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Village of Massena weighs sludge removal expense

New processing facility could be solution

Posted 12/6/24

MASSENA -- The rising cost of sludge disposal for the village of Massena has led Department of Public Works Superintendent Marty Miller to seek out alternatives.

One such alternative would be …

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Village of Massena weighs sludge removal expense

New processing facility could be solution

Posted

MASSENA -- The rising cost of sludge disposal for the village of Massena has led Department of Public Works Superintendent Marty Miller to seek out alternatives.

One such alternative would be for the village to invest in their own system to remove the sludge, but that would cost over a million dollars potentially, Miller said.

Casella Waste Systems currently handles the sludge removal currently to the tune of $100,000 per year.

Miller said at a recent village board meeting that he sat down with representatives from Casella to discuss the current agreement, at which time he was informed the cost would be going up.

“I think we talked about this a couple of years ago. I think we need to start looking at possibly putting in a facility that we can process our own sludge because right now we’re spending over $100,000 a year to get rid of sludge," he said.

Miller said it might be possible for Massena to then contract with neighboring municipalities to dispose of sludge for them, bringing an alternative revenue source to the village to offset the cost of the facility construction and operation.

Miller said the facility would likely cost between $500,000 to $1.5 million, a cost that will continue to rise just like everything else.

He said the facility would be able to handle 150,000 gallons per day.

As the cost of sludge removal continues to increase, Miller said the village should think long and hard about how they want to proceed forward, noting that other municipalities may take the leap themselves which would put the village of Massena behind the eight ball.

“Everything’s going to keep going up, and the more things that you can do in house to take care of those costs because it’s going to get out of control,” he said.

Miller said the majority of municipalities ship out their sludge, but due to limited options only Casella really handles the removal, he said.

"They're really the only gig in town," Miller said.

He commented that Casella could essentially name their price and there would be nothing he or the village could do about it.

"The rate is not ungodly. They understand we have to pay these, and they’re trying to keep it in check. But it’s just like anything else. Every year you keep adding on and eventually, as the village, we have to start passing those on to the user fees, the taxpayers,” Miller said.

He said it may be time for the village to look into building a facility of its own to offset those costs for taxpayers.

“You would have that ability to take other people’s and process it into a product that you could then sell to agriculture,” he said.

Miller said it's a "hefty price tag" for the unit but said it would benefit the village in the long term, saving money for taxpayers as well.

He said it could be a risky proposition, however, saying the village would have to "dive in and take that chance."

"You keep kicking the can. Other communities will start doing it. Now, you’re trying to play catch up," Miller said.

He said he would do more research and report back to board members during the December board of trustees meeting.