- On Tuesday at the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting, the county approved the Public Work's department plan for a county-run compost facility at the Shafter-Wasco Landfill.
- The cost to build the facility is estimated at $27 million, however Public Work's manager Chuck Magee believes the project is a prime candidate to receive a $10 million dollar grant. Early estimates also slate the operating costs of the facility at $2 million per year.
- Currently, the county spends $7 million per year on offloading compostable material to outside entities. Meaning when the facility comes online, the county can expect to see a yearly savings of $5 million, per Magee.
- The project has been put out for bids with final bids expected by early November. Magee is optimistic that the project will be under construction between 30 and 60 days after the bid is accepted.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
If you have a garden or a flower bed, you're likely familiar with the term and stuff that is compost. Now, the Shafter-Wasco Landfill has a proposal that was just approved for a compost facility out here at the landfill.
The plan to develop a compost facility has been in place for seven years according to Public Works manager Chuck Magee, and is a culmination of lots of effort.
“We've been collecting yard waste and tree trimmings and construction lumber now for 20 plus years and this is just the final culmination of: we've been working with it so long and working with other composers, both public and private, that we've gotten to the point where we understand exactly what needs to be done for each market, and we can tailor that material to each one. This is all going to occur at the Shafter[-Wasco] landfill.”
But why should you care? The project is estimated to cost $27 million dollars with the likelihood of $10 million dollar grant being given to public works to help fund the project knocking the price tag down to $17 million dollars.
Better, but that’s still a lot of money
In his proposal to the board of supervisors yesterday, Magee said it costs the county $7 million dollars a year to have compostable material hauled off to other entities to get them to compost it.
You see where I’m going with this?
Per estimates cited by Magee in his proposal to the board, by building the compost facility, the county can expect to save $5 million dollars a year, which in turn means lower costs for rate payers in Kern County..
“That’s exactly correct. If we get the grant, it'll take us about three and a half years to pay for this facility with the savings that we'll realize from doing it here and not having to pay to have it done somewhere else. If we don't get the grant, it's five and a half."
And looking forward to the future, once the facility is built the benefits aren’t just economic, but also based in sustainability.
"You recycle that grass, you recycle those tree branches, you get it to us. You're going to have the ability to come back and pick up the material that you sent in. A finished product that can actually benefit your house, your garden, your plants or whatever you're doing.”
According to Magee, the plan has been sent out for bid. That should be back by early November and they hope to be in the ground starting construction in about 30 to 60 days after that.
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