Marietta Pretreatment Wastewater Project (2014 LGAA)

Village of Cortland
County: Cortland County
Population: 10,001 to 50,000
City Hall: (607) 749-0678

Marietta Corporation (FDA-registered), a leader in the Hotel Guest Amenities industry is headquartered in the City of Cortland. Cortland serves as its largest private sector employer with 840 employees locally representing 11% of the City's labor force. The Company's core competencies are: high performance skin and hair care development and manufacturing, bar soap manufacturing, retailing-size bottle and tube filing, hotel-size bottle and vial filling, packet manufacturing and affixing and bulk compounding.

For years Marietta and the City have struggled with the Company's process wastewater. One of the manufacturing by-products is surfactants which are the forming agents in detergents and other products. The compound can be disposed of safely, but it does require some additional measures. Without pretreatment the waste material can negatively impact control systems at the City's wastewater treatment plant, as well as the sludge digestion process.

Beginning in 2011, the City embarked on an engineering study to determine a safe concentration of surfactants which could be treated at its publicly-owned treatment works (POTW). This information formed the basis for designing a pretreatment process which would enable the discharge of Marietta's wastewater into the City's collection system for treatment at its POTW.

Marietta and the City negotiated a mutually beneficial arrangement wherein Marietta would focus on its core competencies and the City would own and operate the pretreatment system. This arrangement frees capital for Marietta to invest in growing their business and increasing their employment rolls. It also provides the City with an additional revenue stream and permits retention of skilled wastewater operators in the face of reduced labor requirements at its soon-to-be-upgraded POTW.

The City, in partnership with Marietta, with financial assistance from NYS EFC and guidance from the Cortland County IDA/BDC, created a public/private partnership wherein a pretreatment facility was installed within the Company's Cortland plant. The pretreatment facility is owned and operated by the City. With the City now being able to accept process wastewater from its Cortland plant the Company was able to secure an agreement with Kimberly-Clark Corporation to produce and package commercial grade hand sanitizer. As a result of this agreement, Marietta invested $1.2 million in new manufacturing capacity in its Cortland plant and added 30 local jobs. The City will also realize $40,000 annually in new sewer revenues in addition to Marietta's reimbursement for the costs of operating and maintaining the pretreatment facility and the debt service on the pre-treatment equipment.