The Ames City Council had a special meeting Wednesday to select a consultant for developing a new resource recovery and recycling campus in Ames.
The council approved a $50,000 contract with HDR Engineering Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska, to build a new area for the city to receive solid waste, recyclables and yard waste.
The solid waste will be consolidated and transported to a landfill for disposal. Recyclable materials will be sent to recyclers and yard waste will be composted on-site or transported off-site for disposal.
Agreements are in line for the city to purchase approximately 9.5 acres on Freel Drive to construct the facility.
The Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant currently recycles metals and glass, and prepares waste as a supplemental fuel, called refuse derived fuel, and co-fired with natural gas at the city’s power plant. According to the City, the refuse derived fuel powers more than 4,600 homes annually.
“The City of Ames is going away from waste to energy for several different reasons,” Resource Recovery Superintendent Mark Peebler told the Daily in an email. “Refuse derived fuel is no longer cost effective as a supplemental fuel, reliability issues with corrosion on the boiler tubes; the generation units are reaching the end of their useful life; and emission and regulatory policy changes that have been implemented.”
Ames currently has an agreement with the Boone County Landfill to accept “rejects for Resource Recovery and the other materials that were not beneficial for waste to energy,” Peebler stated.
“The Boone Landfill has expressed that they are no longer wanting to accept solid waste from the Ames and Story County service area due to the reduced air space for their own long-term landfilling options,” Peebler stated. “The City of Ames is currently working with Boone County Board of Supervisors to extend the agreement for an additional two years to allow time to construct and implement the new Resource Recovery and Recycling campus.”
Peebler said the new Resource Recovery and Recycling campus’s goal is to be very similar, without the waste-to-energy portion.
The campus is expected to open in 2027.