Materials Recovery Facility and Co-Compost Facility
Rapid City, South Dakota

Project Details:
Rapid City hired Houston Engineering to evaluate their existing solid waste management system. The initial evaluations resulted in a comprehensive solid waste management plan that helped establish a strategy for handling Rapid City’s waste stream through the year 2050. The three main elements of the plan included a yard waste compost program, a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for processing recyclables, and a Compost Facility to process the remaining organic fraction.

Implementation of the comprehensive solid waste management plan occurred over a ten-year period beginning with the operation of the yard waste composting program. The MRF began operations in the late 1990s, and most recently, the municipal solid waste (MSW) Compost Facility (a co-compost facility using biosolids from the wastewater treatment plant) began operation.

Project Benefits:

• Comprehensive solid waste management strategy for the future
   
• Material Recovery Facility operations launch
   
• Co-Compost Facility operations launch
   
• Site life extension for the Rapid City Regional Landfill thanks to the implementation of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan