The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has approved nearly one million dollars in loans for the new Ames garbage handling system.

The DNR’s Tom Anderson says Ames is closing the plant that had burned garbage to make electricity. “The city is closing their waste to energy facility and for managing solid waste and has implemented a new diversion programs including curbside recycling, drop off recycling for recyclables, household has materials and whatnot,” he says.

Anderson says Ames is building a new Resource Recovery and Recycling Campus to mange recycling and yard waste. “The endorsed project will financially support a shredder for incoming solid waste magnets and an eddy current system to recover ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the shredded solid waste stream and assist with paving a portion of the citizen convenience center for recycling,” Anderson says.

He says the city wants to pull recycling material out of the garbage before it is taken to the Carrol County landfill.  “Goals for the project include recovery of over 26,000 tons of recyclables and over 600 tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals recovered from the waste stream,” Anderson says.

The EPC approved a nearly $25,000 forgiveable loan and a nearly $75,000 zero percent interest loan for the Ames project. The funding for these loans comes from the Solid Waster Alternative Program or SWAP, which charges a fee for items dumped in landfills.