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Expansion of trash facility proposed

The $110-million project would add a unit capable of handling another 600 or so tons of garbage each day.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published August 12, 2005

BRANDON - Within a few years of its opening in 1987, the Falkenberg Road Resource Recovery Facility was already handling as much garbage as it could - sometimes burning as much as 1,800 tons of trash each day.

Now, the Hillsborough County Commission is considering a proposal to expand the facility by a third its current capacity.

The project has been a long time coming, facility managers said.

"Frankly, we started thinking about this in 1998," said Daniel E. Strobridge, one of the county's consulting engineers.

With its rampant population growth, east and south Hillsborough County is producing more garbage than the facility can handle, said Thomas C. Smith, executive manager of environmental services with the County's Solid Waste Management Department.

Garbage from Gibsonton, Riverview, Ruskin and Apollo Beach has been diverted to the landfill instead, he said.

The proposed expansion would add a fourth garbage-processing unit, which would handle another 600 or so tons of garbage each day. The project would also add another steam turbine, nearly doubling the amount of electricity the facility sends to Tampa Electric Co., said Smith.

The cost of the project would be about $110-million, Smith said. But it would not increase customer fees, he added.

The facility would borrow short-term loans while the project was being built, he said. Then in 2008, when the addition comes on line, the facility would roll the short-term loans over into a long-term bond.

Since the facility plans to pay off its current loans in the same year, there will be no change in the amount of debt payments being made each year, Smith said.

Still, by 2008, he said, the facility's managers will probably already be thinking about future expansions to keep up with the county's growth.

"My plan is to have a truck that goes by the curb and zaps garbage and it disappears," he joked.

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 08:56:11]