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Considering The Alternative: Landfills
Considering The Alternative: Landfills
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WasteAdvantage
The Advantage in the Waste Industry
Landfills can
enhance life expectancy and financial outlook with alternative daily cover.
The economic side of landfill managemenT isnt easy. Essentially there is a product being sold airspace. Revenue is generated through tipping fees charged per ton. The more garbage taken in, the more income earned. From that perspective, selling space is good. However, as more garbage is taken in, less space remains and the landfills lifespan decreases. The problem is that space is not renewable. More airspace can be manufactured by building more cells or new locations, but these options arent always viable due to expense, regulations or other factors. Even with new areas, every cell and landfill will fill up eventually. The only solution is making the most of available airspace to stay open as long as possible. But while most landfill operators realize the importance of common space-saving measures, such as compaction, many fail to recognize that trash isnt the only thing filling up landfills.
In many cases, landfills lose airspace by using dirt as daily cover, as opposed to employing alternative daily cover (ADC) options that take up much less space than the soil layer required to cap a landfills daily refuse intake. ADC not only preserves valuable airspace, but also brings financial benefits through lower operating costs. The economic impact of ADC is a big reason why companies have invested in producing ADC materials, and why its use is gaining momentum.
HydroSeeders are a popular option for applying ADC. Photos courtesy of Finn Corporation.
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considering the alternative
Continued from page 29.
off is that it is capable of achieving adequate daily cover with a layer of material only a quarter-inch thick, consuming only a fraction of the airspace occupied by The Advantage in the Waste Industry a six-inch layer of topsoil. A few quick example calculations demonstrate just how valuable this space savings can be. An example landfill airspace analysis is: Waste Intake Rate Tipping Fee Compace Density (on average) Dirt Used for Daily Cover Days of Operation 300 tons per day $40.00 per ton 1,200 pounds per cubic yard 400 Cubic yards per day 5 days per week/ 250 days per year
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A quarter-inch layer of ADC can accomplish the same task as six inches of dirt.
This data can be used to calculate the dollar value per cubic yard of airspace. Calculate daily revenue. 300 tons x $40 = $12,000 per day. Calculate the intake rate in pounds per day. 300 tons x 2,000 pounds = 600,000 pounds per day. Use intake rate and compact density to determine the daily, in-place compacted volume. 600,000 pounds divided by 1,200 pounds/cubic yard = 500 cubic yards per day. Next, find the actual dollar value of landfill space. $12,000 divided by 500 cubic yards per day = $24 per cubic yard. Now that the value of landfill space is known, one can apply this dollar amount to determine how much potential revenue-earning space is being filled by nothing more than dirt.
WasteAdvantage Magazine
August 2010
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Calculate daily lost revenue using the amount of dirt for daily cover and the value of the space that dirt occupies. 400 cubic yards per day x $24.00 = $9,600. Calculate annual lost revenue. $9,600 x 250 days per year = $2,400,000. Naturally, a small portion of the $2.4 million that would be lost under a six-inch dirt layer scenario would still be lost even if ADC were used. But considering a 24:1 soil to ADC space consumption ratio, millions of dollars could still be saved each year with ADC. Granted, the dollar value assigned to space savings doesnt literally translate into dollars in a landfills pocket right away. But it does increase the number of years the site will remain open by approximately 25 percent on average. This effectively allows profit to be made for a longer period on the same site while other landfills find themselves investing in new cell construction or preparation of new locations. Many municipal landfills may be more focused on remaining open longer and even long-term employee job security than they are on profit gains, but the same principles apply. Public landfill or private, wasted space is wasted spaceregardless of whether that space is viewed as lost money, lost years on a site or a combination of both.
coverage. Applying spray-on mulch could almost be described as painting the working face of a landfill. Every nook andAdvantage in the Waste Industry covered with a cranny can be The precise layer of mulch with no need to over-apply. The material then sets and cures, sealing in refuse and providing the necessary daily cover on the landfill to prevent erosion, control disease vectors and reduce fire hazards. Once on the ground, the basic properties of the material make it effective from an environmental standpoint as well. Some ADC contains microbes that help break down organic matter. Landfills can also introduce a variety of additives to the mulch slurry as its mixed, such as odor control products or repellants to keep birds and other landfill pests away from the surface. Another common green-friendly component of ADC material is newspaper waste and recycled magazine print, meaning some of whats being used to cover the trash has been repurposed so as not to wind up as general landfill waste in the first place. Using ADC, a landfill can essentially get much more with much less.
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ADC Efficiency
So just how does ADC accomplish with a quarter-inch of material what it takes dirt six inches to do? The biggest factor is how the two materials are actually applied. Moving dirt with trucks and bulldozers is an inexact science to say the least, so more material is understandably required to ensure adequate
WasteAdvantage Magazine
August 2010
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considering the alternative
Landfills using ADC will still have a need for excavators, trucks and dozers, but by eliminating the everyday dirt-moving project, landfills can reduce the The required number of these machines. The smaller Advantage in theinvestment for heavy capital Waste Industry equipment saves money upfront, while additional savings come in the form of reduced equipment maintenance costs. By running fewer machines, these landfills subsequently burn far fewer gallons of diesel fuel per day. Even with a modest decrease of 20 gallons per day over 250 days a year with a diesel price of $4 per gallon, a landfill could save $20,000 in fuel each year. Added cost can also be incurred by landfills that must buy and ship in dirt from outside their premises. ADC does present a similar scenario, as landfills will have to pay for the material itself. Generally a spray-on mulch product costs a few cents per square foot of coverage. However, this cost is quickly minimized by fuel savings alone, which is usually more than enough to offset the cost of ADC material. Again, this doesnt even take into account the far more substantial savings in added airspace. When using ADC, landfills that no longer require as many heavy equipment operators can choose to reduce their workforce as another cost-cutting measure. But because landfills must comply with so many government regulations, many landfills that switch to ADC will instead repurpose employees for other necessary daily tasks rather than letting workers go. In either case, the result is greater operating efficiency.
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Gaining Acceptance
Ultimately, economics provide the most compelling argument for ADC. More airspace. Lower costs. Higher profits. Increased landfill life. Given appropriate education and more first-hand experience with its benefits, it wont be long before ADC is no longer regarded as an alternative, but simply the most cost-effective daily cover method in the landfill business. | WA James Loneman is territory manager for FINN Corporation (Fairfield, OH). He can be reached at (800) 543-7166 or via e-mail at jloneman@finncorp.com.
2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.
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