By preparing site life calculations with knowledge of multiple approaches, we can proactively position solid waste systems to meet future needs. However, the simplest approach is often the most prudent when every variable is unknown.
The growing Florida population has greatly pressured all public infrastructure, including waste disposal services. Planning for these adjusted growth trends is paramount to a successful system that provides the community with essential services. By preparing site life calculations with knowledge of multiple approaches, we can proactively position solid waste systems to meet future needs. Don’t overlook having a thorough understanding of current disposal trends and airspace utilization as the starting point for planning the future success of a solid waste system.
In their Florida SWANA presentation, Kollan Spradlin and Fauve Herron focus on using three different landfill site life calculation methods that they have previously used to assess the remaining life of Florida landfills.
Two of the three calculation methods will use service area population projections to model future waste disposal. They will also discuss a third model that does not utilize population projections — The Remaining Capacity Method. Originally developed by SCS Engineers’ founder Bob Stearns, The Remaining Capacity Method relies on past tonnage and volume utilization data to forecast the future date at which available remaining volume will be depleted.
Their Site Life Calculations presentation will cover data requirements, the drawbacks and advantages of each method, the identification of errors, and model implications.
Presenters from the ENR-Ranked No.1 Firm for Solid Waste Management:
Kollan Spradlin, PE, CHMM and Fauve Herron, EIT
Abdul Mulla-Saleh, PhD, PE, BCEE, joins SCS Engineers as a Project Director specializing in civil and environmental services for solid waste management and master planning, landfill permitting, site development, landfill expansions and closures.
“Abdul brings superior credentials to serve SCS’s clients. Our Southeastern engineering teams bring a holistic approach to solid waste management by combining field skills, advanced technology, and engineering experts to focus on sustainable solutions,” states Vice President Shane Fischer.
Dr. Mulla-Saleh is a licensed Professional Engineer in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer who has supported large civil and environmental projects globally. His portfolio includes new site development and infrastructure projects, master plans for drainage and wastewater, solid waste management, hydrologic and hydraulic studies, flood control structures, pump stations, and roadways.
His successful track record includes projects in the US, where he completed environmental projects, including landfill engineering and solid waste management facilities design, sustainable waste management, including zero waste and carbon neutral concepts, and technical quality assurance.
Abdul is a published author and presents at industry and association educational events. He is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Solid Waste Association, and the Solid Waste Association of North America. He earned his PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of South Florida; his MS in Environmental Engineering also at the University of South Florida; and his BS in Civil Engineering at the University of South Alabama.
There is a demand for qualified professionals such as Abdul, and opportunities for those just beginning their careers at SCS Engineers. Each and every team at SCS has opportunities to help protect our water, air, and land for those interested in gaining experience or sharing their expertise with industries responsible for safeguarding the environment as they deliver essential services and products.
For more information about us, please watch our video to see what you can do for your business and community. If you prefer working outdoors as part of a talented, unique team please watch this short video. No matter your job at SCS, you will make a difference!
The trend to go larger necessitates more landfill design sophistication and master planning to recoup the growing capital investment upfront. During this month’s SCS Engineers webinar and open forum, our panel will discuss landfill design, focusing on optimizing your site layout and maximizing air space – a landfill’s golden egg.
Live on Thursday, September 29, 2022
2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour
This educational, non-commercial webinar with a Q&A forum throughout is free and open to all who want to learn more about landfill design. We recommend this month’s discussion for landfill owners/operators, solid waste planners, environmental engineers, municipalities, and environmental agency staff.
Certificates of Attendance are available for attendees who registered on Zoom and attended the live session.
Today’s modern landfills offset inflation and labor costs through transformative reduction, recycling, and reuse programs while turning methane into renewable energy. Advanced remote monitoring and control technology and data capture provide many efficiencies and insight to landfill operators and owners running larger and larger collections of plants and facilities on their landfills.
The trend to go larger necessitates more landfill design sophistication and master planning to recoup the growing capital investment upfront. During this month’s SCS Engineers webinar and open forum, our panel will discuss landfill design, focusing on optimizing your site layout and maximizing air space – a landfill’s golden egg.
Live on Thursday, September 29, 2022
2:00 pm Eastern Time for 1 hour
This educational, non-commercial webinar with a Q&A forum throughout is free and open to all who want to learn more about landfill design. We recommend this month’s discussion for landfill owners/operators, solid waste planners, environmental engineers, municipalities, and environmental agency staff.
Certificates of Attendance are available for attendees who registered on Zoom and attended the live session.
The Reno County Board of Commissioners approved contracting with SCS Engineers to support the County’s Solid Waste Department through 2024. SCS will provide environmental engineering, consulting, and field services for the Reno County Municipal Solid Waste Facilities for the next three years. The contract approval directly resulted from the firm’s experience, expertise, and long-standing relationship with Reno County.
SCS has a history of providing compliance, planning, and engineering services to Reno County. The firm helps the County continually comply with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and other agency regulations. Compliance activities throughout the year include groundwater and leachate sampling, laboratory analyses, permit renewals, air permitting, and associated report preparation in accordance with Kansas Administrative Regulations.
Landfills contain complex systems to protect the health of nearby communities and the environment. The County uses SCS professionals’ expertise and proprietary software for air quality and gas collection and control systems (GCCS) operations, monitoring, and maintenance (OMM). Reno County relies on SCS to maintain these systems and keep them in compliance to focus on their other operations.
These preventative services keep the landfills fully compliant with state and federal regulatory requirements while aligned with the County’s system performance goals and anticipated operational and maintenance activities.
In 2021 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changed legislation regulating landfills, specifically the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and other air quality regulations. These changes significantly increased the monitoring, record-keeping, data management, and reporting tasks for many landfills across the nation, including the Reno County Facility. SCS has helped Reno County navigate these changes and will continue to facilitate changes as the County looks to expand its landfill in the future. Combined with the supply chain and labor shortages, the Solid Waste Department is securing its essential services from disruptions.
Project Director Steve Linehan said, “SCS is privileged that Reno County entrusts us to partner with them to maintain the landfills’ safe and efficient operations. The Solid Waste Department supports the citizens and the environment; we’re honored to help.”
New Chicago office location at 40 Shuman Boulevard, Suite 216, Naperville, IL 60563
SCS Engineers continues expanding its environmental team in its Chicago, Illinois office to meet environmental engineering and consulting needs focusing on waste management and the needs of the electric utilities. Driving demands are industries and municipalities seeking to reduce their environmental footprint while providing essential services and products.
Leading the Chicagoland team, Professional Engineer and Professional Geologist Scott Knoepke. Knoepke serves clients needing remediation and site redevelopment. This includes commercial dry cleaners, retail petroleum sites, and heavy industries such as steel, rail, coal, mining, manufacturing, metal cutting, and plating.
Meet the Crew!
Richard Southorn, PE, PG, with 20 years of experience, joins Knoepke supporting solid waste and electric utility sectors. Southorn began his career in the field performing CQA oversight, environmental monitoring, and soil core/rock core logging at landfill sites. He moved into landfill design and modeling, primarily to support landfill expansion projects. Richard has extensive experience with site layouts, geotechnical stability, stormwater management, and leachate generation analyses.
Brett Miller is a Senior Designer with over 20 years of experience and proficiency in AutoCAD Civil 3D and Maya. Brett is capable of any production drafting and is highly skilled in understanding 3D space. This helps him support designs that fit into site-specific, real-world environments. Brett also creates 3D models and animations that illustrate the benefits of a design to our clients.
Niko Villanueva, PE, joins SCS with eight years of experience. Niko provides engineering and drafting support and is experienced in designing various landfill systems such as stormwater management, leachate and gas control, and foundation analysis. He has also prepared cost estimates and construction bid quantities for various projects and construction quality assurance services at multiple facilities.
Meet Spencer LaBelle, with six years of experience. Spencer provides solutions for stormwater-related projects, including stormwater management system design, permitting, and compliance. He provides a diverse portfolio of clients and industries with stormwater-related services and environmental compliance.
Zack Christ, PE, comes to SCS with 15 years of experience in solid waste and CCR landfill sectors. Zack has experience performing CQA oversight and CQA management of landfill final cover, base liner, and GCCS; environmental monitoring; and logging soil borings. He also has extensive landfill design and CAD experience in developing landfill siting and permitting application projects. Zack’s areas of expertise include geotechnical analyses, stormwater management, leachate management design, GCCS design, and cost estimating.
Popular Mechanics recently published an article entitled The Pungent History of America’s Garbage Mountains. The article starts with a little-known ferryman on Lake Michigan when a storm beached his craft on an offshore sandbar in July 1886. Thus started Chicago’s open dump on today’s Lake Shore Drive, home to landmarks such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Wrigley Building, the Chicago Tribune Tower, Northwestern University, and the Magnificent Mile – all on turn-of-the-century garbage.
Transportation centers, stadiums, and even entire neighborhoods are now built on landfills. This is a fascinating, well-written article on the history and possibilities of building on remediated properties and brownfields.
“Landfill redevelopment projects tend to be real estate projects, and you know what matters in real estate: location, location, location,” says Mike McLaughlin of SCS Engineers, who specializes in brownfields and landfill redevelopment. “A landfill in an urban area might be the only piece of open land in that area. People go to extraordinary lengths to redevelop because the property is so valuable.”
SCS Engineers, a top-tier ENR environmental consulting and construction firm, welcomes Professional Engineer Mary Kennamer to its environmental services team in Raleigh, N.C. As a Senior Project Professional, Mary is responsible for designing and engineering solutions to help landfills, manufacturers, and businesses comply with federal and state environmental regulations.
As a chemical engineer, Mary’s background and degree are useful to help North Carolina landfill owners prepare to meet more stringent federal and local air regulations. She will advise on air compliance issues, air permitting, compliance reporting, and consulting for landfills and manufacturing.
“Mary’s previous consulting experience and work with the US EPA is a tremendous asset and value for our landfill and manufacturing clients,” states Kenton Yang, the Raleigh office’s project director. “We’re excited to add another bright star to the Raleigh office.”
In order to permit new or expanding plants and facilities, there are complex environmental policies to meet. As an environmental and chemical engineer, Mary researches, plans, and completes the technical work for air permitting and compliance, SPCC, and due diligence that keeps owners in compliance and projects moving forward.
About SCS Engineers
SCS Engineers’ environmental solutions and technology directly result from our experience and dedication to solid waste management and other industries responsible for safeguarding the environment. For more information about SCS, please visit our website at www.scsengineers.com/, contact , follow us on your preferred social media, or watch our 50th Anniversary video.
SCS Engineers – Raleigh specializes in permitting and meeting comprehensive clean air, water, and soil goals and provides a range of services such as PFAS treatment, solid waste master planning, landfill technology, risk management, groundwater monitoring, pre-closure and landfill closures, and Brownfields remediation.
SCS Engineers is a leading environmental consulting and contracting firm with over 50 years of expertise in designing, permitting, constructing, and operating landfills. The firm is a pioneering force in developing landfill design technologies in use today by most landfill designers in the United States and internationally. Dr. Khatami describes several of the more prominent of these technologies below.
Landfills without Terraces
SCS is one of the first landfill designers to develop the concept of straight-up 3:1 slopes for landfills with no terraces. The modern version of tack-on swales (also known as tack-on berms) for control of surface water runoff came about along with this concept. This technology simplified waste filling operations for landfill operators and added significant additional airspace to landfill facilities. This concept’s financial benefits for SCS’s clients over the past three decades exceed one billion dollars.
Pipe Downchutes
SCS developed the single-barrel downchute and double-barrel downchute systems combined with the tack-on swales for landfill slopes during final cover installation. SCS has been designing and constructing these systems since the early 1990s, and none of the constructed systems have experienced failure. System performance for such a long time is a clear indication of the design’s suitability in combination with the tack-on swales. These concepts eliminate numerous problems that arise with open surface downchutes and other downchute systems combined with terraces on landfill slopes. The construction simplicity and rapid system installation make them the most useful systems for our clients.
Leachate Toe Drain System
SCS was the first landfill designer that developed the concept of a toe drain to collect and properly dispose of leachate seeps below the final cover geomembrane. SCS coined the term leachate toe drain system or LTDS for standardizing the design over 20 years ago. The LTDS is currently an essential component of all landfill designs that experience leachate seeps on exterior slopes, and landfill designers are catching up with the concept.
Rainwater Toe Drain System
SCS was a pioneering landfill designer in developing the proper means for collecting and removing water from the final cover drainage layer located above the final cover geomembrane. SCS coined the term rainwater toe drain system, or RTDS, to standardize the design over 20 years ago. The RTDS concept is currently an integrated component of all closure projects designed and constructed by SCS and many other landfill designers.
Sustainable Landfill Design Concepts
SCS revolutionized the landfill base grades design by developing the Landfill Green Design concept over two decades ago. Many regional landfill owners welcomed the concept and its numerous benefits, including savings in construction material and increasing airspace, to name a few. Introducing the second generation of the landfill green design within a few years, SCS addressed solid waste rules in several states. The improvements apply to very long disposal cells, minimum slope values for the leachate collection pipes, and minimum slope for a disposal cell’s base area. Coining the second generation design a Landfill Green-H Design, with “H” for hybrid, SCS reflects the combination of the landfill green design concept and the traditional herringbone concept. Readers of the SCS Advice from the Field blog can look forward to an upcoming blog on the term herringbone soon!
Over the past two decades, SCS has increased the airspace of many large regional landfills by modifying their solid waste permits incorporating the first and second generations of these concepts. The savings in construction material for these facilities exceeds $130,000,000, and the added financial benefit related to extra airspace is nearly $300,000,000. These SCS design concepts not only reduce construction costs and increase landfill airspace; they also have other sustainable benefits that landfill owners and operators value to help meet their sustainability goals.
The third generation of SCS’s Landfill Green Design is now available. Landfill Green+ Design provides its predecessors’ benefits with a higher degree of sustainability to our clients.
Tiered Vertical Gas Wells
SCS developed the concept and coined Tiered Vertical Gas Well, or TVGW, for the largest waste operator in the world as part of the developing standards for preventing elevated temperature conditions forming in deep and wet landfills. TVGWs collect landfill gas from the entire vertical column of waste from the bottom lining system to the final cover system. SCS developed additional concepts for horizontal blankets and fingers around the TVGWs to improve gas collection and rapid vertical movement of leachate through the vertical column of waste, allowing leachate to migrate vertically down to the leachate collection system rapidly. TVGWs have been a necessary component of new disposal cell construction at deep and wet landfills since their introduction to the industry.
Recently, SCS developed the second generation of TVGWs, known at SCS as TVGW+. TVGW+ simplifies the construction of intermediary pads and improves the connection of the pads to the vertical wells. Horizontal blanks and fingers can integrate easily into the TVGW+.
Gas Release System at Lining System
SCS developed the concept and coined the term Gas Release System (GRS) for the largest waste operator in the world as a part of the developing standards for preventing the formation of elevated temperature conditions in deep and wet landfills. The GRS releases high-pressure landfill gas near the bottom of the landfill. Excessive pressure can adversely impact leachate flow within the geocomposite drainage layer above the lining system geomembrane. Landfill owners and operators can apply the GRS concept to non-wet or shallow landfills as long as gas pressure near the bottom lining system is an issue.
Clog-Free Leachate Collection Pipe System
Over five years ago, SCS developed a design for leachate collection pipes without geotextile, which is a primary source of clogging in the vicinity of leachate collection pipes. SCS coined the term Clog-Free LCS Pipe or CFPIPE to standardize the design. Leachate from the geosynthetic drainage layer flows directly into the gravel around the LCS pipe and then into the pipe without passing through a geotextile. Since its introduction to the industry, SCS incorporates the CFPIPE into the design of landfills requested by clients looking for sustainable and clog-free systems.
Superior Ranking
The development of these technologies and many other SCS Firsts illustrates the value that the combination of our engineers, consultants, field staff, and scientists brings to each client. Our landfill designers work in combination with other highly sophisticated landfill related technologies developed by SCS, such as landfill gas systems, renewable energy systems, SCS RMC® remote monitoring and control, SCS eTools® for data management and decision making, and stellar operation and maintenance services.
As environmental industry pioneers, we never stop striving to be the most valuable landfill full-service provider. We highlight industry Firsts on our website just beneath the photo headlines.
State regulatory agencies normally require landfill slopes reaching final grades to close within a certain period. This requirement leads to closing landfill slopes in phases, normally referred to as partial closure. Generally, partial closures start from the bottom of the landfill slope up to a certain elevation, with geosynthetics in the final cover temporarily anchored along the partial closure’s sides and upper boundary. Engineers propose different designs for securing the lower boundary of partial closures at the bottom of the landfill slope. Some engineers propose an anchor trench outside the bottom lining system anchor trench to secure the final cover geosynthetics. Others specify welding the cover geomembrane to the bottom lining system geomembrane.
Experience with anchor trenches at the bottom of the landfill slope for the final cover geosynthetics has not been positive because of these issues:
To eliminate the issues above, engineers weld the final cover geomembrane to the bottom lining system geomembrane for cases when there is a bottom lining system below the waste. The welding completely seals the landfill interior space from the outside environment and keeps regulated materials, such as waste, leachate, and gas, within the sealed system. Of course, the engineer should design proper means to address these behind the sealed system; designs may include:
Leachate toe drain system is a concept originally developed by SCS and incorporated into landfill final cover designs over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, many solid waste engineers are unaware of the need for LTDS, so their designs lack this important feature. LTDS saves a tremendous amount of repair money in the long run by avoiding complications for landfill operators.
A rainwater toe drain system removes water that moves laterally within the final cover geocomposite toward the slope’s bottom. The RTDS includes a perforated HDPE pipe encased in gravel and wrapped in geotextile. Also, install the RTDS on terraces along the depression on the interior side of the terrace. Along the landfill slope’s bottom, position the RTDS behind a HDPE flap welded to the final cover geomembrane. The RTDS is sloping with high and low points along the RTDS alignment. Lateral drain pipes located at low points remove water from the RTDS to the perimeter ditches.
Other designs involving extending the geocomposite to daylight at the slope surface cause problem such as those listed below:
Similar issues can also occur at the outlet of such systems on landfill terraces, making the RTDS a superior design.
About the Author:
Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. He is also our National Expert for Landfill Design, Construction Quality Assurance, and Elevated Temperature Landfills. He has over 40 years of research and professional experience in mechanical, structural, and civil engineering.
