Transfer Station
On May 27, Jeff and Jenny from the Alachua County Transfer Station came to the bioenergy lab to speak about recycling and the different elements involved with the Alachua County transfer station. In 1999 the transfer station was built to sort recyclables and transfer the remaining waste to a landfill in another county since Aluachua County has no active landfill. The transfer station receives around 500-700 tons of household and commercial waste in Alachua County daily. A private recycling company, SP Recycling handles the recycling at the transfer station that includes aluminum cans, plastics, paper, tires and paint. After their presentation, we dicussed reasons why we should recycle such as the fact that landfills are land extensive, environmentally degrading, and how recycling generates an economically viable outlet for raw material recovery.
On the following Tuesday, June 6, all the interns and Dr. Wilkie met Jeff and Jenny at the transfer station for a tour. We were able to tour the whole site including the recycled yard waste piles, piles of tires, the tipping floors where bulldozers load trash into trucks and the hazardous waste warehouse. Some highlights of the tour include the loading floor and a machine in the hazardous waste warehouse that destroys fluorescent light bulbs while capturing the mercury vapor contained within it. The glass parts gets sold for remanufactured lamps. 12,000 gallons of waste oil is collected along with electronics, aerosols, automotive wastes, and paint at the hazardous waste collection center. We walked around the corner to find mounds of old televisions and bulky computer monitors. They explained that the electronics are collected by Creative Recycling, a state-of-the-art recycling facility based out of Tampa, Florida. In addition to sorting Gainesville's waste, the transfer station also adds about 200 kilowatts of solar energy to the grid with their solar panels located behind the loading ramps. One of the transfer station employees we spoke with was also interested in building a biodiesel reactor on site, since Hazardous Wastes collects about 400 gallons of vegetable oil already. With a transfer station like this facility, we are definitely doing as much as we can with trash.