The team visits the wastewater plant (5/20/2022)

PolyGone members Yidian Liu and Xuelan Wu, and ACUA workers touring the wastewater treatment facility

The PolyGone team recently made a trip to the ACUA (Atlantic County Utilities Authority) Wastewater Treatment Facility in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Team members were shown around the entirety of the site and got to see the primary and secondary treatment systems firsthand. The location may serve as a site for piloting future versions of the Plastic Hunter!

The ACUA Wastewater Treatment Facility “operates a 40 million gallon per day wastewater treatment facility” and “accepts wastewater collected from 14 municipalities in Atlantic County as well as additional sludge/biosolids, grease, scum, dried municipal sludge and leachate for treatment and disposal.” ACUA is also notably committed to sustainability and wildlife preservation efforts. They are an early adopter of wind turbine and solar power, which collectively account for over 40 percent of their electricity consumption. Their solar energy project alone has prevented more than “3,939 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere since its opening.”