback Center will also remain closed, but permanently. The District has offered CRV redemption to the community since 2011, but it was costing them to do so.

“Our hope is that we can aid the opening of one or more CRV redemption centers in local communities that are more accessible to customers than the one we had on-site was. Another entity would be able to access funding from redemption, which we are not eligible to receive. Thinking outside the box we realized it could be a win-win for the community and a non-profit looking for a source of revenue,” Flanagan commented.

In addition to closing the Last Chance Mercantile and Bottle and Can Buyback Center, MRWMD has also made budget cuts for FY 20/21 through offering early retirement packages to eligible employees, laying off non-essential positions, and senior and management staff have agreed to pay cuts and wage increase freezes. MRWMD is being creative in seeking new sources of revenue.

MRWMD Board of Directors and staff will examine possible paths forward to an eventual reopening of the Last Chance Mercantile with the store operating more economically, while fulfilling the District’s mission.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) is located just north of Marina at 14201 Del Monte Blvd., Monterey County, CA 93933-1670, serving a population of approximately 170,000 in 853 square miles, including the cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Sand City, Seaside, and the unincorporated areas of Big Sur, Carmel Highlands, Carmel Valley, Castroville, Corral De Tierra, Laguna Seca, Moss Landing, Pebble Beach, San Benancio, and Toro Park. Call 831-384-5313 for information or visit www.mrwmd.org

MRWMD is not the curbside service provider; contact GreenWaste Recovery, Waste Management Inc., or Monterey City Disposal for information about curbside pickup services.

Contacts:
Tim Flanagan                            Zoë Shoats
General Manager                      Director of Communications
831.264.6915                             831.264.6390
tflanagan@mrwmd.org           zshoats@mrwmd.org

Click here for a PDF of the press release.

Recently, the State and County of Monterey have allowed retail businesses to reopen with restrictions. The District is currently evaluating safety measures that would be required for reopening the Last Chance Mercantile, for both customers and workers, as well as the financial viability of the store. We will provide updates on reopening of the store as they become available. Thank you for your patience.

MONTEREY — Sheltering in place might seem like a great opportunity to finally tackle spring cleaning. But as residents purge their homes of non-essentials, they are faced with another side effect of shelter in place: few options remain for donating and recycling the things they no longer need. Read more