Plans underway to expand Prince Williams compost facility
They call it black gold. No, it’s not oil, but it’s something Prince William County officials think is more environmentally conscious — if not just as valuable.
It’s compost.
“It kind of glows like gold,” said Tom Smith, the county’s chief of solid waste management, as he held a tennis-ball-size scoop of compost in his palm. “This is black gold — it works really good in your gardens.”
Since 1991, the county has used twigs, grass and food waste from restaurants to create compost. Trucks and other earth-moving equipment are used to ventilate and arrange more than 120 piles of compost, some of which are as tall as a four-story building. All this, officials say, helps reduce the waste in the county’s landfill.
Without machines, it can take as long as nine months to finish the compost conversion process. But the county recently reached an agreement with a contractor who hopes to cut that time dramatically by using a little technology.
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The Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently approved an agreement with Freestate Farms, a local agricultural services and production company that plans to construct a building at the county's Balls Ford Road Compost Facility in Manassas.
Freestate is expected to begin construction in July and finish in 2017.
When complete, the facility is expected to recycle more than 80,000 tons of waste per year into compost, soil products and non-synthetic fertilizers. Using biofilters and bunkers, the facility will allow piles to break down faster and reduce odors.
“We’re looking forward to it because it’s a better process, and we’ll be able to process more materials than going to the landfill,” said Smith, adding that the new process will take about three months.
In addition to bunkers, Smith said Freestate plans to build an airtight tank that will process food waste and other organic material into fertilizer and methane. That gas will be used to run a combined heat and power generator at the facility, which will also be home to a greenhouse that will grow produce using the compost. The fruits and vegetables grown there will be sold.
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The facility will cost Freestate $20 million to build, said Deborah Campbell, a spokeswoman for the county’s Solid Waste Division.
Bernard Osilka, an engineer with the Solid Waste Division, said the facility will be the first of its kind in the region.
The agreement between Freestate and Prince William County is for 20 years. Freestate will be the third contractor to make compost for the county.
Why compost? Smith said it started as a way to divert material away from the landfill.
“It preserves space,” he said. “And you’re taking a product which people would normally throw out and making something useable out of it.”
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