Gardner Plans Mill Conversion
More than a year ago, Converted Organics Inc. of Boston presented the city of Gardner with plans to convert an old mill site into a plant that would transform food waste into fertilizer.
Now, the city is moving forward with that idea, but it’s unclear whether or not Converted Organics will be part of it.
Rob Hubbard, director of community development and planning for Gardner, said that when the company was in talks with the city it described a plant that would create about 30 jobs on the site of an old furniture factory that the city had taken for back taxes.
But when the city informed Converted Organics that under state law it had to issue a request for proposals for the site, the company said it would consider other options.
“The site wasn’t really available at the time we were there,” said Edward J. Gildea, president and CEO of Converted Organics.
Gildea said his company might still be interested in the site, but it will have to take a look at the RFP, which Hubbard said will probably be issued in April.
Currently, Converted Organics has two plants, one in New Jersey and one in California. Gildea said the company would still like to add a Massachusetts site, but it hasn’t made any decisions on a location.
State Support
Even after Converted Organics backed away from its original plans, Hubbard said the city was intrigued by the company’s ideas. It soon found that the food waste recycling concept fit in well with state solid waste reduction efforts and that the Department of Environmental Protection would likely offer some support.
The site has potential in part because it has direct access to a rail line that a company could use to ship fertilizer across the country, Hubbard said. And, he said, a state study has identified sources of food waste, like colleges, restaurants and prisons in North Central Massachusetts that might well be interested in the cheep disposal contracts that companies like Converted Organics can offer.
Hubbard acknowledged that another reason for issuing an RFP specifically for food waste processing is that few companies in other industries have been eager to snap up a property plagued with dilapidated buildings that would been to be knocked down and hazardous waste mitigation issues.
“The city has owned that property now for close to two years and there has not been a lot of other interest,” he said.
Hubbard said he hopes Converted Organics will respond to the RFP, but he said there are other companies out there that might be interested in the project. He said Raynham and Taunton both got good responses for similar proposals, though neither community has ended up with a food waste plant so far.
For now, the city is looking into possible sources of funding, including state grants and the federal stimulus package, to help a new owner get the site ready for construction.
It’s also considering removing another barrier: a zoning rule that forbids any fertilizer manufacturing in the city. Hubbard said the rule was written to ban the production of inorganic fertilizer involving nitrates.
“Nobody wanted a plant in their community that could explode,” he said.
Hubbard said the city council should take up a proposal to permit organic fertilizer manufacturing soon.
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