After a discussion that divided the throng of environmentalists in attendance and lasted late into the night, the City of Palo Alto decided this week to take another look at processing its own compost. The 5-4 city council decision means the city will study the economic and environmental feasibility of building a compost facility at the northeast end of Palo Alto.
The majority of Palo Alto residents at Monday night’s meeting supported the proposed compost facility, expressing beliefs that potential economic and real estate tradeoffs are essential to reaching the city’s sustainability goals.
“In nature, waste is food,” said Walt Hays, the chair of Palo Alto’s Community Environmental Action Partnership. “If we want to be a sustainable city, we have to emulate that as best we can.”
“We can do something right now that is great for the environment and also great for the economy,” added former Mayor Peter Drekmeier. He said use of an anaerobic digester employed at the facility would divert 6,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere and power 1,400 homes, saving the city about a million dollars a year.
The proposed site’s proximity to a water treatment plant is ideal, but it lies on an eight-acre strip of dedicated parkland. Open space advocates attended Monday’s meeting to argue that this piece of land should join Byxbee Park as previously planned.
“The Baylands Park has been planned for years by competent and dedicated people,” said Palo Alto resident Enid Pearson, addressing the council. “If we can’t count on our planning process, why not just pick any random project and let it be built anywhere?”
Julie Muir, Stanford’s recycling program manager and the community relations manager for Peninsula Sanitary Services, Inc. (PSSI), sees the momentum for a composting facility in Palo Alto as a win-win-situation.
“Anaerobic digestion is the best of both worlds,” Muir said. “You get to compost the organic material and capture the gases created to generate energy.”
Muir said she is excited to see Palo Alto embark on its latest sustainable effort. She said PSSI, the facility that currently handles all of Stanford’s waste, could eventually use the Palo Alto facility.
But that potential partnership is years away; construction of a compost site probably wouldn’t begin until 2018, according to a timeline of the project presented by Glenn Roberts, the director of Palo Alto Public Works.
In the meantime, the project is sure to face opposition from Palo Alto residents who believe the land should be used to expand parks. Palo Alto resident Bob Moss said the proposal is an expensive gamble. The feasibility study alone, which was approved by the council after midnight on Tuesday, is expected to cost $250,000.
“Waste management should be done regionally,” Moss told the council, pointing to a handful of facilities opening in coming years in the Bay Area that could serve Palo Alto’s needs.
Members of local environmental groups such as Acterra and the Green Energy Initiative opposed Moss’ statements. Many at the meeting saw the project as a chance to continue Palo Alto’s tradition of sustainability for generations into the future. One of them was Annette Isaacson, an elementary school teacher.
“The sixth grade studies global warming, and all they hear about [are] problems,” Iasaacson said. “Now they can say, ‘Wow, Palo Alto is doing something.’ They can look at an anaerobic digestive plant and see how people are solving problems.”
Even if the project is followed through to completion, Stanford’s use of the facility would be up in the air. But Muir said even if Stanford doesn’t participate, the facility could still be a boon for the region.
“If we want people to compost, we need more facilities in this state,” she said. “We just don’t have the capacity now.”