With the hurricane season just ended, communities affected by the most recent hurricanes, namely Hurricanes Helene and Milton, are facing widespread destruction and unprecedented amounts of waste. In Tampa, Florida, for example, the Solid Waste Department estimates the total amount of debris caused by both hurricanes to be approximately 1,000,000 cubic yards, or the equivalent to 10,000 football fields. In comparison, Hurricane Irma in 2017 resulted in a total of 175,000 cubic yards of debris in the Tampa area. In North Carolina, the degree of destruction is mind-boggling as the floodwaters caused buildings, cars and trees to be carried down mountains and across valleys, washing out roads and producing impasses to waste collection.
When considering the number of communities affected by these two hurricanes, the amount of debris to be collected and processed is simply staggering. So how are waste management and recycling companies dealing with the extreme amount of waste?
“The largest issues regarding the waste generated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton are the sheer volume and the mixed nature of the debris, which complicates the sorting and disposal processes,” said Patrick Walsh, area asset manager, South Region at Reworld. “Depending upon the area, the composition of the debris varies significantly.” Formerly Covanta, Reworld is a private energy-from-waste and industrial waste management services company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.
For both Helene and Milton, the majority of the debris in the coastal areas is mainly wet construction and demolition debris due to storm surge and flooding.
“It is wet dry wall, insulation, furniture, and appliances for the most part. There is also a significant amount of vegetative debris in all impacted areas, but the inland areas had less flooding and more wind damage,” Walsh said. “The material there is mostly trees, fencing, and roofing debris.”
Waste management and recycling companies are currently facing unprecedented levels of waste, far exceeding their usual capacities, which puts immense pressure on their infrastructure and resources.
As Walsh pointed out, for perspective, Pasco County alone had 250,000 cubic yards of storm debris on the ground from Helene and an additional 1.3 million cubic yards of debris from Milton – 15 to 20 times the volume that one would normally expect.
“These astronomical numbers are the case in most of the counties on the west coast of Florida,” Walsh said. “Unfortunately, a large percentage of this material is being landfilled and taking up a huge amount of air space previously designated for normal waste volumes. This is significantly shortening the life span of landfills all over the state, which will have a major impact on the Solid Waste Master Plans of communities involved. There will be a significant shortage of disposal capacity in the state in the coming years.”
To address the overwhelming amount of waste, Walsh said companies are implementing emergency protocols that include increasing manpower, extending operation hours, and deploying additional equipment. Post-disaster, they need to refine their processes and improve coordination with local authorities to manage such volumes efficiently.
“Most of the municipalities have opened multiple DMS (Debris Management Sites) throughout their counties to attempt to compile and centralize as much material in as short a time as possible,” Walsh said. Re-opening closed disposal sites, transfer stations and the like are staying open 24 hours to alleviate the traffic and hours long waiting lines at the facilities.
The biggest challenge is finding additional contractors and resources to address the increased waste volume. As Walsh pointed out, there just aren’t enough resources out there to make this a quick process.
“The key driver is that municipalities only receive FEMA assistance for material that can be collected and disposed of in the first 90 days after a storm,” Walsh said. “In a lot of cases, it may take as long as six to nine months to properly clear some areas.”
Heather Armstrong, executive director of Recycle Florida Today, Florida’s state recycling organization and association representing recycling and environmental professionals, said waste and recycling companies are accustomed to handling debris management in Florida.
“The main challenge now may be the exceptional quantity of debris that needs to be recovered throughout impacted areas,” Armstrong said. “Flexibility and patience with service providers and counties as they work with current and special schedules to pick up the debris may help.”
In addition to the quantity, Sue Flak, Recycling Florida Today board member and recycling education and marketing coordinator for Indian River County Florida, said another challenge is staying ahead of all current state and federal regulations pertaining to the collection, documentation and final disposal.
“This involves communication and coordination – with the public as well as municipalities – while communicating with local entities for access to public and private roadways,” Flak said.
Armstrong added that service providers and counties continue to be innovative in how they communicate with residents on the processes and procedures in dealing with waste, including establishing staging areas to drop off yard waste. Many are increasing communication through social media, infographics, and more on recovery producers.
“Manatee and Orange Counties have even launched interactive debris collection maps to help keep residents informed on where current collection and recovery efforts are staged,” Armstrong said.
Recycling Hurricane Debris
From a recycling standpoint, efforts are being made to salvage recyclable materials; however, the complexity and contamination of the waste often make it a challenging and sometimes impossible task.
As Walsh explained, the co-mingled waste streams and contamination are the two biggest concerns. If the vegetative debris can be kept separate, then that material will be ground up and either composted or used as mulch. Unfortunately, with the power loss associated with these storms, many areas use septic systems, so a lot of this material has sat in sewage-contaminated flood waters.
With the heat in Florida, mold and pathogens become a major concern within the first couple of days, so the primary objective is to get as much material off the ground as quickly as possible.
“All of this definitely makes recycling the material a major challenge,” Walsh said.
Armstrong added that the hope is that clean debris is utilized in composting and land application; however, every service provider will have their own process and procedure for handling
the material.
“Clean yard debris will be ground and applied as clean mulch. However, all contaminated storm debris will be placed in a certified landfill,” Flak said.
As the Florida region is well-versed in dealing with hurricanes, preparations are made on the part of recyclers and waste companies to deal with the avalanche of waste. As Armstrong explained, pre-storm collection of recycled materials (tires, scrap metal, trees trimmed, etc.) help prevent extra hazards.
Lining up extra manpower, vehicles, staging areas and making sure all vendors pick up as much material as possible to keep facility as empty as possible also helps, Flak explained.
“Looking ahead in preparation of future hurricanes, technology is always changing and policies are always fluid to meet the most current needs,” Flak said. “This includes vehicles, the use of less manpower, scales, tipping fees, communication technology, robotics, and disposal efficiency.”