NuTerra, a trusted project and service delivery partner to the wastewater and biosolids management industry, today announced the groundbreaking of a new organics recycling facility that initiates the second phase of Haines City鈥檚 plan to produce a high-quality compost product to be offered to residents and surrounding communities for lawns, athletic fields, golf courses and agriculture. In his remarks at the groundbreaking, NuTerra CEO Aaron Zahn credited Haines City for its environmental leadership. 鈥淎s one of the few municipalities with state-of-the-art wastewater treatment and composting facilities, Haines City is demonstrating its environmental leadership. The new facility will be the first of its kind in Florida, providing the most economical and environmentally friendly approach to organics recycling.鈥�
Using NuTerra鈥檚 proprietary process control system, the facility continuously monitors and automates the composting process. This streamlined approach eliminates the need to reposition probes and avoids disruption of the process from exposure to rain, humidity, and other factors that impact the active composting and curing processes. NuTerra鈥檚 facility design ensures a high-quality end product and minimal odor nuisances for nearby neighbors. Haines City Utility Director Mike Stripling said, 鈥淣uTerra is making it economically possible to live up to our States鈥檚 high environmental standards. By recycling and reusing biosolids, yard waste, and other organic waste, we鈥檙e reducing disposition costs with far fewer trips to the landfill and mitigating nutrient and ground water pollution. The facility will provide surrounding communities an economically and environmentally advantageous outlet for their organics waste. In addition, offsetting the use of commercial fertilizers with compost by our local athletic fields will result in superior water retention properties and allow for the slow release of beneficial nutrients.鈥�
NuTerra designed the new facility and will build, operate, and maintain it at the wastewater treatment plant鈥檚 property site. Haines City will own the building, which will blend residents鈥� yard waste with wastewater treatment biosolids and other organic waste accepted from surrounding communities and commercial interests. NuTerra will market the resulting compost product for unrestricted reuse locally and in surrounding communities. 聽Haines City鈥檚 City Manager Jonathan Evans said, 鈥淭he partnership with NuTerra and BCR Environmental has already delivered numerous measurable and verifiable economic and environmental advantages to the City. 聽Developing the Haines City Organics Recycling Facility is the logical next step of our partnership aimed at benefiting Polk County and the central region of Florida.鈥�
Phase one began in 2012 when NuTerra helped Haines City meet its financial goals and produce a Class AA/EQ product by upgrading wastewater treatment from aerobic digestion to BCR Environmental鈥檚 Neutralizer庐 system. The city avoided capital expenditures of $2.75 million for digester rehabilitation and dewatering equipment, reduced annual biosolids treatment and disposition costs by approximately $133,000 for 20 years, reduced energy costs for biosolids treatment by approximately 97 percent, and created a virtually odor-free operation.
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