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Paper recycling in Marshall currently brings in between 85 and 90 tons of various forms of paper per month for MMU, said Jim Johnson.
"Of that only 35-40 tons is mixed paper," he said.
Mixed paper is pelletized to run the pellet boiler, which is used to heat the power plant facilities when the big steam generators are not running.
When paper is recycled at the MMU's facility, the cardboard is sorted out and baled. Typically the utility ships one or two truckloads of cardboard bales per month. The cardboard brings a sale price of about $140 per ton.
The mixed paper, which pretty much includes all household paper that isn't cardboard, is then processed through the pelletizer and stored for use in boiler. It takes 700 to 750 tons of pellets to run the pellet boiler throughout the winter.
While MMU officials were reluctant to place a dollar amount on the cost of running one of the big steam boilers that is typically only used for electric generation, they have discussed the cost discrepancy during the past two Board of Public Works meetings.
Building a back-up
In the depth of winter, when pellets are all used up and MoPEP has not ordered one of Marshall's steam generators to be turned on, the utility must do something to heat the facilities.
Currently the utility must choose between firing up a one of the large boilers or going cold. Starting the large boiler represents a significant expense -- kind of like starting your car just to warm up all winter.
So Johnson asked the Board to consider adding a natural gas burner to the pellet boiler. While natural gas is more expensive than pellets, it is far cheaper to operate than the coal-fed steam generators, he told the board.
The cost of adding a natural gas burner is expected to be about $50,000. When pressed by board members, Johnson was unable provide a payback time period because he said, "It depends on the temperature, number of generating days and total amount of pellets we have."
Getting more pellets
The board agreed that adding a back-up system made sense and approved of Johnson starting the permitting process with the state, but the slow down in recycling is the nagging question they discussed at Tuesday's meeting.
How can MMU increase the tonnage of paper recycling? Currently MMU is receiving between 85 and 90 tons of recycled paper per month. Once sorted, only 35 to 40 tons of that paper is processed and turned into pellets. After 12 months of collection the utility averages between 350 and 480 tons of pellets -- far short of the 700 to 750 tons needed for an entire winter.
Paper recycling is off from 140 tons per month and never actually hit the numbers needed to run the pellet boiler through the entire winter. To collect enough paper for the pellet boiler with approximately the same ratios, MMU needs to collect 170 to 180 tons of paper per month, about double the current rate.
What are paper pellets?
Paper pellets were invented by a Wisconsin paper company looking for a way to successfully burn its waste paper as fuel. The process of making them leaves the pellets extremely dense, with a Btu content similar to coal. In fact, 1.5 tons of pellets contain an energy equivalent of one ton of coal.
Paper pellets have less sulfur and produce less carbon monoxide than coal. Burning pellets saves landfill space, garbage-hauling costs and tends to be environmentally cleaner than coal.
The recycling center is located adjacent to the power plant and accepts paper, cardboard, plastic bottle and cans.
Contact Pat Nolan at
Comments
Technically, the recycling center is open to surrounding communities. I don't recall ever being asked to show id or proof of residence to enter it. Of course since surrounding communities don't all use MMU, why should they haul their stuff here?
Several years ago on a tour of the facility, we were told that they could not use paper that was wet, or had contained food (pizza boxes). I am going to guess that many locals who recycle weren't aware of this, especially when I drive around on rainy days and see the paper boxes out without lids.
The Marshall school district and several businesses around town already recycle. If your Marshall Public School student hasn't learned about recycling, then they just aren't paying attention.
Open the recycle center to surrounding communities. Advertise that you need their paper. There are environmental people who would contribute. Set up paper dumpsters at all county schools and go pick it up. Analyze who throws a lot of paper in the regular trash and talk to them about recycling. Have a paper drive. Talk to organizations, businesses, schools, etc. to encourage recycling in general.
The only way to substantially increase paper recycling is for the Marshall City Council to give recycling priority and develop some sort of incentive or disincentive which will encourage consumers to reduce the tonnage going to the landfill and increase the recycling material. There are many proved methods to incentivise our trash collection which will lower costs and fulfill our stewardship responsibilities. It will be a lot less painful to do this while we can than wait to be forced to improve recycling. MMU was a leader in recycling when the Recycle Center was built, I hope we will continue that leadership.
Has anty one there contacted local businesses asking for recycled paper?
Perhaps, if a dumpster were provided in various places in town, maybe at Cargill or Conagra where large numbers of people work. The employee's would donate paper, even if some business on the square would have one where people could donate 24/7 it might help out.