Gold Award
New River Regional Landfill:
A Laboratory for Change in Landfill Technology

In 1988, Baker, Bradford, and Union counties in Florida combined their resources to create the New River Solid Waste Association (NRSWA) and share the costs of designing and constructing the New River Regional Landfill (NRRL)—the state's first multicounty regional facility. NRRL is an integrated solid-waste-management system located in Union County, and operates disposal facilities for both Class I and Class III solid wastes and includes facilities for collecting and processing recyclables and handling such special wastes as tires, white goods, asbestos, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and mercury-containing devices (MCDs).

The NRSWA board, composed of two commissioners from each member county, began the process of facility siting, which ultimately led to a purchase of 200 acres of state-owned land that required the approval of Florida's governor and cabinet. After four years of siting, design, and construction, NRRL opened for business on July 1, 1992, with eight employees to support the entire operation.

Of the original 200-acre facility, the Class I footprint is approximately 86 acres (currently 48.5 acres are active), and the Class III footprint is 16 acres. In 2002, the association acquired an additional 300 acres from the state adjacent to the original site. Of the 300-acre expansion, approximately 140 acres will be used for a Class I landfill. The Class I area has seven remaining years of permitted capacity with a total availability of Class I space of 15 to 17 years. The 140-acre Class I expansion area will add a minimum of 50 years of capacity at current disposal rates. The 300-acre acquisition also provides comparable capacity for Class III disposal.

Two of the most recent innovations at NRRL are the use of a new bottom-liner-system technology in its last two Class I Landfill cell expansions and a full-scale bioreactor demonstration project being conducted in concert with the Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, the University of Florida, and the University of Central Florida.

Bioreactor-Ready Bottom Liner System: In 1999, NRSWA, working with its engineers, Darabi & Associates Inc., and Jones, Edmunds & Associates Inc., constructed the first application of an innovative Class I landfill bottom-liner system for this project. The bioreactor-ready bottom-liner system combines high-capacity geonets with a composite high-density polyethylene/concrete precast structure in a configuration that eliminates the need for leachate collection and leak-detection pipes common to traditional bottom-liner systems.

Bioreactor/EGC Demonstration Project: Construction of the full-scale bioreactor demonstration project was recently completed in Cells 1 and 2. The design incorporates a significant amount of operational flexibility to permit the accumulation of full-scale aerobic landfill bioreactor scientific data and help formulate engineering-design recommendations for future applications. Vertical wells installed on top of the landfill can inject either leachate or air into the waste mass. The well boots handle anticipated landfill settling due to biodegradation. The wellheads and gas-collection-system-control ports are fitted with air-temperature thermometers and orifice plates for measuring gas and gas-sample-collection landfill. Well points (sensor packs) that monitor landfill performance will flank the injection wells, providing temperature and moisture-content information from several depths within the landfill. A temporary exposed geomembrane cover (EGC) system, installed over the bioreactor demonstration area, consists of a gas-collection piping system, leachate injection-well network, and a linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) exposed geomembrane. Condensate gravity drains to the leachate-collection system, and gas flows to the candlestick flare. The EGC allows for easier leak inspection and repair during the operation. The current leachate-recirculation system consists of a pump exiting the aeration basin that is piped to two hydrants adjacent to Cells 1 and 2. Air-injection blowers and flare were designed to meet the demands of the bioreactor demonstration project.

NRSWA, led by Executive Director Darrell O'Neal, continues to be proactive in its approach to solid waste management with the goal of continuing to maintain one of the lowest tipping fees in the state.

Operational and End-Use Planning: NRSWA is currently master planning a 300-acre expansion area whose components include an aerobic windrow foodwaste composting operation, expanding bioreactor research, and incorporating bioreactor activities into solid waste management using a four-cell rotation program. The future landfill will employ sustainable landfilling technology to significantly increase the life of the facility. The landfilling area will be divided into four solid-waste cells. Three of the cells will be operated in a rotating sequence consisting of (1) filling, (2) active degradation, and (3) recovery. Once instituted, one landfill cell will be receiving waste. A second landfill cell will be actively degraded through the application of aerobic and bioreactor technologies. The third cell will be mined, once degraded, to recover daily cover soils, recyclables, and most importantly, airspace for future waste placement. The fourth cell will receive mined materials for which markets or uses do not exist.

NRSWA began planning for end-use possibilities from the start. Borrow pits, stormwater ponds, landfill cells, and buildings have been strategically placed with the idea of creating a nine-hole golf course after closure. Additionally, a rod and rifle recreation center is planned for another area of the site. The recreation will include a shooting range in conjunction with the Florida Department of Corrections and local law enforcement agencies. Mountain bike trails also be will installed for use by cycling clubs from Jacksonville and Gainesville.

Planning, Operations, and Financial Management: NRSWA began in 1988 with an operating budget of $277,245 and a capital budget of $3,383,079 for facility development. In 1992, with eight employees, an operating budget of $991,311, used equipment, and a manual accounting system, NRRL opened its doors for business. NRSWA had nothing in escrow and nothing set aside for long-term care.

Today, NRRL is operated by 19 employees under a $6.3 million operating budget. It has more than $1.5 million escrowed for bond payments and nearly $1.7 million set aside for long-term care, and carries a $10 million environmental impairment liability insurance policy. It was also able to reduce tipping fees to $24/ton for county association members. New River recently negotiated 10-year extensions (with CIP index) with Alachua, Gilchrist, and Levy counties that provide a 20-year commitment for the six-county region.

One measure NRSWA has taken to improve efficiency is to establish on-call contracts with controls specialists, electricians, pipe and fitting companies, extrusion welders, IT services firms, and lawn-maintenance companies in order to ensure immediate accessibility so firms can address facility needs in a timely and competitive fashion. These contracts improve the environmental, regulatory, and financial performance of NRSWA.

In-Service Equipment: Equipment is sized to maintain the site's daily operations in an efficient and effective manner and to provide ancillary functions as required. NRSWA maintains the following equipment:

• 826G compactor (2)
• D8 bulldozer (2)
• D3 bulldozer
• 320E excavator
• 4,000-gallon water truck
• 433C smooth drum vibratory compactor
• 6-inch portable pump (2)
• Portable generator
• Tire shredder
• IT28 wheel loader
• 554 E wheel loader
• 615 wheel tractor-scraper (1)
• Reserve equipment and maintenance

Innovation and Creativity: Since its inception, NRRL has served as a laboratory for change in landfill technology. It has been aggressive in pursuing and implementing new technologies, and proactive in developing the financial resources to maintain the low disposal fees enjoyed by the association's member counties.

NRRL received the first permit in Florida for construction of the Bioreactor-Ready Bottom Liner System. Additionally, it serves as the host for Florida's Bioreactor/EGC Demonstration Project; maintains sensors for monitoring various landfill operations and activities; maintains 24-hour-a-day monitoring; uses compost as erosion control; uses geographic information systems to monitor bioreactor; employs a mobile litter vacuum; has begun discussions with the Florida Department of Corrections to develop a program to use landfill gas to energy for powering three area prisons, serves as Volunteer Fire Station 80; and has never had a notice of violation from the Department of Environmental Protection in 11 years of operation.

Silver Award
Seminole County Osceola Road
Solid Waste Management Facility

The Seminole County Osceola Road Solid Waste Management Facility site is on land that was acquired from the US government in 1969. The site was selected for use as a landfill for several reasons: affordability, remoteness, size of the area and ideal soil conditions.

The county owns more than 6,000 acres to the west and north of the site that serve as a buffer and are available for future expansion of the landfill facilities. The large property borders the St. Johns River. The landfill itself is about 1 mile away from the river. Because the site was river bottom in geologic history, it contains very thick, very tight underlying clay formations that control the vertical migration of leachate on the site. Clay deposits under the site range from 10 to 25 feet thick with permeabilities typically in the range of 1 x 10⁷ to 1x10⁹ cm/sec.

Seminole County Landfill is unique in design and construction because it was constructed with a slurry wall and an insitu clay liner. The slurry wall is keyed into the natural clay under the landfill, which contains the landfill leachate and prevents the surrounding groundwater from filtrating into the landfill. The footprint of the landfill is approximately 232 acres.

The landfill gas (LFG) collection system is also state-of-the-art. The active LFG collection system consists of gas headers that collect the LFG and gas-condensate risers that feed into the leachate collection system. The LFG is collected and burned off at one of the two utility flares located on the site.

Leachate Collection and Monitoring: The leachate collection system at Osceola Road Landfill consists of an underdrain on the inboard side of the slurry wall around the entire perimeter of the landfill, a distance of almost 2 miles. The underdrain is connected to three lift stations that pump the leachate to a tank farm for storage and is then transported to county-owned Public Owned Treatment Works for disposal. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2003, 15,574,067 gallons of leachate were transported off-site for treatment.

LFG System: The initial LFG collection system was installed in 1999. It consisted of vertical wells, associated piping, and a candlestick flare. Following EPA Title V regulations, the wellfield was expanded in 2001, 2002, and 2003. The redundant flare was added in 2003. The system currently consists of 65 vertical wells. The LFG flow rate is about 1,500 ft³/min.

Stormwater and Water Quality: The landfill is constructed and operated so that all stormwater is diverted to two onsite stormwater retention ponds. Daily and intermediate cover also is used throughout the landfill to minimize the amount of stormwater entering the landfill as subsequent leachate. Water quality, including groundwater and surface water, are monitored on a semiannual basis.

Regulatory Compliance: The county operates a transfer station centrally located in the urban core, offering a convenient site for commercial and residential garbage and recycling haulers. Several waste-diversion and recycling programs are part of the integrated system. These include: household-hazardous-waste collection centers, e-waste recycling, sharps collection, used oil recycling, curbside recycling collection, recycling collection centers, white goods/scrap metal collection and recycling, yardwaste collection and composting, tire recycling, and construction-and-demolition debris recycling

Planning, Operations, and Financial Management: For accounting purposes, the county's landfill is part of the county's overall solid waste management enterprise system. The system includes landfill operations, transfer station operations, recycling activities, and administrative and other activities. Costs for operating the solid-waste system are funded solely by the system's revenue. Any "profit" left over at the end of the year remains in the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund and can be used for future capital purposes of the system in accordance with the covenant of outstanding bonds. In 2003, $8 million of accrued profits were used to pay down outstanding bonds. After debt refinancing, the county has $12 million in debt. This debt originally was secured in the early 1990s to finance the construction of the landfill and transfer station. The refinancing has resulted in an annual savings of more $300,000.

The majority of system revenue comes from tip fees, with additional revenue from recycling revenue, state grants, interest revenue, and inter-fund transfers.

In 1996, the county conducted and won a "managed competition process" in which county operations bid against private operators for the contract to operate the landfill and transfer station. The county "operator" is allowed a fixed price of $2.23 million plus a variable price of $7.55 per ton. Since full implementation of the managed competition in 1999, the operator has come in under budget each year. More than $4 million in profit has accrued in reserves to fund future equipment needs.

Landfill closure and long-term care is funded through an escrow account. That is, the county puts cash in the bank to prepare for eventual site closure.

In FY 2003, more than 350,000 tons of MSW and yardwaste were managed at Osceola Road Landfill.

Cost Performance: The Solid Waste Management District looks at its costs on an annual basis in an effort to make sure work is being performed effectively. Analysis of FY 2003 cost information is currently being performed.

With a landfill that has almost 50 years of available capacity and more than 6,000 undeveloped acres surrounding the site, Seminole County is positioned to provide long-term solid-waste disposal capacity to its citizens. With continually improving operational efficiencies the lifespan may go up, even with explosive population growth.

Equipment: Three pieces of heavy equipment handle the bulk of solid waste is handled with a Catepillar D7, a Cat D8, and a Cat 826 compactor. A Cat D6 is utilized for covering waste each day. Besides the use of dirty mulch, dirt, street sweepings, etc. for daily cover, a Tarpomatic with two 50- by 100-foot tarps is utilized while bringing a lift up to grade. This eliminates the wasting of air space by laying down dirt prematurely.

Key operational changes have significantly increased overall efficiency. One is the use of specially designed shuttles to bring loaded trailers to the working face. The shuttle trucks are used in place of driving over-the-road tractors to the active face of the landfill. The use of shuttle trucks tackles several issues simultaneously. The shuttle trucks get the over-the-road tractors back to the transfer station quicker, using drivers' time more effectively by eliminating the need for transfer tractor-trailer drivers to drive to the top of the landfill and dump their own loads. Instead, the drivers simply unhitch their loaded trailers in a staging area at the landfill and then hitch an empty trailer for the return trip back to the transfer station.

Community events are held year-round to provide information about the landfill programs, such as the free mulch and other recycling opportunities offered. The county Web site is also a valuable source of information about programs and services.

Bronze Award
Charles City Landfill, Virginia

In 1987, the state ordered Charles City County, a small, rural community located in southeastern Virginia, to close its landfill, a major source of revenue. With a population barely topping 6,000 and an annual tax base of $1,000 per household, funding prospects for an estimated $1.2 million replacement landfill were slim. While an immediate solution failed to surface, the county did receive an unsolicited proposal from Rogers, Golden & Halpern (RGH), a Philadelphia consulting firm, suggesting the county view its project from an economic development perspective, rather than focusing on the replacement. Thus was born the concept of Charles City Landfill.

Design and Construction: The siting effort, a structured procurement, began with an assessment of the county's legal, engineering, environmental, managerial, natural, and financial resources. The assessment indicated that the county's strength lay in legal, managerial, and natural resources. The remaining resources would have to come from outside the county. Discussions revealed issues that the county incorporated into its negotiation strategy and draft negotiation document. These issues translated into the terms and conditions of the contract:

• Contractor collects and disposes the county's MSW at no cost to the county for a period of no less than 20 years
• Contractor closes and maintains the existing landfill at no cost to the county
• Contractor is the recycling arm of the county at no cost to the county
• The county owns the landfill
• The entire process of creating the new facility would occur in the public arena
• The contractor would make a good-neighbor offer to residents near the proposed landfill
• The county would have review authority over the landfill design and would review and resolve comments prior to submission of the design to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality DEQ). Design issues subject to this were to include, but are not limited to, liner system, leachate management system, and end use
• Creation of a citizen advisory committee to bring concerns to the operations contractor regarding proposed siting, design, construction, operation, closure, and postclosure of the landfill
• Create a fund that would permit the county to regularly monitor the landfill operations and contract terms
• Create a fund that would permit the county to initiate a remedial action at the landfill in the event that there was an impasse on the need for such remediation with the contractor
• County access to the closure and postclosure funding in the event of contractor
• Host community fee will be commensurate to the degree of risk to the community, real or otherwise; such fee to be structured in a manner sensitive to the volume of material accepted at the landfill

The team developed a clear and articulate statement of the county's expectations of bidders, including an idea of what they must bring to be considered. With procurement planning complete and community needs understood, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was developed, including site identification and detailed information, operational experience with MSW, and the company's environmental record.

Three firms submitted bids and by the end of the third round, it was apparent that Chambers Development Company's package met the county's needs, satisfactorily addressed the community's concerns, and offered a viable host fee. The siting process was completed successfully, without community opposition.

With the landfill design underway in 1988, Charles City County issued an RFP to provide third-party oversight services of the contract and landfill construction and operations. RGH was the successful bidder. It later merged with CH2M Hill, and, in association with J Spear Associates, currently provides oversight.

Planning, Operations, and Financial Management: Since the landfill opened in 1990, more than $50 million dollars in host fees have been paid to Charles City County by the operator. With that money the county replaced its aging schools with three new state-of-the-art campuses and highly trained teachers. The operator, Waste Management Inc., has spent more than $59 million on capital improvements at the landfill itself.

The landfill operations contractor has developed a control program for unauthorized waste to assure that only solid waste authorized by the Virginia DEQ and the Contract is accepted and disposed of at the facility.

Charles City County Landfill has a permitted disposal capacity of over 45 million yd3. Since the landfill opened in April 1990, over 12 million yd3 of this capacity have been consumed by disposal of more than 10 million tons of waste. During 13 years of operation, an average of 2,750 tons of waste has been disposed of each day at the landfill. That means that the landfill has a remaining life of approximately 35 years at this daily rate.

Utilization of Equipment/Systems and Technologies: Waste Management has invested more than $6.5 million to improve the port at Weanack, making it one of the most advanced port systems in operation. Containers can be off-loaded directly onto trucks for the short, 8-mile trip to the landfill along an industrial roadway that goes through a sparsely populated area of the county.

After the waste arrives at the landfill it is unloaded using a trailer tipper at the working face, where it is spread and compacted, then covered at the end of each day.

Public Acceptance, Appearance, and Aesthetics: Public acceptance was critical for successfully creating the Charles City County public-private waste management partnership. Many concerns on siting a large regional landfill within the county became conditions of the contract, including these issues:

• A minimum $1,250,000 annual host fee to be paid to the county regardless of the number of tons of waste disposed in the landfill
• Construction, operation, and maintenance of three staffed transfer stations within the county for citizens' use (one to be located at the landfill, and two others at offsite locations), and hauling service from the transfer stations to the landfill
• Construction of road improvements to handle traffic generated by operation of the landfill
• Free MSW disposal for residents within Charles City County
• County ownership of the land on which the landfill is situated for the duration of the operational life of the landfill
• Establishment of funds for environmental monitoring of the site over and above any monitoring required by the Commonwealth of Virginia
• Establishment of a closure fund to pay for closure of the proposed landfill in any given year, and for post-closure monitoring
• Establishment of a mitigation and remediation fund with funds accessible only to the county
• Establishment of per-ton host fees to be paid to the county for each ton of waste entering the landfill (with fees currently set at $4.40/ton up to 1,200 tons per day, and $5.50/ton for volumes from 1,201 to 3,750, and increasing to $6.60/ton for volumes over 3,750 up to 6,000 tons/day)
• Establishment of a Citizens' Advisory Board as a means to bring public concerns to the attention of the landfill management staff for the life of the facility
• Restriction of landfill traffic to approved routes, to prevent use of county roads
• No-cost drilling of deep-water supply wells, at the property owner's option, for all residents using shallow wells within 3,000 feet of the landfill property boundary
• Quarterly groundwater and surface-water sampling
• Limits on the volume of incoming waste to the landfill

From contracting, siting approach, technological achievement, financing, and much more, innovation has been a watch world for the landfill. The glue of this relationship is the contract developed during negotiations in 1988 and its subsequent modifications. The strength of the approach is proven by the relationship growing through mergers and acquisitions involving three different landfill contractors, and as many county administrators, as the waste services industry consolidated in the early 1990s.

MSW - September/October 2004