The Tacoma Solid Waste Management Recovery and Transfer Center has been named a winner of the 2013 SWANA Gold Excellence Award in the Transfer Station category. The award was presented at WASTECON, the Solid Waste Assn. ofNorth America’s (SWANA) annual conference, Sept. 17 in Long Beach, Calif.
HDR provided the programming, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering services for the new $26 million, 83,590-square-foot facility located at the 190-acre Tacoma Landfill. The facility handles 165,000 tons of garbage per year and is designed for peak loads of 1,400 tons.
The new center increases operational efficiency, minimizes operating and maintenance costs, improves safety, provides flexibility to meet future needs and increases capacity to meet future waste and traffic patterns. The new system consolidates the functions of multiple transfer sites into a single building, eliminating multiple handling of materials.
The facility was awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Sustainable features include natural ventilation, daylighting and lighting controls, solar panels, harvested rainwater for non-potable use and water-efficient landscaping.
This marks the sixth time in the last 10 years that an HDR project has captured a SWANA Excellence Award in the Transfer Station category, including four other Gold Award winners.
Source: HDR