2025 West Best Projects
Award of Merit, Water/Environment: Covered Aerated Static Pile Composting Facility
Covered Aerated Static Pile Composting Facility
Shafter, Calif.
Award of Merit
Submitted by Clark Bros. Inc.
Owner Kern County Public Works
Lead Design Firm/Civil/MEP SCS Engineer Environmental Consultants
General Contractor Clark Bros. Inc.
Inspection AECOM
The Shafter-Wasco Recycling & Sanitary Landfill is home to a new composting system that will process 100,000 tons of organic material each year with the help of 32 composting bunkers.
Other supporting infrastructure includes underground and aboveground piping, leachate collection sumps, a pump station, water traps and electrical systems. Crews also installed bollards, a control building, a mobile control unit and blower as well as air supply and leachate management systems.
When organic waste decomposes in landfills, it emits methane—a greenhouse gas up to 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This program will help redirect organic waste from landfills. Instead, such materials will be recycled through composting and mulching, resulting in nutrient-rich soil.
Extreme heat posed multiple challenges throughout construction, particularly during concrete placement, and could have adversely affected the concrete’s setting time, strength and overall performance.
The solution was a strategic approach that combined precise scheduling with specially formulated concrete admixtures designed to perform reliably in high-temperature conditions. This enabled the team to place 16,000 cu yd of concrete with no major issues.
Communication was critical as the team worked through approximately $1 million in change orders throughout the 14-month project. The composting facility was delivered on time and under budget in May 2025.
