That trash has to go somewhere, usually to a landfill. But the landfill used by South Hampton Roads municipalities is rapidly filling, prompting the need for a long-term solution and alternative way to dispose of waste.
Commonwealth Sortation, a subsidiary of Colorado-based AMP, has been tapped to provide it. In November, it was awarded a contract from the Southeastern Public Service Authority to process much of the region’s waste and recycling materials for the next 25 years.
AMP touts the use of artificial intelligence to help improve recycling efforts and repurpose waste. Here’s a look at how it’s Portsmouth processing and sorting facility works.
LESS GOES TO THE LANDFILL
Officials from SPSA and AMP say the partnership will divert waste from the regional landfill in Suffolk and extend its capacity through 2095 instead of 2060. The expectation is an estimated 50% diversion rate for waste and a recycling rate of at least 20%, which is up from the current roughly 7% recycling rate.
AMP’s operations, which have been at Recycling & Disposal Solutions of Virginia in Portsmouth for at least a year under a pilot program, tout the use of artificial intelligence to help improve recycling efforts and repurpose waste. Operations will span two locations, with an estimated 120 workers processing about 540,000 tons of waste each year. That includes workers who deliver, sort and process waste as well as engineers who manage software and equipment.
AMP officials expect the facility at 3325 Frederick Blvd. will be fully operational by the end of the month, with full waste volumes being processed by April. And within a year and a half, AMP officials plan to operate another facility on Victory Boulevard — the site of the former Wheelabrator — where roughly 100 employees will convert and transport some organic waste into charcoal-like products that can be sold commercially.
THE PUNGENT PROCESS
AMP’s equipment and technology removes and sorts recyclables from mixed waste streams and repurposes organic waste. The use of technology is aimed at improving efficiency by minimizing the manpower needed, but taking care of trash still involves some front-line workers armed with protective gear braving the pervasive stench. The process is loud, so headsets are necessary for communication.
Route trucks collect trash across participating South Hampton Roads cities, bring it to the Frederick Boulevard site and dump the mixed waste stream on a concrete floor. A dump truck with a plow then pushes waste into separate, manageable piles before dumping those one-by-one into a large basin.
From there, trash moves its way up an electronic ladder and is placed through a shredder to reduce the size of items and minimize bulkiness. The ideal maximum size is roughly that of a pizza box. Two people on the line then begin sorting, pulling out stringy items and bulky items that can’t be processed through the equipment.
Waste then moves through a long orange tube-like structure that helps sort based on size, with particles smaller than a couple inches falling through cracks onto one belt and larger pieces moving through another route.
Then equipment inside a doghouse-like structure uses AI to identify and further sort and separate the types of waste, such as plastic, paper, cardboard and organic waste, sending them through different conveyor belts.
Recyclable products ultimately will be compacted into “bales” that can be purchased.
Though the smell of trash permeates the outdoor facility and leaves its mark on each step of the process, perhaps the most pungent area of the line is the organic stream, dubbed the “brown” stream since it often includes leaves and food scraps. Organic waste ultimately will be transferred to the Victory Boulevard facility to be heated and converted into biochar, a charcoal-like product that can be sold commercially for use in concrete and other industrial materials.
“All of this organic material that would decompose in a landfill and create methane, which is a pretty potent greenhouse gas, instead gets kind of captured and stuck in the biochar, and it stays there instead of releasing into the atmosphere,” said Andrew Trump, vice president of commercial for AMP.
But until that facility is fully operational, organic waste will be compacted on site at the Frederick Boulevard facility into a dirt mixture, then transferred to the landfill to be used as a “cover” overnight. That site currently measures about 105,000 square feet, but the goal is to add an additional 45,000 for operations, according to AMP.
INVESTMENT
AMP officials say the agreement represents a $200 million investment in capital, equipment, and an estimated 120 jobs. AMP CEO Tim Stuart said hiring is underway at the Frederick Boulevard site.
“So it enables their landfill to extend their life, to double their age, which gives lots of certainty to this area from a disposal standpoint, and certainly creates economic advantage because you have control of what’s going on,” Stuart said. “And then all the environmental impacts from the biochar, from less trucks on the road, just movement of material — all that has significant impact on the environment.
“So it’s really a win-win-win across the board: for the residents, for the commercial businesses, for the environment.”
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