Stormwater treatment system helps recycler protect local waterways

PORTLAND, OR, May 10, 2012 -- An award-winning recycling and garbage collection company in Washington state has installed a two-stage StormwateRx treatment system at its 4-acre Bellingham facility to help protect local waterways from contaminated stormwater runoff.

Sanitary Service Company Inc. (SSC), which serves more than 45,000 residential and commercial customers, installed a Clara® stormwater separation system and an Aquip® enhanced stormwater filtration system. These measures will help prevent oil, grease, suspended solids or heavy metals from being picked up by stormwater runoff and conveyed to nearby waterbodies. The system has been online since October 2011 and has consistently removed target constituents to well below regulatory thresholds.

SSC, which has been locally owned and operated since 1929, has made environmental protection a critical component of their business as a 5-Star EnviroStar, Whatcom Watershed Pledge participant, Whatcom County Waste-Wise Business, 100% Green Power business and Toward Zero Waste Pioneer. As part of their pledge to protect their local watershed and to ensure that their site was compliant with Washington State industrial permit requirements for stormwater runoff, SSC sought an above-ground stormwater treatment system that could be easily retrofitted into their existing site where garbage and recycling trucks are parked. SSC selected StormwateRx products because they have received the Washington Department of Ecology's CULD approval for enhanced stormwater treatment and offered the right combination of above ground configuration and high pollutant removal for suspended solids, oil & grease and heavy metals.

"As a locally-owned company in a part of the world that is known for its beautiful, clean environment, we are acutely aware that we all share in the responsibility to protect and preserve its health and beauty," said Paul Razore, president of SSC. "At SSC, we take this responsibility seriously and our installation of an environmentally-protective StormwateRx stormwater treatment system is one of the ways we are helping to ensure that our local waterways are clean and healthy for recreation and wildlife for generations to come."

As a part of their stormwater best management practices (BMPs), SSC began by paving their previously unpaved site. As a pretreatment to remove suspended solids, oil and grease, they installed a Clara 40CP with a design flow of 540 gallons per minute (gpm). The system then uses a 160 gpm pump to divert flow to an Aquip 160SBE 160 gpm system with enhanced media to remove fine solids and metals. Because Bellingham often experiences freezing temperatures in the winter, a freeze protection package was installed on the Aquip to ensure that the system will continue to operate under freezing conditions.

Since installation, the system has performed well and serves as an example for other recyclers and waste haulers.

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