AREA A/B ENGINEERING REPORT - Waste Management

4.1 Management of Landfill Operations
Geosyntec Consultants
Modern landfills possess multiple inter-dependant and overlapping systems that are designed to
act in combination to provide comprehensive protection of human health and the environment.
Modern landfills also use many types of vehicles (e.g., compactors, bulldozers, earth-graders, etc.)
and other types of mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical equipment (e.g., pumps, engines, blowers,
sensors, etc.) that require skilled operators for optimal performance. Moreover, this performance
must be confirmed through active environmental monitoring programs (as discussed in Section 5).
4.1.1 Landfill Infrastructure and Equipment
Fundamental to waste disposal operations, which
are described in Section 4.2, modern landfills
require numerous support facilities or
infrastructure, including:
• Access roads;
• Gatehouse, fencing, and other access
controls;
• Truck scales (to weigh the quantity of
waste delivered for disposal);
• Offices and administration buildings,
workshops, maintenance yards, vehicle
wash facilities, and other structures;
• Utilities and communications; and
Steel wheeled compactors are used to move and
compact waste at the working face
(Photo courtesy of NSWMA)
• Other support facilities (e.g., public drop-off/convenience areas and materials recovery
centers).
Routine maintenance and periodic repair is required for all the various mechanical, hydraulic, and
electrical equipment in use daily at a landfill.
Landfill operations also require heavy vehicular equipment, including tracked dozers, steel
wheeled compactors, tracked and/or rubber tired loaders, water trucks, scrapers, and road
graders. This equipment is used for soil excavation, handling, and compaction (generally for liner
and cover material), handling and compaction of waste at the working face, and supporting
activities such as access road maintenance and dust suppression.
4.1.2 Landfill Supervision and Operator Training
Like any complex engineered system, operation and maintenance of a managed MSW landfill
requires a skilled and trained workforce, directed by a supervisor who is knowledgeable of
MD10186.doc 59 29 March 2009