Palo Alto Online

Palo Alto has a rich history of discord and disagreement when it comes to disposing of the city's organic waste, but if there is one project that brings all the sides in the debate together it's the city's plan to retire the incinerators that have been burning sludge in the Baylands for more than 40 years.

On Monday night, the City Council is expected to approve a $2.3 million contract with a firm that would design the city's new sludge-dewatering and haul-out facility. Once in place, the facility would allow the city to send its dried-out sewage sludge to another waste plant that would either compost it or process it into an agricultural product, according to a staff report.

The $12 million dewatering plant would allow the city to retire its incinerators, which are notorious for emitting high levels of greenhouse gases and producing hazardous ash that the city must export every week to Kettleman City.

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