SPSA/RDF Transfer Station

Historically, solid waste in southeastern Virginia had been handled by the individual localities in accordance with local and state regulations. Each city or county either collected and disposed of waste with its borders or transported the collected waste to a neighboring city for disposal. By 1976, an agreement between several local municipalities created the Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA). Its responsibilities included the implementation of a regional solid waste disposal system to include a resource recovery operation, featuring a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Plant and a Power Plant.

The RDF Plant began operation in 1988 as part of SPSA’s waste-to-energy system and processes nearly half of all solid waste received by SPSA. The plant is designed to process 2,000 tons of waste a day. Waste delivered to the Portsmouth-based plant is unloaded on a 1.3-acre tipping floor, where it is pushed onto conveyors to begin processing.

Knowing the abuse inflicted on the tipping floor of any waste recovery facility, the SPSA needed the most rugged and durable tipping floor application available. The owner partnered with Delta Pacific Builders, Inc. to install iron floors when the facility was built to protect their floor from chemicals, abrasion and everyday wear and tear.

Fourteen years later, the SPSA of Virginia once again turned to Delta Pacific for their facility floor repairs. The worn flooring was replaced with the same high quality material that served them so well. The process began with the removal of the badly worn flooring. Next, the entire transfer station floor was replaced with two layers of iron topping. In order to allow the transfer station to be fully operational during the resurfacing process, the installation was conducted in two phases.