Specifications include, but are not limited to: DEQ is seeking a contractor to work in collaboration with DEQ Materials Management staff to perform a study of Oregon’s food waste recovery infrastructure and markets. This project will include research, analysis, and the preparation of responses in both draft and revised/final form. DEQ anticipates that this work will involve the following tasks: Task 1: Assess Oregon’s existing food waste recovery system - Oregon has 48 DEQ-permitted aerobic compost facilities, numerous farm composting operations overseen by the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture and roughly 12 anaerobic digesters, on farms and commercial, four which are operational. Oregon also has several anaerobic digesters operating at wastewater treatment plants, several planning to accept food waste in the future. However, information regarding the amount of food waste processed by these facilities is not well understood. The contractor will conduct a comprehensive statewide survey of Oregon’s existing compost and AD infrastructure to understand current processing capacities and methodologies utilized. For this study, food waste collected and processed for livestock feed will not be included. DEQ is interested in information on the following topics: • Identifying all facilities processing Oregon-generated food waste (including operations outside of Oregon) • Identifying current methods used for processing food waste in Oregon • Information on the type, source and amount of organic feedstock processed by facilities • Identifying existing markets for finished products • Local government collection programs & plans; Task 2: Assess potential for expansion to meet future needs - DEQ understands that, to increase food waste recovery, food waste collection services will need to be introduced to more communities in Oregon and increased processing capacity will be necessary to process the new sources of feedstock. DEQ is seeking information on the amount of infrastructure and market growth necessary to process this waste. Building on the work in Task 1, the contractor will assess the potential for expanding the capacity of existing infrastructure to collect, transfer, and process food waste and estimate the amount of industry growth necessary to process 25 percent, 50 percent, and 75 percent of Oregon-generated food waste. DEQ is interested in information on the following topics: • Currently unused or underused permitted and operational processing capacity • Growth potential of existing and potential processing facilities • Assess the potential capacities of wastewater treatment plants to accept food waste • Assess the infrastructure and financial needs for aerobic and AD facilities to add or increase capacity to process food waste • Estimate the amount of processing capacity necessary to process 25-percent, 50- percent and 75-percent of Oregon’s food waste • Assessment of market development required for increased available endproducts • Assess potential collection and transfer infrastructure...
