A third site for composting organic waste is planned for Orange County,  which will bolster the county’s efforts to adhere to state mandates to reduce waste and greenhouse gasses.

This new compositing operation, planned for the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea, will eventually implement a more efficient compositing process to more quickly turn green and food waste into healthy soil for community use, said Tom Koutroulis, director Orange County Waste & Recycling.

​​The system, which should be running by early next year, “will set the standards for the other two sites,” Koutroulis said. “It expedites that process that Mother Nature goes through.

“It’s exciting for us.”

The new composting system in Brea will utilize a piping technology – which is new to Orange County – called the Covered Aerated Static Pile, or CASP, system, which automates airflow into the organic waste, requiring no turning and less water, Koutroulis said.

Compared to the more basic composting system used at the other two landfill composting sites in San Juan Capistrano and Irvine, the CASP system can speed up the composting process by almost two months, from about five months to three or four, county officials said.

Koutroulis said the agency began developing the three composting facilities in light of recent state laws that change the parameters and goals for green waste disposal, most notably the landmark “compost law,” which went into effect at the beginning of this year requiring homes and businesses to separate food waste for composting.  Researchers have found that organic waste typically makes up more than half of a landfill, and when it decomposes it produces methane, a greenhouse gas much more harmful than carbon dioxide. About 20% of California’s methane emissions come from landfills.

“What we’re trying to do is shift our model from just landfilling,” Koutroulis said.  “We’re trying diligently to get that infrastructure in place.”

Like the two other new compost operations the county constructed in 2020, Brea’s will not take up any new land but rather repurpose landfill space for that organic processing. Construction for the composting site inside the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea will occur in two phases, each totaling $4 million, and taking up about 15 acres. Koutroulis said he does not expect the county will need extra landfill space after the composting sites are all established, because of the expected – and required – decrease in food and recyclable waste going landfills.

“We should see a huge decline in the waste stream in the years to come,” Koutroulis said. “With a reduction in waste coming in, the lifespan of the landfill is then increased.”

With the two composting operations operating for part of 2020, the county recorded 530.96 tons of green waste repurposed for composting, according to its annual report. Koutroulis said the department is still working with local jurisdictions and trash companies to determine exactly what waste will be coming to the county’s operations, but he expects they will be busy, and likely even more similar facilities will be needed.

“The goal is to provide the opportunity for jurisdictions and haulers who want to use the (composting) system, to have that in place,” Koutroulis said. ​”There’s still going to be more need for organics recycling infrastructure.”

And Orange County Waste & Recycling will continue to work with cities in the county to also find appropriate uses for the composted material, which is the last step of the process, Koutroulis said.

“Finding homes for it will be a collective effort,” he said. “Ultimately it’s meant to get back into the community and create healthy soils.”

The county will host a virtual meeting about the new compositing operation in Brea tonight, March 2, at 6 p.m. More details can be found here.

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