Transfer Station Zoning

One viable solution to aid Chaffee County waste diversion is infrastructure investment in a transfer station for recycling. Waste transfer stations are a key component of cost-effective solid waste transportation. The 2021 GARNA/Chaffee County Residential Waste Diversion survey revealed that some residents are so committed to recycling, they are driving as far as Wichita, Kansas with their recycling (upon the closure of Angel of Shavano free recycling drop-off stations). In addition, Chaffee County recycling haulers such as Waste Management, Shamrock and Chaffee County Waste all transport the recycling they gather to Colorado Springs. Currently they all are using their own refuse compactor trucks to transport the recycling. While there's an obvious commitment to recycling in these examples, they also represent an environmental problem as this driving contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and unsustainable costs for the waste haulers.

Recycling and composting should be viewed as services, in the right context provision of these services make greater economic sense than following the business as usual (BAU) path. Unfortunately due to a number of factors it makes more economic sense to continue doing BAU than developing a transfer station for recycling. If the operating costs at the landfill were on the low cost spectrum until the close of the landfill in 2109 there would be an estimated $3,500,000,000 more resources than if maximum diversion was implemented, if it was on the high cost of the spectrum there would be $330,000,000. It would be more costly to create a new landfill on the business as usual trajectory than the maximum diversion landfill due to the amount of space needed for waste (At an estimated $409,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 for BAU and $20,000,000 to $52,000,000 for maximum diversion). The size of the landfill needed for a BAU trajectory is 1,220 acres and with maximum diversion 61 acres. More information on these calculations can be found on this  spreadsheet . 

Refuse compactor trucks average  3 miles to the gallon . At about 208 miles for a round trip journey to Colorado Springs from Salida an estimated 69 gallons of gas is used per trip. Using the average cost of gas at  USD $3.18 , the cost for one trip's gas is $219. If a driver were to be paid $20 dollars an hour for the trip, and the round trip only took 5 hours, $100 would be the driver pay per trip. Calculate $0.33 per mile to compensate for vehicle wear and tear, adding another $68 per trip, though this figure may be more as refuse compactor trucks aren't designed to drive very long distances.

Refuse compactors are only able to hold up to 6 tons per vehicle, Chaffee/Teller Waste collects around 20 tons per week and Waste Management collects around 15 tons totalling 35 tons per week. This means that at least six refuse compactor tucks are driving round trip from Salida per week, at a gas cost of $1,300, driver cost of $600, and vehicle wear cost of $400, so at least $2,300 total is being spent per week to drive recycling to Colorado Springs. This does not include the wear and tear on roads. In addition, it is estimated that the 1,200 miles driven weekly by waste hauler recycling trucks contribute  8,950 pounds per week of carbon emissions  or over 4 tons per week, totaling 208 tons per year (Over 27 times the amount that an  American household produces  per year).

The suggested infrastructure could be a mixed use area with a recycling transfer station, composting facility, public drop box for recycling, and or a waste to energy facility. Drop box recycling could be moved on site to the transfer station where it would be brought to Colorado Springs. The waste haulers would use the transfer station to consolidate recycling into a transport truck to be transferred to Colorado Springs.

In 2019, around 26,200 tons of waste were produced in Chaffee County. An estimated 32% of that waste could be recycled, 37% composted and 26% reused or recycled through specialized programs such as motor oil re-refinement. But in 2019, only 1,900 tons were recycled. By implementing increased waste diversion infrastructure such as a transfer station, 95% of trash produced could be diverted from the landfill per year, or 24,890 tons, saving almost a million dollars ($40 per ton tipping fee) per year, prolonging the life of the landfill, and making Chaffee County more sustainable. Waste transfer stations provide a variety of benefits to the community, including fuel savings, reduction in road wear, less air pollution due to fewer vehicles being on the road, reduced traffic  congestion  in the community by consolidating loads onto larger vehicles, reduced total truck traffic improving safety at the landfill, removing hazardous waste and recovering recyclables

To accommodate for future population needs and increased composting, the compost facility would need to be a Class III facility (large scale- refer to government guidelines).

Details gathered about composting from the 2021 survey brought up some concerns. The most common response for do you compost kitchen+ yard waste was no, I throw it away (almost 40% of respondents). Once transported to the landfill this organic matter does not decompose, it  mummifies.  During the mummification it releases methane, a gas with 23 times the greenhouse gas potential as carbon dioxide.

In order to determine the best location for a potential transfer station, several zoning criteria were used, including distance from natural resources and densely populated areas, close to major roads, out of the view of the general municipalities, away from water (streams, rivers, lakes), on a flat slope, and within areas that have been identified as high priority for populations through the 2021 Chaffee/GARNA Waste Diversion Survey. Data used for this analysis are portrayed below.

Once the area was scored based upon this criteria, several parcels were ranked by how they fit the criteria. These parcels are either government owned land or land that is already being used for waste diversion activities. All lots have enough space for a transfer station, compost area, recycle drop off and other waste diversion infrastructure. The ranking is from highest to lowest (high: meets criteria well, low: does not meet criteria well). To access a full version of the area ranking open this  Google Earth File.  

One of the parcels identified in our parcel rankings is a parcel from Chaffee County Waste. In an interview between GARNA and CCW, CCW expressed interest in developing a transfer station on this property.

To assess the cost for establishing a transfer station, two sources were used ( 1 , 2 ), with cost values for a transfer station that transported 51,508 tons per year and another for 136,512 tons per year. Calculating the future transport needs (to 2050) of waste in our area, GARNA found 88,400 tons per year to be sufficient (using the amount of waste produced in 2019: 26,200 at a annually compounding interest rate of 4%). The estimated costs for this facility are $3,330,000 for capital and $714,000 for annual operating costs (making total cost $4,044,000). However, if the proposed transfer station is just for recycling and not transporting other waste, 68% of the cost could be reduced to around $1,000,000 and around $228,000 for operating (total cost $1,228,000).  Click here  for further notes on transfer stations.