It sounds almost too good to be true: An Atlanta-area company plans to buy Augusta鈥檚 garbage. But that鈥檚 exactly what would happen under a plan by Allied Energy Services, a Conyers, Ga.-based alternative energy company that intends to build a recycling plant at the city landfill. The 55,000-square-foot facility would be capable of converting up to 175,000 tons of trash a year into pinkie-sized pellets that can be burned as biomass fuel or converted into engineered building materials, such as flooring and paneling.
The $38 million waste-to-energy project, expected to be complete by early next year, would be the first of its kind in Georgia. 鈥淭his is the first in this country, period,鈥� Allied Energy CEO Dean Alford said. 鈥淭his is a very unique opportunity for Augusta.鈥�
The 85-employee operation, which is awaiting permits from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, could see construction start by the end of summer, according to Lori Videtto, the director of the Augusta-Richmond County Environmental Services Department, which oversees the city鈥檚 1,200-acre landfill off Deans Bridge Road.
Aside from leasing a 10-acre site at the property鈥檚 northwest corner for $40,000 a year, Allied Energy would pay the city 5 cents for every ton of garbage it diverts from the landfill, roughly $8,750 a year at full capacity.
The landfill receives about 390,000 tons of trash annually from counties throughout the region and has an approximate 100-year life expectancy at current volumes, Videtto said. Allied Waste鈥檚 removal of 175,000 tons 鈥� the equivalent of all regional residential waste 鈥� would significantly prolong the facility鈥檚 lifespan and enable the county to essentially double-dip on waste fees by levying a 5-cent-per-ton charge on Allied Energy on top of the 鈥渢ipping fees鈥� it collects from haulers at the scale.
Videtto said the novel concept of reselling trash dovetails with the landfill鈥檚 self-supporting 鈥渆nterprise fund鈥� model. For example, the landfill sells its methane gas 鈥� a byproduct of decomposition 鈥� as a fuel source to Unimin Corp.鈥檚 kaolin mine near Hephzibah.
鈥淥bviously, garbage coming in is a money maker for us. With this processing facility, the garbage still comes across the scale, but we sell a portion to Allied Energy who will run it through their processing plant,鈥� Videtto said. 鈥淎ll the liability lies with them. They are financing it 100 percent 鈥� we鈥檙e just the landlord.鈥�
Allied Energy, through a limited liability company called 鈥淎ugusta Waste To Energy,鈥� last month received approval by the Augusta Economic Development Authority to seek up to $68 million through the sale of industrial revenue bonds. Such bonds, a common economic development incentive, do not obligate county taxpayers for the debt but enable borrowers to obtain low-cost financing using the county as a pass-through agent.
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