Facility Operating Permits
In 1989, Peter Moon – Owner of O2Compost – obtained the first compost facility permit in Washington State. As Peter has said, “There weren’t even application forms for compost facility permits at that time. With the help of the King County Health Department, we took a landfill permit application and modified it to the extent that we could get our point across as to what we planned to do at an existing sand and gravel pit – Iddings Topsoil in Kent, Washington. The entire process took about a month to complete and it cost our client around $5,000.”
Needless to say, things have changed considerably since 1989. With the advent of strict environmental regulations, compost facility permits can now take 18- to 24-months to obtain, and involve coordination with numerous state and county regulatory agencies that oversee land use, water quality, air quality, flood hazard, transportation and noise impacts and a wide assortment of related issues. And of course the public has a significant say in the permitting process as well – and rightfully so.
O2Compost has been successful at helping obtain over 25 compost facility permits in all of the western states and Canadian provinces, as well as for facilities in New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The key to O2Compost’s success has been working closely and building trust with the regulating agencies and the neighbors surrounding a proposed or existing compost facility.
Many states have exemptions from permits based on the types and volumes of materials to be composted. O2Compost promotes a strategy of decentralized, on-site organic waste management and in many cases permits are not required provided that the facility meets certain Performance Standards. O2Compost systems are designed to: 1) isolate the compost feedstocks from the environment thereby protecting surface and ground water resources; and 2) maintain aerobic conditions throughout the first 30-days of composting to effectively eliminate objectionable odors and off-site impacts to neighbors.
Contact Us to find out if permits will be necessary for your facility, and if so what steps can be taken to expedite the permitting process and minimize the expense of obtaining permits.