Timber Creek Recycling, one of the largest food waste composting companies in Idaho, is converting 50,000 tons per year of food waste, biosolids and other materials at its new composting facility in Nampa into valuable compost products, supporting local agriculture and industry.
In 2023 Timber Creek Recycling, which has been operating a turned windrow composting facility in Meridian Idaho since 2013, installed a new state of the art 鈥渁erated static pile鈥� (ASP) composting plant at their new location in Nampa, Idaho. The new composting facility is designed to expand up to 200,000 tons per year of processing capacity.
The company has become a leading regional supplier of compost, soil blends, mulch, bedding and recycled industrial materials while also diverting hundreds of thousands of tons of material from Idaho鈥檚 landfills over the past decade. The Meridian facility still operates a mulch grinding and concrete recycling facility, with composting operations moving to the new Nampa ASP composting site.
Owner Mike Murgoitio and his family have a long history in dairy farming, cattle ranching and field crop production. The composting business was originally started to support the family鈥檚 farming operations. 聽鈥淎s a multi-generational farming family we understand the impact of compost on soil health, soil water retention, crop yields and the financial success of an agricultural operation,鈥� said Murgoitio. 鈥淲e take pride in turning compostable waste streams into high value soil amendments that help regional farmers succeed, and we鈥檙e also proud to be keeping millions of pounds of material from going to the landfill every year.鈥�
The facility鈥檚 new ASP composting infrastructure speeds up the composting process with controlled aeration of the composting material. The aeration system also dramatically minimizes odors and enables a much more efficient operation.聽鈥淲e began composting in 2013 using the turned windrow method,鈥� said Murgoitio. 鈥淥ur new ASP system has been a huge improvement in terms of operational efficiency, odor control and speed. Our turned windrow method worked, but turned windrow processing requires a lot more open space and we needed ASP to be able to handle tricky feedstocks like industrial food waste and the material we鈥檙e getting from our food depackaging system.鈥�
The new ASP composting facility was designed by Seattle-based Green Mountain Technologies (GMT). Phase 1 of the ASP system has capacity to process up to 50,000 tons of material per year. Future expansion of the ASP system to 200,000 tons per year capacity is being planned.聽GMT provided the engineered composting facility design along with permitting consulting services for Timber Creek鈥檚 solid waste and storm-water permits. GMT provided the aeration blowers, control system & data logging, and aeration ductwork. GMT also provided a new CMC ST 300 compost turner to pre-mix materials before being placed on the ASP system.
Facility design considerations included specific material handling plans to optimize efficiency and minimize material handling costs. 鈥淭he ASP facility design we created for Timber Creek was an interesting challenge in that we had to use a long narrow strip of land on the 28 acre site, while leaving enough space for a transfer station, C&D recycling, and a large sales yard,鈥� said Orion Black-Brown, President of GMT. 鈥淭his facility is also unique in that it can be operated as a pure ASP, or as a Turned Aerated Pile system.鈥�
As the new facility has grown it has expanded the categories of feedstocks that it can accept, including waste from cheese manufacturing and other industrial compostable wastes. Permit updates and new feedstock recipes and handling procedures were part of the overall upgrade in 2023. When asked about challenges that came with the new facility, Murgoitio said there were a few moments that gave him pause. Jeff Gage, Director of Consulting at GMT, played some key roles in overcoming these challenges. 聽鈥淚t鈥檚 a heck of an art to get a composting facility of this scale permitted,鈥� Murgoitio said. 鈥淚f your regulators are new or understaffed it can be quite a challenge.鈥�
Once the facility was up and running, there was an operational learning curve that required some outside support.聽 鈥淚nitially we didn鈥檛 have our carbon to nitrogen ratio right, too much nitrogen was causing odor issues. But Jeff helped us understand the science of odorous materials and what causes that. So that was a big deal for us,鈥� said Murgoitio. 鈥淪ome details that we didn’t think mattered made a big impact. For example Jeff helped us realize that the particle size of our carbon materials wasn鈥檛 quite right. We increased the surface area of our carbon and that was a real game changer. Jeff Gage is an encyclopedia of composting, it鈥檚 been a big saving grace to have his help.鈥�
When asked what advice he鈥檇 give to other farmers who are considering starting a composting facility, Murgoitio said 鈥淚鈥檇 say begin by building a great relationship with your regulators and be involved in your community. Those have been key factors for us. If you鈥檙e not doing that, you鈥檙e in trouble. The regulators and your broader community need to know that your intent is to do the right thing. One should attend classes and learn the details of how to do composting right.鈥�