For more than two decades, the City of Port Townsend has been converting waste such as septage and yard debris into a high-quality, nutrient-rich compost that is available for sale to anyone.

Since it started selling its product in 1994, the city’s compost facility has produced and sold 75,169 cubic yards of compost to the community, city officials said.

The facility just sold its 100th batch this month, and is out of compost for the third time this year. 2017 is the first year in about six years in which the city has sold out of compost.

“We usually try to do about four batches a year,” said Lawrence Morris, who runs the facility. Batch sizes range from 200-300 cubic yards to 1,200-1,500 cubic yards.

Selling out this year is part of the upward economic trend, said Morris – there is more building and gardening happening, which means a higher demand for compost.

Some people purchase a few yards for their gardens; others hire a dump truck and get 12 yards or more. Four hundred yards were recently used for the Howard Street Project, Morris said.

3 WASTE STREAMS

The compost facility, which is located at 603 County Landfill Road, on land leased from the county, was constructed in 1992 and began operation in 1993. It sold its first batch of compost the following year, in 1994.

The facility is designed to take three waste streams and treat and recycle them into a product that is a nutrient-rich compost, Morris explained.

Those three waste streams are biosolids from the city’s wastewater treatment facility; septage solids from the pumping of septic tanks in Jefferson County; and yard debris from the community.

Before 1992, there was no system in place to deal with these waste streams. Biosolids had to be hauled to Bremerton; there was no place for yard debris to go; and septage solids were going into what Morris described as a “lagoon” that the health department was going to shut down.

Morris noted that since the facility began operation, it has brought in and processed 80,075 tons of yard debris.

Establishing a compost facility was a way to be self-sufficient and manage all the waste streams.

Morris noted that the facility is not equipped to handle food solids or compostable waste such as paperw plates, cups, etc. and would need an extensive upgrade, which the facility is not looking into at this time.

“Right now, we’re living up to the expectations of why we were built,” Morris said.

CLASS A

Through a process, the waste is converted into Class A compost.

“Class A means it’s basically the best it can be,” Morris said. “There are no restrictions on the use of it.”

There’s a lot that goes into making the compost, such as keeping it at a temperature of 131 degrees for three days, followed by exposure to temperatures of about 114 degrees to kill all the pathogens, Morris said.

After that, it’s cured and tested to ensure it meets all of the regulations and requirements for it to be classified as a class A compost.

These tests include testing for salmonella and heavy metals (including mercury and lead).

The final product is safe to use on anything from lawns to flower beds to vegetable gardens, Morris said, and contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which are essential mineral nutrients for healthy plant growth.

The compost costs $12 a yard, and $9 a yard if 10 or more yards are purchased.

Morris recently tested a batch of compost and expects to get the results back early next week.

For information about buying city compost, call 360-385-7908 for availability.

For more information, including a compost user’s guide, visit cityofpt.us/wwtf/compost.html.