Larimer County Wood Waste Diversion Project
What Is The County's Role? What Is Holnam Inc.'s Role?
-- A Clarification --Understandably, much confusion exists about Larimer County’s wood waste diversion project and its relation to Holnam, Inc.’s proposal to use alternate fuels at its facility in LaPorte. The County’s wood waste diversion project is studying one way of reducing the amount of waste buried at the Larimer County Landfill. Holnam is the nation’s leading producer of cement. These two separate issues overlap at one point—using wood waste from the landfill as an alternate fuel for the cement plant. In addition to Larimer County, Colorado State University and the Colorado State Forest Service are also interested in possibly providing forest slash and other biomass sources for Holnam’s use as alternate fuels. All three of these public entities are looking only at this one aspect of Holnam’s overall proposal.
Larimer County’s Waste Diversion Project Development Team was created to evaluate several potential waste diversion projects, beginning with Holnam’s proposal to burn wood waste. While Holnam has expressed interest in burning other waste materials (tires, plastics, contaminated soils, etc.), the focus of the review team is wood waste and other biomass sources (i.e. agricultural crops or crop residues). Although plastics and tires have been mentioned as fuel sources that might be looked at sometime in the future, they are not being considered by the review team now. In reality, plastics and tires comprise only a small segment of the waste stream at the landfill. We would save very little landfill space by diverting these wastes for use as fuels. Furthermore, a significant amount of plastic is recycled through the Recycling Center. The Environmental Protection Agency’s preferred waste management hierarchy considers recycling preferable to using these wastes as alternate fuels. The County is not currently interested in downgrading its waste handling practices by routing normally recycled materials for use as fuel.
Conversely, wood waste comprises a large portion of the waste stream received at the Larimer County Landfill, about 20 percent by volume. Diverting wood waste for use as an alternate fuel will allow the community to make use of an otherwise wasted resource and will save a significant amount of landfill space. However, this waste diversion project will be undertaken only if it makes environmental and economic sense.
The Waste Diversion Project Development Team will not be reviewing or commenting on Holnam’s air quality permit application, which includes a list of several potential fuel sources for the cement plant. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has jurisdiction over Holnam’s alternate fuels and raw materials permit application. CDPHE’s permit process includes a public comment period and opportunities for public hearings. Anyone having concerns or comments about Holnam’s application is encouraged to contact Jim King, CDPHE’s Air Quality Operating Permits Section Chief, at (303) 692-3207 or james.king@state.co.us.
The public is welcome to attend Waste Diversion Project Development Team meetings and provide input relating to the collection, sorting, processing, transporting and burning of wood wastes and other biomass products. For meeting dates, call Larimer County Natural Resources at 498-5760, or see the Project Development Team's minutes page. However, other comments or concerns regarding Holnam should be directed to Holnam itself at (970) 482-4065 or to CDPHE.