01-03-1985 Council Packet Special Meeting

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Technology and Operations Pollution control techniques installed as landfills, such as liners instalie- under the site and systems to collect leachate and recover methane gas are increasingly used at disposal facilities throughout the country. However, because they have not been used extensively, or for a long period of time, it is difficult to predict whether they will perform adequc:ely in all instances. It is best to assume that some failure will eventually occur. As a result, other factors must he considered to keep risks to a minimum. The location of disposal facilities is particularly important. Locations with favorable geologic and physical features can greatly reduce the chances of adverse impacts and allow more time to correct potential problems. Future decisions about land disposal must give as much consideration to location of landfills as pollution control systems and the landfill site. There must be a shift away from the current philosophy that dilution of pollutants is an acceptable means of environmental protection. Another factor is the type of waste materials that landfills accept. To date, there has been little effort to control the types of waste deposited in land- fills except for state prohibitions cn hazardous wastes in 1973 and discarded tires effective in 1985. What the region requires, however, is a ban on the land disposal of "unprocessed" municipal waste after 1990. Unprocessed munic- ipal waste includes materials that could be recycled, but have not been removed, and wastes that have not been stabilized by incineration or other processing methods. The technology is available to achieve a total ban, and it is economically possible to have such services region -wide after 1990. Such a ban would allow only residuals from processing and recycling to go to landfills. There are several benefits of banning "unprocessed" waste from landfills. The residuals require significantly less land disposal space. Existing land dis- posal capacity would be available for a longer time period, and the number of new sites needed would be considerably less. In addition, the more homogene- ous, stabilized character of the residuals can lower the potential for adverse health and environmental impacts. The organic content of residuals is minimal, virtually eliminating the potential for generating methane gas and narrowing the range of potential contaminants that might seep off the site. Nuisance impacts, such as odor, noise, dust, litter and traffic, would also be less. Landfills comprised of residuals could mean the landfill site, once closed, could be converted to many more uses. Finally, the ban, in itself, may stimu- late the development of industry to process and utilize the waste materials. Effect on Developing Alternatives to Land Disposal How much capacity is available in landfills can adversely affect the develop- ment of reduction and recovery alternatives. Historically, reduction and recovery alternatives have had difficulty competing against the region"s low- cost land disposal system. It is anticipated that this situation will even- tually change with the implementation of better -designed landfills, which will be more expensive to build and operate. The major problem, however, is that it will take several years to phase in a new land disposal system. Current estimates show that without any changes in waste management, about seven to nine years of capacity remain available in the existing disposal system. The existing system could be available for a longer 27