Waste Transfer Station of Andover, NH:
An assessment and redesign
Sophie VIANDIER, Selectwoman of Andover, NH
BSc Integrative EcoSocial Design (IESD), Cycle 1
November 19, 2014--February 1, 2015
Collaborators and Boundary Partners: the transfer station attendants Reggie Roy and Debbie Guinard; Town Administrator Marjorie Roy; Permaculture teacher and city planner Steve Whitman; Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA); transfer station attendants from other NH towns.
Goal: To create a more resilient, creative, efficient, and ecological Waste Transfer Station by balancing Permaculture design techniques, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggestions, Dept. of Environmental Services (DES) regulations, and the Town of Andover's statutes and budgetary constraints.
Outcome/Impact: this portfolio will be presented in the local newspaper in March, 2015 and again during the annual Town Meeting. The designs will be on display in the lobby and on the big screen. It has also been given to the other Board of Selectmen and the Transfer Station attendants. The process has had tremendous effect on me (personally and professionally) and has brought awareness and attention to the townspeople, especially those in political office with me.
Design: This project and OP were completed using the SADIM model: Survey, Analysis/Assessment, Design, Implementation, Maintenance/Monitoring.
Navigation: The core report is set up using the same design method as the project itself (SADIM). Navigate through the Survey, Analysis/Assessment, Design, Implementation, Maintenance/ Monitoring in that order. The Supporting Evidence for each page is found at the end. The videos are helpful explanations of some processes within the world of garbage disposal, though a few can be skimmed as they pertain to the town of Andover specifically.
Dedication: This OP is dedicated to my dear friend John Burke: an inspiration and a mentor, a true multi-faceted diamond. Thank you for all your help and for taking me away from work when I really needed it.
What is a Waste Transfer Station?
Waste transfer stations play an important role in a community’s total waste management system, serving as the link between a community’s solid waste collection program and a final waste disposal facility. While facility ownership, sizes, and services offered vary significantly among transfer stations, they all serve the same basic purpose—consolidating waste from multiple collection vehicles into larger, high-volume transfer vehicles for more economical shipment to distant disposal sites. In its simplest form, a transfer station is a facility with a designated receiving area where waste collection vehicles discharge their loads. The waste is often compacted, then loaded into larger vehicles (usually transfer trailers, but intermodal containers, railcars, and barges are also used) for long-haul shipment to a final disposal site—typically a landfill, waste- to-energy plant, or a composting facility. No long-term storage of waste occurs at a transfer station; waste is quickly consolidated and loaded into a larger vehicle and moved off site, usually in a matter of hours.
Source: Waste Transfer Stations: A Manual for Decision-Making. United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), 2002.
This OP is for the use of:
- primarily, the residents of the Town of Andover, New Hampshire (USA) for their Waste Transfer Station;
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other designers and world-changers who are hoping to change their municipal waste stream;
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Gaia U associates who could benefit from the tools and resources provided;
- and for my own purposes as a designer to document my processes, progress, and findings, and finally to showcase my skills.
Glossary of Terms
Baler: This technology compresses waste into high-density, self-contained units (bales) of either waste or recyclables. Baled waste is transported on flatbed trailers (as opposed to transfer trailers) and is most often sent to a “balefill” that has special equipment (e.g., forklifts).
Construction and demolition debris (C&D): Includes broken concrete, wood waste, asphalt, rubble. This material can often be separated for beneficial use.
Household hazardous wastes (HHW): HHW come from residences, are generally produced in small quantities, and consist of common household discards such as paints, solvents, herbicides, pesticides, and batteries.
Municipal solid waste (MSW): Generally defined as discards routinely collected from homes, businesses, and institutions, and the nonhazardous discards from industries.
Source-separated: Recyclables discarded and collected in containers separate from non-recyclable waste. Bins or blue bags are used to separate residential recyclables; separate boxes or containers are used for commercial/industrial discards (e.g., corrugated cardboard packaging, wood pallets). Source-separated waste usually are delivered to a material recovery facility.
Tipping fee: The unit price charged at the disposal site or transfer station to accept waste, usually expressed as dollars per ton or dollars per cubic yard.
Tipping floor: The floor of the transfer station where waste is unloaded (tipped) for inspection, sorting, and loading.
Tons per day (TPD): The most common unit of measurement for waste generation, transfer, and disposal. Accurate TPD measurements require a scale; conversion from “cubic yards” without a scale involves estimated density factors.
Waste diversion: The process of separating certain materials at the transfer station to avoid the cost of hauling and the tipping fee at the landfill.
Waste screening: Inspecting incoming wastes to preclude transport of hazardous wastes, dangerous substances, or materials that are incompatible with transfer station or landfill operations.
Source: Waste Transfer Stations: A Manual for Decision-Making. United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), 2002.
Comments
Sophie Viandier
01 February 2015, 7:29
Attachments (1)
Sophie Viandier
08 February 2015, 11:44
Lizandra Barbuto's Peer review
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Virginia Menstell
08 February 2015, 13:02
Attachments (1)
Nicole Vosper
05 March 2015, 11:46
Outstanding work.
Attachments (2)