Why is the garbage burner closing in Stanislaus County? Waste-to-fuels option was considered
Stanislaus County has released an update on termination of the agreement among the county, Modesto and Reworld Inc. for operation of the garbage-burning plant in Crows Landing.
Because of the severe financial challenges of continued operation of the Covanta plant, the county and city determined it was best to allow Reworld to leave the agreement about two years before it was set to expire in 2027. Covanta, which has operated the garbage burner since 1989, recently changed its name to Reworld.
Following close-door negotiations, the county, Modesto and Reworld have agreed to cease garbage deliveries to the plant on Dec. 2.
Reworld is expected to decommission and demolish the facility, which generates electricity and is criticized by environmental justice groups for toxic air emissions. The demolition will take about 24 months and should be completed in 2027, said a county staff report released Friday.
The county Board of Supervisors will receive the update under a discussion item for its meeting Tuesday. The update includes 83 pages of support documents on the history and status of the waste-to-energy plant, including options that were considered for continued operation. The paperwork shows that options for converting trash to biofuels were evaluated.
County offices were closed Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.
Closing the Covanta plant — the last remaining garbage burner in California — will knock nine to 11 years off the lifespan of the adjacent Fink Road Landfill, which is now expected to reach its capacity around 2040.
The county and Modesto are now faced with challenges for disposal of wastes collected from homes and businesses, since about half of the trash has been incinerated in previous years. The county Department of Environmental Resources is adding more staff, equipment and operating hours to the Fink landfill to handle tons of additional garbage after the Covanta plant closure in December.
According to reports, the county will explore more ways to reduce the daily wastestream sent to the landfill, with “a strong focus on adopting cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable waste management solutions.”
The “tipping fee“ that’s charged for delivering wastes to the incinerator will transfer to a tipping fee for covering increased landfill costs in an agreement with the county and cities by June 30.
In 2023, haulers transported 403,000 tons of trash to the incinerator or landfill from Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Oakdale, Riverbank, Hughson, Patterson, Newman, Waterford and the county unincorporated area. It ranged from 145,373 tons from Modesto to 4,967 tons from Waterford.
Covanta, now Reworld, notified Stanislaus County in December 2023 that financial difficulties, much of it tied to stricter regulations in California, could force the company to close the garbage burner in June 2024, if there was not a significant tipping-fee increase. The facility has suffered financial losses for several years after losing a renewable energy state designation in 2015 and the California Air Resources Board stopped exempting waste-to-energy plants from cap-and-trade requirements.
With their agreement with Covanta set to expire in 2027, the county and Modesto asked HDR Consulting to study “viable alternatives” for keeping the plant in operation and other options for waste management.
Alternatives for keeping the plant open
The potential alternatives included refurbishing the plant for gasification, mixed waste processing or technologies for making fuel from waste products.
The consultants, in a February 2023 memo to the county, said that a mixed waste processing facility at the Covanta site could complement the plant by increasing diversion of recyclables. HDR concluded, however, it would not achieve a sizable increase in recyclables, after the county and Modesto converted to recycling of household wastes in 2022 and 2023.
A fuel product from municipal waste could be produced for a cement kiln or another user, the memo said. But a working group consisting of representatives from the county, Modesto and the other cities in the solid waste system recommended reliance on the landfill after the incinerator closes, a county staff report said.
The costs of operating the garbage burner were expected to double if a new agreement was reached with Reworld beyond 2027. County board members are not scheduled to make decisions on the garbage-burning plant or solid waste matters at Tuesday’s meeting.
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, at 1010 10th St., Modesto.
This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 4:40 PM.
