(best examples and good practices) on household organic waste ...

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The Rapid City composting plant (Picture 78.) in South Dakota was built in
three stages. It is a facility that treats both Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) <strong>and</strong>
sewage sludge. Partnering enabled Rapid City to complete the third <strong>and</strong> final
phase of its biosolids <strong>and</strong> municipal solid waste (MSW) co-composting facility
on time <strong>and</strong> within budget.
The first phases of the solid waste program which consisted of the Material
Recovery Facility <strong>and</strong> the two rotating bioreactors was completed in 1997.
Economic concerns prompted the City to put the final phase composting
project on hold. Interest was renewed in 1999 when Rapid City decided to
upgrade its Water Reclamation Facility <strong>and</strong> discovered that biosolids l<strong>and</strong>
application would require purchasing an additional 1,100 acres of l<strong>and</strong>. Cocomposting
biosolids with MSW would achieve greater economic benefits,
meet the recycling goals <strong>and</strong> preserve l<strong>and</strong>fill space. However, problems
surfaced again in 2002 when the first round of bids for the co-composting
facility exceeded the project budget. US Filter presented an approach that the
City accepted.
The technical team conducted an intense design workshop to achieve the
project <strong>and</strong> budget objectives. Within six months the design was completed,
the project was successfully rebid <strong>and</strong> construction was underway. Finally, the
facility started to operate at May 2003. It has the capacity of processing 355
cubic yards per day of municipal solid waste with biosolids at 9 tunnels, each 10
feet wide x 8 feet high x 280 feet long. The solids retention time is 29 days,
while the area of the composting building is 47,000 square feet. The facility
consists of the active composting facility, aerated curing (20,000 square feet
compost aerated curing shelter with a retention time of 30 days) <strong>and</strong> a refining
building with a screener <strong>and</strong> destoner. The product is stored at a 3 acre area.
The compost product is used in l<strong>and</strong> reclamation <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong>scaping projects.