Today’s landfill design standards provide a multi-component strategy for environmental protection, with environmental safeguards and quality assurance mechanisms designed to protect human health and the environment by preventing releases of solid waste constituents to the environment. Major elements of environmental protection for today’s solid waste management facilities include the following:
- Engineering Design
- Construction Quality Assurance
- Operations and Maintenance
- Compliance Monitoring
- Closure
- Post-closure Care
Engineering Design
The engineering design strategy is to encapsulate the waste and rainwater that has infiltrated the waste (called “leachate”), and to control decomposition gases (landfill gas), preventing releases to the environment from the waste disposal unit. This containment system includes a liner system with a drainage layer to collect and remove leachate. At East End Resource Recovery, our current landfill liner system design consists of, from bottom to top, a prepared sub-base material, a 60 millimeter High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) geomembrane liner, a 16 ounce geotextile material, a 12 inch drainage layer, and a 6 inch protective layer. Leachate is piped directly from the waste unit to a wastewater treatment plant.
Construction Quality Assurance
Construction considerations begin during landfill design, and include development sequencing wherein the disposal area is divided into several cells and/or phases. The division of the landfill into smaller cells limits the amount of land disturbance at any given time, which helps minimize erosion. Construction activities are subject to strict and rigorous testing and reporting; professional, independent, engineering certification; and DEQ inspection and approval before each new landfill cell can be used for waste disposal.
Operations and Maintenance
East End Resource Recovery is operated under the direct supervision of a facility operator licensed by the Virginia Board for Waste Management Facility Operators. Facility operations and maintenance follow an Operations Manual that describes in detail how the facility is to be operated during its active life, closure, and post-closure care period. The Operations Manual addresses activities such as waste acceptance and disposal, facility inspections, equipment, maintenance, record keeping, and employee training.
Compliance Monitoring
Environmental compliance monitoring programs are an integral part of East End Resource Recovery’s solid waste, erosion and sediment control, and stormwater permits, and include groundwater, surface water, and landfill gas monitoring programs. Groundwater monitoring wells and landfill gas probes are placed strategically around the landfill cells to monitor the performance of the landfill liner system. Surface water monitoring locations are established to monitor the effectiveness of stormwater management structures and erosion and sediment control measures.
Closure
Areas of the landfill that have been filled to the final elevations and shape defined in the permit are closed by installing a composite closure cap system. From bottom to top, the current cap system design consists of a 12 inch soil layer (intermediate cover), a landfill gas / seep protection layer (a 40 millimeter geomembrane barrier sandwiched between two geocomposite layers, each of which is a drainage medium sandwiched between two geotextile fabrics), an 18 inch soil cover, and a 6 inch layer of top soil to promote vegetative stabilization.
Post-closure Care
Once the entire landfill has been closed and approved by the DEQ, a minimum 10 year post-closure care period will begin. Landfill control systems that will continue to function or operate after closure are subject to ongoing maintenance and inspections. Such systems include the leachate collection and conveyance system; the landfill gas management system; groundwater and landfill gas monitoring systems; stormwater management systems; and the landfill cap and erosion control systems.
Recycled Products used in Cell Construction at East End Resource Recovery
East End Resource Recovery has implemented the use of recycled tires as the drainage layer for current and future cell construction. This beneficial use keeps whole waste tires out of landfills, while reducing the need for costly stone, a natural resource that must be mined from quarries. The same slow speed grinder used for C&D waste processing can be used to grind whole tires, changing a whole tire into a recycled construction material that can be used as a drainage layer in landfill and other construction applications.
Design of a Landfill
Today’s landfill design standards provide a multi-component strategy for environmental protection, with environmental safeguards and quality assurance mechanisms designed to protect human health and the environment by preventing releases of solid waste constituents to the environment. Major elements of environmental protection for today’s solid waste management facilities include the following:
Engineering Design
The engineering design strategy is to encapsulate the waste and rainwater that has infiltrated the waste (called “leachate”), and to control decomposition gases (landfill gas), preventing releases to the environment from the waste disposal unit. This containment system includes a liner system with a drainage layer to collect and remove leachate. At East End Resource Recovery, our current landfill liner system design consists of, from bottom to top, a prepared sub-base material, a 60 millimeter High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) geomembrane liner, a 16 ounce geotextile material, a 12 inch drainage layer, and a 6 inch protective layer. Leachate is piped directly from the waste unit to a wastewater treatment plant.
Construction Quality Assurance
Construction considerations begin during landfill design, and include development sequencing wherein the disposal area is divided into several cells and/or phases. The division of the landfill into smaller cells limits the amount of land disturbance at any given time, which helps minimize erosion. Construction activities are subject to strict and rigorous testing and reporting; professional, independent, engineering certification; and DEQ inspection and approval before each new landfill cell can be used for waste disposal.
Operations and Maintenance
East End Resource Recovery is operated under the direct supervision of a facility operator licensed by the Virginia Board for Waste Management Facility Operators. Facility operations and maintenance follow an Operations Manual that describes in detail how the facility is to be operated during its active life, closure, and post-closure care period. The Operations Manual addresses activities such as waste acceptance and disposal, facility inspections, equipment, maintenance, record keeping, and employee training.
Compliance Monitoring
Environmental compliance monitoring programs are an integral part of East End Resource Recovery’s solid waste, erosion and sediment control, and stormwater permits, and include groundwater, surface water, and landfill gas monitoring programs. Groundwater monitoring wells and landfill gas probes are placed strategically around the landfill cells to monitor the performance of the landfill liner system. Surface water monitoring locations are established to monitor the effectiveness of stormwater management structures and erosion and sediment control measures.
Closure
Areas of the landfill that have been filled to the final elevations and shape defined in the permit are closed by installing a composite closure cap system. From bottom to top, the current cap system design consists of a 12 inch soil layer (intermediate cover), a landfill gas / seep protection layer (a 40 millimeter geomembrane barrier sandwiched between two geocomposite layers, each of which is a drainage medium sandwiched between two geotextile fabrics), an 18 inch soil cover, and a 6 inch layer of top soil to promote vegetative stabilization.
Post-closure Care
Once the entire landfill has been closed and approved by the DEQ, a minimum 10 year post-closure care period will begin. Landfill control systems that will continue to function or operate after closure are subject to ongoing maintenance and inspections. Such systems include the leachate collection and conveyance system; the landfill gas management system; groundwater and landfill gas monitoring systems; stormwater management systems; and the landfill cap and erosion control systems.
Recycled Products used in Cell Construction at East End Resource Recovery
East End Resource Recovery has implemented the use of recycled tires as the drainage layer for current and future cell construction. This beneficial use keeps whole waste tires out of landfills, while reducing the need for costly stone, a natural resource that must be mined from quarries. The same slow speed grinder used for C&D waste processing can be used to grind whole tires, changing a whole tire into a recycled construction material that can be used as a drainage layer in landfill and other construction applications.