Waste plant asks to borrow $1.5M for shredder, material handler

The manager of Barron County's Waste to Energy plant appeared at Monday morning's Executive Committee meeting with a request to borrow $1.5 million through the State Trust Fund, at 6% for 10 years, to establish a new revenue stream at the incinerator south of Almena.

"We are here to ask you to approve the purchase of equipment," plant manager Brent Bohn said.

The equipment is a shredder, called the Komptech Terminator, for $1,049,700, and a Cat material handler for $476,500.

"We've always wanted this, we just could never justify it before," Bohn said.

He said the justification now is a potential waste stream from Arclin of Hayward, a company that among other things makes a product for smart siding that resists elements well but lasts forever in landfills.

The waste manager said he could get a contract in hand for a secure waste stream for five years, renewable for an additional three years, remarking that the new source of revenue would pay for itself.

Bohn said he was able to bring test rolls from Arclin to a plant in Truman, Minnesota, that uses the equipment he seeks to purchase, which proved to him that it would work at the plant here. He said it took just 30 minutes for the shredder to process 6,000 pounds of rolls.

Bohn said the material handler is needed to lift the waste into the shredder, as the loaders currently in use couldn't do the job. The plant also has nothing at this time that can break down the rolls enough for them to be incinerated. He said having their own material handler would also get rid of the current cost of renting one for $10,000 a month.

In addition to the waste product from the Hayward company, the plant manager said the shredder and material handler could process the piles of tires, mattresses, construction/demo materials and sandpaper rolls that are brought to the Almena plant.

Committee members Marv Thompson and Bun Hanson motioned and seconded the committee's approval to the County Board. The proposal was also to be brought before the Solid Waste Management Board.

In other business, the Executive Committee:

• Reconsidered its backing of a broadband expansion grant being applied for by Mosaic Technologies, strengthening its position from "support" to "endorse" which is said will help achieve the funding in a competitive field.

• Will ask the County Board to continue on in the Kroeger Opioid Litigation Settlement as advised by the county administrator, who said it doesn't make sense to get out now as litigants are still going after pharmacies and there is still much to be gained from the suit. He said reimbursement to counties for drug costs is expected to continue for a course of 18 years and could be in the billions before all is said and done.

• Set costs for a public open house at the new highway facility, scheduled for Aug. 17, not to exceed $5,000 and for the expense to be taken from the Highway Department's contingency fund.