Landfill Operations, Safety

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Landfill Operations, Safety Maintenance

• Great Falls, MT
• March, 2007

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Introductions

• Who are You?
• Operator
• Manager
• Regulator
• Designer
• Other
• Why are You Here?
• To learn?
• To be more efficient?
• My Boss told me I had to come

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Who is this Guy?

• Neal Bolton
• Construction
• Project Manager
• Operator
• Field Engineer
• Project Mgmt, Training, Operations
• Civil Engineer
• Operations Consulting
• Landfill Efficiency

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Networking Learning

• I have 28 years of experience.
• People you know represent a lot more.
• So talk to each other and spread the knowledge
  around.

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What to Expect?

• Present you with information that is practical
  that you can use in your job.
• Give you ideas on how to improve your operation.
• Bridge the gap(s) between regulation, design,
  operations and economics.
• Ill try to answer questions as we go.

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Quote Thomas Edison

• Opportunity is missed by most people because it
  is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
• Heres our opportunity Lets roll up our sleeves
  and get with it.

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Thomas Edison

• Had 6 months of education
• Had 1,100 patented inventions
• Rode to California on the cattle catcher
• He learned by DOING!

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Solid Waste Landfills

• Here is a quick overview of landfills

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Where in the World?

• I recently attended an international waste
  management and landfill symposium in Sardinia,
  Italy.
• There were several hundred people there from
  dozens of countries around the world.

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Many Look Up to the U.S.

• When it comes to waste disposal, many people
  around the world look to the U.S. EPA for
  direction regarding
• Lined landfills
• Gas recovery
• Bioreactor landfills
• But some folks dont.

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Others Look Down at the U.S.

• Because we still bury trash in the ground, some
  people think that were barbarians.
• In some countries, after very aggressive
  recycling, the residual waste is digested,
  composted or incinerated.
• Very little is landfilled.

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Lots of Issues Lots of Ideas

• Honeybees and landfills
• City of Baghdad
• 2,000-3,000 landfills in Turkey

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Honeybees Landfills

• No kidding.
• Remember, its all about protecting human health
  and the environment.
• By the way, its in the wax, not the honey like
  fat, the wax is a bio-accumulator.

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City of Baghdad

• We think we have problems, but other folks do too.

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Thousands of Landfills in Turkey

• There are 2,200 landfills in the U.S.
• Most offer safe, secure waste disposal.
• Not everyone is so fortunate.

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Where are We Headed?

• While I was in Italy, I met some people who fully
  understand the goals and methods for achieving
  the ideal waste management system.
• Unfortunately, they disagree!

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Expect Change

• Plan for today, but keep an eye on tomorrow.
• Whats your plan?

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These Are the Issues

• Protect human health and the environment.
• Can only do what we can afford to do.
• So we work with what we have today, even though
  we know things will change.

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Whats That Mean for Us?

• It means that we must consider our unique
  situation that includes, among other things,
  these considerations
• Financial condition
• Level of recycling
• Current regulations
• Local preferences
• Length of planning horizon

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1. Financial Condition

• Running a landfill is costly.
• Be realistic about what you can afford and what
  you cant.
• Sometimes we have to make a choice.

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What Do You Think?

• Is recycling better than landfilling?
• One County got to make the choice.
• What would you do?

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2. Level of Recycling

• A rural county generated 3,200 tons of waste per
  year.
• Their current system cost them 50/ton (160,000
  per year).
• A salesman from Sweden wanted to sell them a
  12,000,000 recycling system that would
  eliminate 90 of their waste only have to
  landfill 320 tons per year.
• Did it make sense?
• Just the interest on the loan (at 5) would cost
  them 600,000 per year and they still had to
  send waste to a landfill.
• But it was a great system

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Too Much Too Little?

• Water is a good thing, but not to a drowning man.
• Recycling is also a good thing to a point.
• You can get too much of a good thing.

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Recycling A Balancing Act

• Recycling is generally a good thing.
• Use common sense and target materials that make
  sense.

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Money Isnt the Only Issue

• I have a friend who works on large waste projects
  in 3rd world countries.
• Some international projects dont fail because
  the technology isnt sound or the system costs
  too much.
• Sometimes its just the wrong system, wrong place
  or wrong time.

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3. Current Regulations

• Get to know what is required by the regulations.
• Try to understand the What and Why.
• What is the intent of the regulations?
• Consider requirement for daily cover.

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Understand the Intent

• Part of your job a big part is to take the
  rules that are printed in Black and White
• and apply them to the gray world of landfills.
• If you want to get it right, youd better
  understand the intent.

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6 of Daily Cover Soil

• Do you know where this comes from?
• See, the guys at the EPA were working late one
  night and so they all went out for a 6 subway
  sandwich suddenly, one of them shouted, Thats
  it.
• Not really.
• It was based on a test in California.

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4. Local Preferences

• What makes sense in Montana might not be good in
  Florida or Alaska.
• And what works in Missoula might not be possible
  in Big Timber.
• What are the goals
• Independence
• Protection from liability
• Protection of the environment
• Low cost
• Guaranteed system that wont change

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Look for Best Fit Compromise

• Independence
• Protection from liability
• Protection of the environment
• Low cost
• Guaranteed system that wont change
• You cannot achieve 100 of all of those goals.
• Youll have to compromise by finding the best fit
  for your situation.

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5. Length of Planning Horizon

• What is a reasonable planning horizon?
• We dont have to agree, but what are the issues?
• Keep a historical perspective.
• Lets make a list

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Will Landfills Always Make Sense?

• I recently spoke with someone who said that our
  entire system, based on hauling waste to regional
  landfills, will have to be changed if diesel tops
  5/gallon.
• Could it happen?
• What would that mean?

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It Means

• It means that things can
• and will change.

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Isnt it Interesting that

• The international landfill symposium was in
  Italy.
• Rome was once the center of the world.
• Things will change.

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Landfills Worldwide

• Wherever people live, there is garbage to deal
  with. Heres an overview of how its handled

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Landfills in Developing Countries

• Unlined
• Unregulated
• Environmentally Unsafe
• Major Problems
• Communities on the landfill
• Stability
• Philippines
• Bogota

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Disposal Methods Have Improved

• Ocean - until the 1940s
• Bay Wetlands - until 1970s
• Open Burning - until 1980s
• Pit Filling - until 1990s
• Ranch Landfill - continuing
• Lined Landfills - 1999 State of the Art

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State of the Art Landfills

• Lined
• Monitored
• Regulated
• Secure Safe

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How Does Your LF Stack Up?

• Want to improve your operation?
• Need to save money?
• Could you improve safety?

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How Would You Chisel a Lion Out of a Chunk of
Granite?
Don't Just Start Whacking!!

• To sculpt a lion, you first have to visualize the
  lion. Then you just chip away everything that
  doesnt look like a lion.
• Evaluating a landfill requires sort of the same
  approach.

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Problems Youll Run Into
Making changes at a landfill can get you into hot
water

• Tradition and Stubbornness
• Fear of Reprisal
• Union Issues

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Youve Got to Know What Youre Looking For

• If you dont know where youre going, any road
  will take you there. Similarly, if you don't
  know what an efficient operation looks like,
  whatever's close at hand starts looking pretty
  good.
• So, well not only be learning how to evaluate
  your operation, but also what a good operation
  looks like.

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Tradition is one of the biggest hindrances to
landfill efficiency.

• Do you push uphill or downhill? ...why?
• Do you compact on a slope or on the flat? ...why?
• Do you cover direct with scrapers or with the
  dozer? ...why?
• How deep are your cells? ...why?
• Are your roads paved, graveled or unsurfaced?
  ...why?

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Should You Evaluate Your Landfill?
Take this test and see

• Is your sites budget balanced (revenue
  -expenses)?
• Where are you making money? Where are you losing
  it?
• At what point will you need more machines? When
  could you cut back?
• What is your operating /ton for each day of the
  week?
• What are your equipment costs?
• What is your marginal /ton?
• Could you, should you increase density and
  decrease cover soil use?

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If You Cant Answer These Questions
It Means Two Things

• Youre in good company...most landfill managers
  cant either
• Your landfill could benefit from an operational
  audit