Firm makes brown waste green

Treatment facility presented to council



VIEW INSIDE—A proposed biosolids processing plant in Camarillo would be nearly identical to Synagro’s facility in Sacramento, as shown above. Courtesy of Synagro

VIEW INSIDE—A proposed biosolids processing plant in Camarillo would be nearly identical to Synagro’s facility in Sacramento, as shown above. Courtesy of Synagro

Farmland next to Camarillo’s wastewater treatment plant could play a regional role in recycling biosolids, which are made using the sewage sludge left over from the wastewater treatment process.

The City Council heard a presentation Dec. 15 from Synagro, a biosolids residuals management company with over 1,000 municipal and industrial clients.

The company is proposing to build an indoor regional processing facility that would operate in conjunction with the treatment plant on Howard Road. Biosolids— namely human waste— would be dried and turned into pellets that can be sold to make products, including fertilizer.

The council took no action during the special meeting at the Camarillo Library. In September, the five council members and the city manager had a tour of a Sacramento Synagro facility that’s nearly identical to what’s proposed for Camarillo.

In addition to the public presentation, the council held a private closed-door session about a possible lease of the city-owned farmland for the facility. No announcement was made.

Jim Hecht, Synagro director of project development, said Camarillo is the perfect location for several reasons, including its central location in Ventura County.

Currently, the biosolids produced in Camarillo are trucked to Liberty Compost & Recycling in Kern County. But 70% of all the biosolids from across Ventura County are sent to landfills.

Hecht said new state mandates will go into effect in 2025 to divert 75% of California’s biosolids from landfills under Senate Bill 1383, passed in 2016. Biosolids contribute to global warming unless they’re recycled.

“Biosolids are generated every day, so you can’t have a management program that doesn’t account for that,” Hecht said. “This provides a very, very reliable place that the material can go.”

Air pollution from trucks would be reduced by processing biosolids locally, Hecht said.

The council also heard from leaders of Ventura County-based Agromin, which recycles organic waste including yard trimmings. Agromin and Synagro would enter a partnership to jointly produce agricultural products under the proposal.

Synagro officials are hoping the council will vote in favor of the plan in coming months.

Building the facility could take three to five years, which Synagro officials said is an “aggressive timeline” in light of California’s complex regulations.

The cost to Synagro to build the facility would be about $30 million.

Company officials say Synagro was acquired by Goldman Sachs last year and generates over $350 million in annual revenue.

City officials were told another benefit for the city would be the ability to charge other cities host fees to send their biosolids to the Camarillo facility.

Councilmember Kevin Kildee was among the city leaders who toured the Sacramento Synagro facility and said it’s an interesting proposal.

“It wasn’t very noisy at all. There was very little odor. They really have it down. They were processing a lot of volume there safely,” Kildee said.

In addition to giving the city assurances that there will be a place for biosolids to be recycled locally for decades to come, Kildee said the project would help the city meet its goals for addressing global warming.

“It’s the future. And it’s clean. And it’s a reuse of an existing byproduct that there’s a market for. So those are all really environmentally sound reasons to do this,” Kildee said.