The “Pit” inside REF 2 is about the size of a football field. It was built to hold a week’s worth of the county’s garbage. Garbage typically stays in the Pit two to three days to get mixed and dry out before being put into one of three combustion chambers. These chambers can process 3,000 tons of garbage a day -- or more than 660 curbside trucks worth of trash.
There are three grapples, or claws, that operate in the pit. The claws are used to “fluff” or mix the incoming garbage and also to drop the garbage into one of three boilers. These claws can pick up between five tons and nine tons of garbage at one time. That is about the size and weight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
The three combustion chambers can each burn approximately five claws worth of material per hour. Each claw usually grabs about the amount of waste made by a family of four within two years.
