Leachate Treatment Issues and Site Closure at a US Site

Landfill wants leachate treatment services, township wants land
By Rodney L. Sherman, Clarion News Editor

FARMINGTON TWP. – County Environmental of Clarion, operators of the landfill in Farmington Township , is seeking a favor from the township and supervisor Ed Heasley wants to close the door on any future expansion of the facility.

It’s possible both goals could be met with one agreement.

County Environmental , also know as County Landfill Inc., is beginning its efforts to close the landfill next year. Company representatives attended the Nov. 7 meeting of the Farmington Township Board of Supervisors to outline their plans for the closing.

One of the ongoing problems at the landfill involves treatment of the leachate produced by the landfill. County Environmental has been unable to resolve problems at its treatment plant and recently was fined $225,149 for exceeding pollution limits established by the landfill’s federal wastewater discharge permit. More here ....

Kuala Lumpur Newspaper Applauds Enviros Designed Landfill Restoration & LTP

The following article refers to an Enviros concept designed landfill restoration for the local contractor, and an Enviros designed leachate treatment plant.

KUALA LUMPUR: A landfill which once marred Kepong has now turned into an unlikely success story.

A RM24 million campaign by City Hall has turned the rubbish hill into a picturesque mound covered with grass. While it was once shunned because of its terrible stench, it now attracts visitors.

On weekends, the Taman Metropolitan Kepong, a 120ha park located next to the former landfill, is packed with people.

Little do newcomers using the jogging track, extreme water sports facilities and a football pitch know of the malodorous history of the area.

For most, the hillock is a natural part of the terrain.

The excellent makeover was not just skin-deep. Under the pile of rubbish lie 1.8km of pipes that ring its perimeter and channel leachate into two containment pools.

This is then channelled to a treatment plant which in turn converts the leachate into clear, river-safe, water.

The build-up of methane gas from the landfill is also controlled by a series of pipes which allow gas to be released harmlessly.

The dumpsite in Taman Beringin is Malaysia’s first fully engineered landfill closure and rehabilitation project.

Rent and property value in the area have increased dramatically after the demise of the dump.

Residents in Taman Nyanyang, Taman Beringin and Taman Aman have been breathing a sigh of relief after enduring the horrible stench for most of their lives.

More here..

Leachate Safari Visitors Avoid Showers to See Seven Leachate Plants in 2 Days

Everyone kept dry for the Enviros Leachate Safari, which visited 7 plants, and clocked up 700 miles of driving.

Leachate Treatment Plants operated by Viridor Waste Management, Waste Recycling Group (WRG), and the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority were viewed, by the 34 waste management, regulatory officer, consultant, and student, attendees.

The trip provided an informal and enjoyable opportunity for the dissemination of information on the subject.

The celebratory (25 years of Leachate Treatment for Enviros) dinner, which was held at the historic oak panelled "Draper's Hall" in the centre of Shrewsbury, proved popular - where the wine cellar proved to contain some remarkably fine wines.

The trip confirmed that biological leachate treatment is being used very effectively and reliably at a large number of landfills in the UK.

The stars of the tour were definately the daily operators of each plant. They were clearly pleased to show off their plants, with pride, and enthusiasm.

Last Chance to Book Your Seat on the Enviros Leachate Safari

The Enviros Leachate Safari takes place on Wednesday and Thursday of next week (27th and 28th June).

If any of you planned to join us, but have not yet booked there were just a few seats left this afternoon! Hurry, and you may still be lucky!!

The final itinerary is now also available at the Safari Web Site/Blog at:-

www.leachatesafari.com

This is a rare opportunity to see 6 operating Envrios designed biological leachate treatment plants, and one methane stripping plant, and in most cases their operators will be present to show us around.

You will also see a leachate treatability trial in operation.

This opportunity is unlikely to be repeated for a few years. It was more than 5 years ago that Enviros held the last Safari.

There will be plenty of opportunities to exchange notes on the subject of leachate treatment on the coach as well with leachate treatment plant designers, operators, technicians, council waste officers, students, and even some UK Environment Agency staff present.

International safari attendees are also flying in from Sweden, Ireland and Spain for the tour.

The cost is just £225 plus VAT for two days, including a dinner on the first night.

Visit www.leachatesafari.com for more information. Download the Safari Leaflet for more information, and both Subscribe and Register your details online. (Advance payment is required.)

Leachate Safari - Places Filling Rapidly, So Book Now!

The Enviros Leachate Safari tour of operating UK leachate treatment plants, which we publicised in this blog in April, has reached the half full stage.

Scroll down in the blog and read about it now if you missed it!

More information, our leaflet and registration details, are available on our blog at http://www.leachatesafari.com , alternatively email Christy Robinson at: Christy.Robinson@enviros.com .

We are delighted to receive so many bookings this early, for the 27 and 28 June event. Unfortunately, we will only be able to take one coach full to these sites, so it is very much first come first served.

We have bookings from leachate plant operators and managers, present, and future for whom we are building new plants, and we also have Environment Agency regulatory staff joining us. There is likely to be at least one research student joining us as well.

So far, our visitors will be arriving from England, Ireland, and Sweden.

If you have been considering joining us don't delay! Act Now! Book now, before it is too late!

You are Invited to Our Leachate Treatment Plant Safari (2-Day Tour) - June 27 & 28

It has been a while since we posted to our blog and sent our email Newsletter to you.

That is because we have been very busy organising a Leachate 'Safari', among other things.

Come along with us and join us on our coach tour around the English Midlands, and the North of England, to bag 7 or 8 "big game"(?) leachate plants on 27 and 28 June (plants visited are subject to final itinerary).

OK, so you are right! The closest to a game reserve that we will get to will likely be a "Reserved for the Site Manager" sign in a landfill site car park. Sorry, but we did not think you would be able to afford the cost, or the time of a trip, to see our plants in South Africa. Also, we wanted to make it at least SOUND more interesting to get your attention! (Tell us if we are wrong!)

In all honesty though, this is a rare and very valuable opportunity, which I think you will appreciate now that we have grabbed your attention.

What we can promise you during this conducted and very full 2 day tour, is the opportunity to see a range of Enviros designed leachate treatment plants, and a range of treatment technologies. You will see them operating, and we would expect the plant operators to join us to tell us about their plants during each visit, just as they have on past safaris (although we cannot guarantee this).

There will also be a number of Enviros leachate treatment experts on the tour and present to ask questions throughout. (These are likely to include Howard Robinson, Steve Last, Martin Carville, and Gwyn Harris.)

All the time, while on the coach there will also be many other leachate and landfill management professionals prsent, making this an unrivalled opportunity for newcomers to talk "leachate management". You will very quickly assimilate a lot of information about leachate, and how to manage it, in real-life situations.

(If you need to remind yourself about the types of biological SBR and related processes we provide just visit www.leachate.co.uk.)

During this trip we will also be celebrating 25 years of leachate treatment consultancy, designing, procuring and tendering, supervising construction, and most importantly TRAINING the future plant operators, while we process commission the plants with them.

Yes, we give all the biological process operating sklls we possess to the staff on site, all the tricks we know to keep the bugs (biomass sludge) treating and producing a superb effluent quality, and commissioning is done all the time with the site staff. At times this seems crazy. Where is the business sense for Enviros in that? After all, once trained we are no longer needed, and not many other treatment plant experts would do this.

Nevertheless, this has been good business for us, and the value of this to our clients is undeniable, and there are always new sites and new clients to design for.

As there is good reason to celebrate, there will be a dinner provided on the first evening in a historic Shrewsbury Hotel, in Shropshire. All meals and transport are provided, and accommodation is booked for you.

Full details are available on our web site at www.leachatesafari.com so please visit that site and register, either on-line or download, print, and send, the completed form on the .pdf copy of our leachate brochure which is available online. There is a small charge to cover our costs, and payment must be made in advance.

Oh! and please do also SUBSCRIBE giving us your email address on that Blog site (www.leachatesafari.com) for our Safari Newsletter so that we can keep you updated, even if you are unsure about attending just now, and just wish to think about this opportunity you should still subscribe for more news at www.leachatesafari.com .

We do hope you will attend this tour. We are looking forward to your company on this trip.

DO BOOK EARLY, though as there are no more than 45 places, and there can only be one coach full only. Miss this now, and it might be another 5 years before there is another!

From your web master - Steve Last (Enviros Consulting)

UK EA Says Groundwater at Risk - New Report

VALUABLE GROUNDWATER supplies in England and Wales are at risk because of pollution and increasing demand for water, the Environment Agency has warned.
In a report concerning the state of the groundwater, environment protection director

Tricia Henton said: "Ground-water is very vulnerable to pollution and, while it takes just a few careless moments to pollute or contaminate, it can take decades or even centuries to recover."

That's why we need to do what we can to stop it from being polluted in the first place.

Problems with groundwater quality cost the UK water industry £754M between 1975 and 2004. Poor water quality has led to the closure of 146 groundwater sources over the past 30 years, leading to the loss of at least 425,000m3 of water a day - enough to supply nearly three million people.

The report, Underground, Under Threat - the State of Groundwater in England and Wales, is available at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

WebMaster: We ahev posted this as leachate can, of course, pollute groundwater badly.

Enviros Joins Alfred McAlpine plc

Enviros was acquired by Alfred McAlpine plc on 1 February 2007.

Alfred McAlpine is one of the fastest growing support services organisations in the UK. They develop, finance, design, build, manage and maintain the buildings and infrastructure that enable individuals and organisations across the UK and Ireland to go about their business. Enviros will be joining Alfred McAlpine Business Services, Alfred McAlpine’s fastest growing business stream which provides facilities management and associated services to many of the country’s leading organisations.

Since the acquisition of its Health and Safety business in 2003, Alfred McAlpine Business Services has had a strategic objective to expand its consultancy offering into the environmental sector and Enviros was its first choice because of its reputation and people.

Alfred McAlpine Business Services recognises that Enviros has a strong name within the market and it will continue to trade as a separate brand with the same management team.

If you would like to know more about Alfred McAlpine please go to www.alfredmcalpineplc.com for Alfred McAlpine's press release on the acquisition go to http://www.alfredmcalpineplc.com/press/releases/

The Leachate Team will continue to provide the leachate mananagement service with business as usual.

For further information contact Nigel Clark, Marketing Director, Enviros Consulting

Canadian Leachate Is Good Enough to Drink - Picture Proves It!

Evidence that some Canadian treated leachate is good enough to drink is given a dramatic demonstration in this picture courtesy of the London Free Press!

Susan Bradnam The London Free Press -- Bob McCaig drinks a glass of treated water from his Green Lane landfill site southwest of London to prove it's environmentally safe. The provincial government has approved a 10-million-tonne expansion of the landfill, raising area fears Toronto will truck its trash there.

http://lfpress.ca/gallery/1560/photos/LDN20060629SB_GreenL34ane.jpg

EA Says - Environment Not to be Considered as a Recipient of Pollutants and Waste

The UK Environment Agency's implementation of IPPC Regulations is progressing and the draft Guidance for the Treatment of Landfill Leachate Final DRAFT - Sector Guidance Note IPPC S5.03 is available on their web site here.

This is now (at 187 pages) an even longer document than the orginal draft, but it is now a significant reference document and source of information for all those interested in leachate treatment in the UK, and being freely available for downloading is also likely to be used in many other nations.

The EA does state that:

The BAT approach requires us not to consider the environment as a recipient of pollutants and waste, which can be filled up to a given level, but to do all that is practicable to minimise emissions from industrial activities and their impact.

For those unfamilar with the concept of BAT, BAT stands for Best Available Techniques. What constitutes a best available technique for the treatment of leachate is fully explained in the guidance document. The use of the word technique is broader than would be indicated if the word process had been used instead of technique, and means that a combination of a proven process and optimum implementation of the process is important when establishing that a treatment process is BAT.

Why is BAT important? It is important because the BAT philosophy is central to the UK's implementation of IPPC.

Who does the Guidance apply to? Everyone with leachate to discharge, or tanker away, from an IPPC regulated landfill.

Here is the context for the quotation above, which we have copied from the guidance:-

BAT and Environmental Quality Standards (EQS )

The BAT approach complements, but differs fundamentally from, regulatory approaches based on Environmental Quality Standards (EQS).

Essentially, BAT requires measures to be taken to prevent emissions - and measures that simply reduce emissions are acceptable only where prevention is not practicable. Thus, if it is economically and technically viable to reduce emissions further, or prevent them altogether, then this should be done irrespective of whether or not EQSs are already being met.

The BAT approach requires us not to consider the environment as a recipient of pollutants and waste, which can be filled up to a given level, but to do all that is practicable to minimise emissions from industrial activities and their impact.

The BAT approach first considers what emission prevention can reasonably be achieved (covered by Sections 2 and 3 of this Guidance) and then checks to ensure that the local environmental conditions are secure (see Section 4 of this Guidance and also Guidance Note IPPC Environmental Assessments for BAT).

The BAT approach is therefore the more precautionary one because the release level achieved may be better than that simply required to meet an EQS.

Conversely, if the application of indicative BAT might lead to a situation in which an EQS is still threatened, a more effective technique is required to be BAT for that installation. The Regulations allow for expenditure beyond indicative BAT where necessary, and, ultimately, an installation will only be permitted to operate if it does not cause significant pollution.

Several new leachate treatment technologies have now been included in the guidance. We will post again soon with further information on the technologies within this guidance.

Please add a comment, and respond with your views on this post - or simply encourage us to follow up with more discussion of this important UK leachate guidance. (It is easy to comment - just click on the word COMMENT below this posting, and complete the form.)

Swansea Firm Fined for Waste Offences

We all realise the importance of controlling leachate to prevent pollution. This UK Environment Agency web site News item shows that they will certianly prosecute if companies do not heed this requirement suitably.

B.J. Landholdings Ltd. of Plasmarl, Swansea have been fined a total of £2,000 by Swansea Magistrates (13.12.06) after pleading guilty to charges brought under Section 33 of The Environmental Protection Act 1990. The company was also ordered to pay full costs of £610 to Environment Agency Wales, who brought the prosecution.

The company holds a waste management licence for a closed landfill site at Penplas, Llangyfelach, Swansea. The site operated in the 1980’s, accepting building waste. It has now been restored to agriculture.

On two separate occasions this year, Environment Agency officers found contaminated water, known as leachate, leaking from the site into an nearby drainage ditch. The leaks appeared to be have been caused as a result of a build up of leachate within the site. It is the company’s responsibility to carry out regular maintenance and monitoring at the site, to ensure that it does not pollute the environment. In this case, the company should have been checking the leachate levels and removing it as required.

Following each incident, temporary repairs were carried out to the structure of the landfill, and excess leachate was removed from the site.

Magistrates were told that in an effort to provide a permanent solution to the problems, B.J. Landholdings Ltd are planning to install a leachate treatment system at the site; it is hoped that construction will start early in 2007. It is estimated that the proposed system will cost the company in excess of £60,000.

Speaking after the court hearing, Daron Herbert, Agency Environment Management Team Leader for the Swansea area, said:

Whilst the environmental impact of these particular incidents was relatively
minor, there remains the potential for a much more serious pollution incident if
standards of maintenance at the site are not improved. We are continuing to work
with the company to ensure the problem does not reoccur.

Leachate Blogger comment: This successful prosecution shows that the Environment Agency will not hesitate to take enforcement action against companies or individuals who fail to fulfil their responsibilities and so cause pollution to the environment.

However, it is quite common for closed landfills where monitoring has not been thought necessary, that there may be a gradually rising leachate level as the waste reaches absorbtive capacity over a long period. It can be easy to be caught out by this effect.