LOCATION

The Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility (PHMRF) is located at 2808 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, California 90601 next to the Puente Hills Landfill in unincorporated Los Angeles County. This location is approximately 14 miles east of downtown Los Angeles southeast of the intersection of the Pomona Freeway (SR-60) and the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) as shown in the map. Direct freeway access to the MRF is provided by the Crossroads Parkway on and off ramps from SR-60.The MRF and the Puente Hills Landfill share the existing landfill access road on Crossroads Parkway, less than one quarter of a mile from the Parkway on and off ramps. Refuse collection vehicles will not be able to access the MRF from Workman Mill Road.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

The Puente Hills MRF is owned and operated by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (Sanitation Districts). The purpose of the Puente Hills MRF is to provide waste diversion and publicly owned transfer capacity for Los Angeles County. This facility will help Los Angeles County meet the 50% diversion rate required under California law while providing for cost effective transfer of municipal solid waste to landfills using transfer trucks or rail. Load requirements at the PHMRF supports that diversion goal.

The project is located on approximately 25 acres and comprises the processing building, administrative offices, scales, parking and maintenance areas. The processing building is approximately 215,000 square feet and is approximately 55 feet tall. Waste will be delivered to the MRF in collection trucks, which will discharge their loads inside of the enclosed processing building. Recyclable materials including various grades of paper and cardboard will be recovered through a combination of manual and mechanical methods. Residual waste will be placed into large capacity trailers for transfer to permitted landfills. Initially, residual waste from the Puente Hills MRF will be directly hauled to landfills in trucks. By the end of 2009, it is projected that residual waste from the Puente Hills MRF will be loaded into rail containers and delivered to rail yards for transfer to remote landfills via rail (Waste-By-Rail Program ).

CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION

The Puente Hills MRF began operation July 2005 at 500 tons per day. The facility is permitted to accept 4,400 tons per day and 24,000 tons per week of municipal solid waste by 2010 when the waste-by-rail system begins operation. The receipt of liquid or hazardous waste will not be allowed. Click here for the schedule of rates. Waste processing, recovery, and handling operations at the MRF are permitted to take place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, receipt of waste and the transport off-site over public roads of residual waste and recovered materials will be limited to the time between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., Monday through Saturday, in order to avoid peak traffic hours.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL FEATURES

The Sanitation Districts will employ several environmental control systems to eliminate or minimize potential impacts on the environment and surrounding areas. These measures include:

• Dust and Litter Control - The Puente Hills MRF is designed and operated to minimize the creation, emission, and accumulation of dust, particulates, and litter. Measures to control dust at the Puente Hills MRF will include a water misting system inside the facility to remove dust and particulates from the air, sweeping access roads and parking lots, and requiring customers to cover their loads.
  
• Odor Control - The processing building has been designed with a limited number of doors and the entrance and exit doors at right angles to one another in order to contain odors and prevent a “wind tunnel” effect. The refuse load out area, where the residual waste will be loaded into trailers, is located on the back of the building at the furthest distance away from any neighbors. All loads will be discharged from trucks and processed only in the enclosed building, which is equipped with rapid open/close doors. Excessively odorous loads will not be accepted at the facility. Additionally, the Puente Hills MRF is designed to exhaust potentially odorous air as far away from adjacent properties as possible. Air is drawn into the building from the front of the building and exhausted through the roof fans located primarily on the back of the building. Roof fans over potentially odorous areas are ringed with stainless steel tubing with nozzles to distribute odor neutralizing chemicals into the exhaust air.
  
• Illegally Deposited Wastes - The Sanitation Districts will continuously monitor the unloading and processing areas for the presence of illegally deposited hazardous, toxic, or infectious wastes. Additionally, detectors located at the inbound weigh scales screen every load of incoming waste for radioactivity. The Sanitation Districts will also institute a load checking program consisting of a random selection of at least one load each day for a thorough search. If unacceptable wastes are found, they will be transferred to appropriate off-site disposal facilities. Any hauler who delivers unacceptable waste will be charged for the cost of properly disposing of the waste and may face suspension or loss of disposal privileges. This program acts as a strong deterrent to illegal disposal of wastes. To minimize the amount of hazardous waste coming to the facility, the Sanitation Districts and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works jointly sponsor weekly household hazardous waste collection days, offered free of charge to the public.
  
• Green Building Design - In addition to designing the facility to blend in with surrounding land uses, environmentally friendly design features and materials were used during construction. High efficiency air conditioning systems and lighting, installation of over 500 skylights, and use of occupancy sensors minimizes electricity use. Reclaimed water is used for site irrigation and in employee restrooms to reduce potable water use. Recycled materials were used throughout the project from structural and reinforcing steel to water closet partitions, carpeting, insulation, ceiling tiles and car parking lot wheel bumpers.

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