landfill

January 29, 2024

Join SCS Engineers professionals, including our National Landfill Expert, Betsy Powers, for the Solid Waste Landfill Design Course, April 1-3 at the Pyle Center in Madison, WI.

During the course you will have the opportunity to learn about the critical factors of solid waste landfill design, operations, evolving industry issues, and economics. Learn from expert and diverse course faculty (top-flight researchers, owners at the cutting edge of evolving practice, industry experts). Get a firm grasp of the background and design specifics to compete in this industry, including industry-leading information on the principles and practices of solid waste landfill development, design, construction, operations, and management. Understand practical emerging technologies including:

  • Financial Management of Solid Waste Systems and Airspace Management
  • Polymer-Based Bentonite Composites in Geosynthetic Clay Liners
  • Landfill Gas Containment and Management for Emission Control and Regulatory Drivers
  • Value-Added Design of Gas-to-Energy and Gas-to-Fuel Projects
  • Waste Relocation and Expansion
  • Evolving Issues with “Hot” Landfills
  • The Latest in Geosynthetic Products for Geoenvironmental Engineering
  • Performance-Based and Life Cycle-Based Design 
Betsy Powers, PE, SCS Engineers

Senior Project Manager/Civil Engineer, Betsy Powers will be presenting on Landfill Drainage and Runoff Control including, runoff amounts,
open channel flow and culverts, and sedimentation/detention basins

This course will guide you through the development process of a successful solid waste landfill, from cradle to grave. Industry experts will share critical factors and insights. Interactive discussion and idea exchange will be emphasized. Click to learn more and enroll today.

 

 

Posted by Brianna Morgan at 9:35 am

August 15, 2023

 

PFAS CERCLA Exemption Letter Submitted Electronically to: https://www.regulations.gov
The Honorable Michael Regan, Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Re: Addressing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Environment, Advance Notice of Potential Rulemaking (ANPRM); Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0922

Last year, NWRA and SWANA submitted comments on EPA’s proposal to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) as CERCLA hazardous substances. They also submitted comments in May in response to this ANPRM jointly with other “passive receivers” of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Both associations reiterate and append those comments to what is contained in this letter, urging EPA to ensure that landfills and other passive receivers are afforded relief from CERCLA contribution litigation prior to designating PFAS as hazardous substances.

 

READ THE PFAS CERCLA LETTER

 

More Information:

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 8:48 am

April 7, 2023

Join SCS Engineers professionals at the SWANA Florida chapter’s Summer Conference and Hinkley Center Research Forum, July 23-25 in Daytona Beach, FL.

Don’t miss this opportunity to network with some of the best minds in the solid waste industry at this important solid waste conference and tradeshow in the southeast, while earning continuing education hours and enjoying beautiful and exciting Daytona Beach.

The program committee is developing an interesting and educational agenda about the latest developments in the solid waste industry. The conference will explore important topics, such as solid waste management, rate analyses, recycling, zero waste, landfill design & operations, waste-to-energy conversion technologies, disaster debris management, and more!

Several SCS Engineers professionals are presenting at the conference, including

Vita Quinn is participating in the Planning and Management Technical Division Roundtable
Mon, July 24, 10:30 am – Noon, Coquina Foyer

Carlo Lebron and Stephanie Liptak are participating in the Landfill Gas and Biogas Technical Division Roundtable
Mon, July 24, 10:30 am – Noon, Coquina Foyer

Kollan Spradlin & Fauve Herron – “Keeping it Simple: Multiple Approaches to Site Life Calculations”
[Rev Up the Landfill Engineers Educational Sessions, Mon, July 24, 1:00 – 3:00 pm, Coquina ABC]

Click for more conference details and registration information.

We hope to see you there!

 

Posted by Laura Dorn at 10:21 am

December 15, 2022

Meet SCS Engineers professionals at BOOTH 403 at the Air & Waste Management Association’s (A&WMA) 116th Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE 2023), June 5-8, 2023, at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida.

“Smart Growth: Balancing Development, Restoration, and Resiliency” is this year’s theme.  Florida’s abundant coastline, diverse ecosystem, and perennial vacation destination faces unique challenges with respect to impacts from weather, sea-level rise, and other pressures brought on by a growing population. Florida is committed to meeting this challenge through many diverse minds working to plan and adapt to change—in short, to grow smarter and build a more resilient world. The Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) will welcome the world’s leading environmental experts, thinkers, and practitioners to Orlando to address environmental challenges, discuss strategies and solutions to climate change, sustainability, new contaminants, and other issues that call for balancing growth with sustainability and resiliency.

Several professionals from SCS Engineers are presenting at the conference, including:

Ketan Shah – “Sustainability – Analysis and Case Studies” Platform Chair [Tues, June 6, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, Blue Spring I/II], including
“Single Use Plastic Bottle Emissions Using Life Cycle Assessment for the States: Challenges, Impact and Recommendations” [2:10 – 2:30 pm]

Stephanie Taylor – “How Does It Work? Air Modeling Fundamentals” [Tues, June 6, 4:00 – 6:00 pm, Florida C]

Ketan Shah – “Decision Support Tool Process Module for Municipal Solid Waste Collection and Transportation for Developing Countries”
[Wed, June 7, 10:50 – 11:10 am, Blue Spring I/II]

Leslie Smith & Karinne Brown – “Mitigation Efforts during CDV Assessment” [Wed, June 7, 1:50 -2:10 pm, Blue Spring I/II]

David Greene & Mary Kennamer – “Landfills and Landfill Gas” [Thurs, June 8, 10:10 – 11:50 am, Blue Spring I/II]

Mary Kennamer – “Biogas Generation” Platform Co-Chair [Thurs, June 8, 1:40 – 4:00 pm, Blue Spring I/II]

 

ACE 2023 will unite professionals from major industry, private sector, consulting, government and academia for an exciting event that will explore the ever-expanding environmental challenges and provide solutions to becoming and remaining resilient for tomorrow. This is an ideal opportunity for professionals to share their knowledge to advance the industry, and for environmental companies to showcase their products, services, and solutions with professionals motivated to build a more resilient and sustainable world.

Visit https://www.awma.org/ace2023 for registration information and conference details. 

 

 

Posted by Laura Dorn at 6:21 pm

December 15, 2022

Meet SCS Engineers professionals at the A&WMA/ASME Waste Information Exchange, April 11-12, 2023, at the Doubletree Hilton Washington DC-Crystal City Hotel, in Arlington, Virginia.

This conference will cover the latest on a broad range of waste-related topics including regulations and research in an interactive, discussion-focused format. This is an excellent learning and networking opportunity to hear directly from experts at EPA, NGOs, industry, and academia who are working together to develop solutions to creating a cleaner and healthier environment.  The technical program will cover policy updates and regulatory changes, as well as current and late-breaking research on hot topics such as:

• Solid Waste
• Biosolids
• Landfill Issues and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Monitoring
• Reuse/Recycling
• Resource Management
• Waste-to-Energy
• PFAS Emissions and Controls
• Environmental Justice
• RCRA Requirements for Open Burning

Managers, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers involved in waste management, public works, operations, maintenance, manufacturing, transportation, technology, compliance, collections, and other environmental roles will benefit from the technical content and networking available at this conference.

Sponsorship and display opportunities are available at this conference! Discover how your company can maximize exposure, generate leads, and support the industry.

Visit www.awma.org/waste for registration information and evolving conference details.

 

 

Posted by Laura Dorn at 6:09 pm

September 25, 2020

electric utilities and powerplants - scs engineers

SCS periodically prepares Technical Bulletins to highlight items of interest to our clients and friends who have signed up to receive them.  We also publish these on our website at https://www.scsengineers.com/publications/technical-bulletins/.

Our most recent Bulletin summarizes the

CCR Rule Revisions – A Holistic Approach to Closure Part A: Deadline to Initiate Closure and Enhancing Public Access to Information

 

This Bulletin provides information on these revisions, as follows:

  • Surface Impoundment Alternative Closure Provision Timelines
  • Unlined Surface Impoundment Requirements
  • Unlined Surface Impoundment Cease Receipt of Waste and Initiation of Closure Deadline
  • Annual Groundwater Monitoring and Corrective Action Report Requirements
  • Requirements for Publicly Accessible CCR Internet Sites

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

April 30, 2020

Scientists and experts agree that climate change is a present-day threat to communities across the U.S., manifesting in both predictable and unpredictable ways. As detailed in the National Climate Assessment Vol. 4 (NCA4), coastal storms are increasing in strength and frequency, forest fires are becoming much larger and more destructive, annual precipitation is changing and increasing in variability, and widespread flooding is becoming more common both in the interior of the nation and along the coasts.

These changes present complex challenges to the waste management industry that must be addressed and planned for. For example, one challenge is an increasing frequency of large-scale weather events and natural disasters, which are creating more debris that must be managed and which affects the characteristics of landfilled waste. Landfill design needs to incorporate precipitation changes and increased threats due to weather variability, flooding,  and sea-level rise. Precipitation changes affect gas generation rates and require a diligent reaction to maintain effective gas collection. Because of weather pattern changes, risks of cover material erosion and swales have increased for landfills in both wet and dry climates, which may require stronger natural caps or the use of emerging technologies for alternate cover. Additionally, landfills are affected by an increase in the variability of precipitation and rapid changes between weather extremes.

It is clear that waste management facilities must adapt to these changes in addition to scenario building for pandemics to maintain effective operations. Adaptations available include making changes to landfill design and planning, such as incorporating precipitation changes into the modeling of leachate and gas generation or increasing the distance between the bottom liner and groundwater.

Systems should be regularly evaluated and areas needing repairs should be corrected quickly and diligently. Gas generation models should be updated regularly and collection systems need to be expanded or adjusted to account for precipitation increases or decreases.

More frequent and intense storms are creating challenges for cover material management, liquids management, and maintaining slope stability. Facilities should implement innovative uses of both existing technology and new or emerging technologies.

Communities with waste management facilities should include waste management infrastructure in emergency management plans, including maintaining landfills and collections operations and using landfills as both temporary debris storage and as an option for final disposal.

Since climate change effects vary by region and locale, many facilities are developing a specific plan for adaptation and management. To reduce the inevitable costs of adaptation and maintain responsiveness to weather changes, a reactive approach is being abandoned in favor of a proactive approach.

 

About the Author: Jacob Shepherd is a Senior Project Professional specializing in air compliance and reporting within EPA Region III. He is experienced in environmental engineering, air compliance, renewable energy, landfill and landfill gas engineering, and environmental services throughout the mid-Atlantic region, and is a licensed P.E. in Virginia.

 

Resources and Recovery
Get started with these resources and recovery success studies; click to read, download, or share each:

  • County Removes 573,866 Cubic Yards of Debris in 99 Days
    Manatee County, Florida solid waste division’s removal plan serves as a model for natural disaster response. Covered by Public Works Magazine.
  • Is Your Solid Waste Infrastructure at Risk from Hurricanes and Flood Events? The article discusses how operators can help prevent damage to their critical solid waste facilities that need to function during and after a major storm. Covered by Waste Advantage Magazine.
  • Expansion of An Active Landfill  – Vertical expansion increases the landfill volume within the existing footprint of the permitted Landfill. A landfill can run out of its storage capacity prematurely for many reasons including a response to a huge amount of debris waste from a natural disaster like a tropical storm or hurricane. Covered by ISWA.

Contact for assistance starting or refining your plan ahead of natural disasters and pandemics. We offer these services:

Planning for Natural Disaster Debris – help for communities to develop or revise a disaster debris management plan. Many aspects of disaster debris planning can be relevant to communities demolishing abandoned residential buildings and remediating properties.

Guidance about Planning for Natural Disaster Debris – much of the construction or demolition waste can be recovered and recycled. SCS Engineers designs and builds these facilities so we can help locate the nearest C&D debris recyclers as part of your plan.

Planning Financial Response and Recovery – the SCS Management Services™ team offers services to support financial planning and to quickly access budget and operational financial impacts. Eliminate concerns about the upcoming fiscal year expectations and anticipated medium-term impacts of pandemics and natural hazards on local government operations and revenue streams. Address issues such as:

      • Micro-analysis – For near-term (1-2 year) budget/operational impacts. Results produced in one day.
      • Free webinars – Discuss revenue diversification alternatives, realistic cost projections for developing strategic plans.
    • Avoiding municipal or utility service interruptions
    • Continuing to provide services to customers who can’t afford to pay
    • Predicting impact on property, earnings or sales tax revenues
    • Estimating change in water usage or waste generation
    • Longer-term financial impacts of staffing changes, prolonged vehicle/equipment replacements, and postponing or increased borrowing for capital projects.

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 1:40 am

December 4, 2019

Inductive Automation® announced the software firm now recognizes SCS Engineers as a Premier Integrator. Premier Integrators have a high level of commitment, professionalism, and competency using the Ignition software. They must consistently produce high-quality work and must consistently demonstrate successful projects with very satisfied end-users.

SCS uses Inductive Automation’s Ignition supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software in their solution because it is a proven state of the art software, which works well with cloud-based systems and the internet of things (IoT). It allows clients to easily control, track, manage and report on their processes.

Large landfills, counties with multiple landfills, and private waste management firms have been waiting several years for SCADA software to catch up to their business needs. Landfill operations are extremely complex and expensive since they monitor and manage multiple systems to protect the public from contamination to the air, water, or soil. There are typically multiple operations active on many sites, such as waste recovery, recycling, composting, Gas Collection and Control Systems (GCCS), and renewable energy plants.

SCS Remote Monitoring and Control®, or SCS RMC® provides a next-generation option to monitor and control systems, and see the data collected and the systems in action. It allows users to control their systems remotely, collect data and use the data to enhance their productivity, reduce their operations and maintenance (O&M) costs, and reduce their environmental risk. Other offered services include 3D imaging from drones and virtual reality (VR). SCS uses aerial data collected via drones to compose topographic mapping, 2D images, 3D renderings, GIS, thermal, infrared (IR), and methane leak detection for waste facilities. The SCS RMC® team can take rendered models and apply them into virtual reality (VR) headset as well, which allows decision-makers at waste management facilities and organizations to “walk the site” from anywhere.

 

Current clients save Operating & Monitoring (O&M) costs and reduce human error by generating internal and regulatory reports automatically, using data automatically collected by the system. They can also receive instant notification of malfunctions and can troubleshoot these notifications remotely.

Not only for landfills, until recent years the public did not realize the long-term value of recycling nor the associated costs. Some clients use SCS RMC® to monitor dumpsters and recycling receptacles for collection. This helps keep waste and recycling inside the container, collection schedules more efficient, and overall operations less costly.

Manufacturing, industrial facilities, and ports use remote monitoring and control for real-time viewing, analysis, and control of equipment and systems critical to production and safe operations, often for air monitoring.

Galen Petoyan, Senior Vice President of Field Services states, “We fully embrace SCS RMC® within SCS Field Services® because the software allows us to provide more value to our clients; our technicians and engineers can avert problems, and when needed, provide rapid, efficient, and accurate analysis and action.”

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

August 21, 2019

I read your informative blog regarding recommendations for jet cleaning leachate collection pipes. I have a question.

QUESTION: Say a landfill only has access to one end of a leachate pipe. This would be a situation where a new cell was built, where the uphill side of the cell butts up against an existing, pre-subtitle D cell with no leachate collection pipe. In other words, the uphill side of the new leachate pipe simply terminates rather than tie into an existing pipe.

To add to the issue, no vertical cleanout/riser pipe was installed on the uphill end (as this may impede waste operations in the area). There are of course riser and cleanout pipes and a sump on the downhill side for normal leachate collection. I would imagine that pumping water from the accessible side would push out any solids through the perforations into the leachate aggregate bedding, and may cause clogging there.

 Is it possible, or reasonable, to flush this new leachate line?

 

ANSWER: There is always a possibility that a portion of dislodged material from the interior walls of the pipe will pass through pipe perforations and enter the gravel bedding around the pipe. However, due to the pipe slope, the great majority of the separated material flows down the pipe to the lowest point where it can be removed using a vac-truck.

Keep in mind also that, it’s true that leachate can partially flow through the bedding gravel toward the sump, but the role of the gravel is primarily protecting the pipe against compressive loads of waste above. Partial clogging of gravel around the pipe should not be considered as a malfunction of the system. Partial clogging of gravel normally may occur near the bottom portion of the gravel pack, which still allows leachate flow through gravel to pipe perforations above any clogged zone below.

In several instances, when a portion of a leachate collection pipe was opened up after being in service for a while, it did not support the idea of a clogged zone in the gravel pack. What was observed, included discolored gravel due to fine particles settling (from filtered leachate through geotextile) on gravel particles and a bit of the same particles near the bottom of the gravel pack.

I’ve never observed severe clogging of the gravel pack.

Thanks for your interest in the subject, and please stay in touch with any other questions. SCS freely shares best practices and advice within our industry; email us at

 

About the Author: Ali Khatami, PhD, PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. He is also our National Expert for Landfill Design and Construction Quality Assurance. He has over 40 years of research and professional experience in mechanical, structural, and civil engineering.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:00 am

June 17, 2019

Understanding the entire range of wastewater management and disposal alternatives can be a daunting task, particularly as increasingly stringent surface water discharge standards take effect or as zero discharge facilities find the management of their waste liquid needs changing over time. Former solutions are no longer options or may be too costly. One alternative that is rapidly gaining traction is deep injection wells.

Deep well injection is a viable leachate management option in many parts of the United States, yet it is often screened out as a possible alternative due to a lack of understanding of the technology or gross misconceptions about its acceptance or applicability. The purpose of the Monte Markley’s paper The Basics of Deep Well Injection as a Leachate Disposal Option  is to present the basic technical, economic and regulatory considerations of deep well injection as a technology a facility should evaluate when considering the applicability of geologic sequestration of leachate.

Technical criteria discussed are potential disposal volumes, geologic suitability, chemical compatibility, pre-treatment requirements, and leachate chemistry. The economic considerations are evaluated based on the technical criteria noted above, management of public perception/relations, current leachate management expenditures, the service life of the asset and risk to develop accurate capital, O&M costs, and return on investment. Regulatory considerations include the role of state vs. federal primacy for each state, the general stance of regulatory acceptance in specific areas of the United States,  and a discussion of the permitting process and typical reporting requirements.

These key considerations are then integrated into an overall suitability evaluation that an owner can utilize to accurately determine if deep well injection is a viable option and, if so, how to educate other stakeholders and manage the process of implementation as a project moves forward.

About the Author: Monte Markley, PG, SCS Engineers

 

 

 

Posted by Diane Samuels at 6:01 am