Environmental Controls

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Environmental Controls
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Environmental Controls

• Specific Control Systems
• Litter Control
• Dust Control
• Odor Control
• Vector Control
• Noise Control
• Scavenging Control
• Traffic Control

• Site Inspections
• Regulatory Inspections
• Self-Inspections
• Public Image
• How is your Site Perceived?

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Litter Control

• Install litter fences at the face and across open
  areas downwind of the landfills active area.

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Litter Control Symptom or Root?
Dont get caught up in the sour apple routine
There was a farmer. He had this apple tree that
kept producing sour apples. So every year hed
pick all the sour apples and throw them out. But
he wouldnt deal with the root problem. It was a
bad tree. He should have cut it down and started
over. But he eventually wore himself out picking
those sour apples.
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Litter is Like Sour Apples
You can spend all your time picking it...or deal
with the root
To audit a landfill in regard to its litter
control program, follow these steps.
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First, Is there a Litter Problem?
How would you define a litter problem?

• Blowing litter? Maybe...maybe not
• Slight accumulation of litter? Probably...but
  not always
• Heavy accumulation of litter? Yes...looks like a
  problem
• What kinds of controls are being used?

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Are They Trying To Prevent Litter?
Here are some basic ways to prevent litter

• Establish sheltered fill areas
• Segregate incoming loads
• Improve traffic control
• Push uphill to reduce litter

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Are They Controlling the Blowing Litter?
In the real world, some litter will blow...whats
being done to control it?

• Wind shield fences
• Portable fences
• Semi-permanent fences
• Permanent fences

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Are They Picking Up Blown Litter?
Some will always escape...hows it being dealt
with?

• No litter staff...regular crew picks litter
  occasionally
• Minimal staff...always working but never getting
  caught up
• Regular staff emergency litter crew as
  needed...getting the job done so that the site is
  clean soon after a major wind and usually kept
  clean

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Dust Control

• Clean Air Regulations
• Safety (visibility)
• Safety (respiratory)
• Nuisance

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Dust Control

• Dust Control is an issue at the City of Santa
  Cruz Landfill.
• What can be done?
• Keep people upwind
• Use water as needed
• Avoid windy periods
• Keep doors closed and cab pressurized
• Speed limits

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Dust Control at the Loadout Area

• Consider the prevailing wind direction when
  setting the location for the grinder

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Dust Control Cover Soil

• The cover soil operation also creates lots of
  dust
• Consider moving it downwind whenever possible

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Odor Control

• Dump offensive loads downwind
• Cover smelly loads ASAP
• Cover all waste promptly
• Limit when offensive loads can come in

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Vector Control

• Vectors
• Birds,
• Flies
• Rats mice
• Feral dogs cats
• Coyotes
• Control Methods
• Eliminate habitat
• Eliminate food source
• Other

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Bird Control

• Heres how some landfills control birds
• Cover soil
• Monofilament line
• Anti-perch strips
• Predator decoys
• Acoustic Controls
• Bird Dogs
• Model airplanes
• Falcons

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Fly Control

• Adequate daily cover is the best way to control
  flies

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Rat Mouse Control

• Eliminate habitat
• Clean out junk piles
• Remove brush
• Eliminate food source
• Cover every day
• Traps
• Cats ??

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Control of Burrowing Pests

• Trapping
• moderately effective
• time consuming
• potential risk to other animals
• Poison
• most effective
• permit required
• risk to humans other animals
• Shooting
• ineffective
• potential risks

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Noise Control

• Sealed, pressurized cabs on machines.
• Wear hearing protection.
• Some landfills limit their work hours.

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Scavenging Control

• No Scavenging
• Its No Joke!
• Well talk more about this under Safety.

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Surface Water Control

• Perform regular inspections of all on-site
  drainage structures
• ditches
• culverts
• sed. pond
• straw bales

• Perform basic hydrology calculations for culverts
  and ditches. Translate into terms that landfill
  staff can understand and use.

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Install Downdrains

• Install french drains to control leachate seeps.
• Provide positive drainage on all lifts.
• Install Downdrains to control sheetflow on
  landfill

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Handling Contact Water

• At New (lined) Cell
• develop a formal plan
• install temporary sumps
• install soil berms as needed
• At Tipping Pads
• Pre-plan pad slope drainage

• Install Downdrains to minimize infiltration and
  reduce erosion, especially along areas of steep
  slopes

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Contact Water on Liner

• Contact water any water that may have come into
  contact with waste or leachate
• It is a major operational problem for lined
  landfills

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Site Inspections

• Regulatory Inspections
• Self-Inspections
• Load Check Program
• Public Inspections ? They happen every day

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Public Perception

• Every day, public inspectors (masquerading as
  customers) come into your landfill.
• When it comes to environmental integrity, how
  does your landfill stack up?
• What would your mother think?