Kyle O’Keefe, SWACO’s Director of Innovation and Programs, speaks to Central Ohio IFMA Chapter members about the immense operation of waste management during the group’s May 10 tour of the facility.
Jerry Olmstead, an Education Specialist with SWACO, goes over some solid waste facts with the folks from Central Ohio’s IFMA Chapter. For instance, by age 2, a child will go through some 4,000 disposable diapers which fill today’s landfills.
Captured water is cleaned and used to clean trucks exiting the SWACO facility.
Fences high on top of the landfill do their best to trap loose papers and other debris.
Waste from a number of haulers is dumped into the SWACO landfill.
Hundreds of trucks move in and out of the landfill every day. SWACO charges $42.75 per ton tipping fee to dispose of waste in its landfill.
Trucks of all sizes back up into the area being filled with waste. Locally, one million tons of waste is produced in Franklin County alone, with about 32 percent of that recycled and composted.
A truck unloads atop the SWACO landfill.
Despite the look of chaos, the unloading of waste atop the landfill is a very organized process.
Once the debris is dumped, bulldozers move the waste into the appropriate areas within the cell.
Trucks carrying waste vary considerably in size.
As waste decomposes, a gas byproduct is naturally produced. These gases consist primarily of carbon dioxide and methane, which is the primary component of natural gas. Methane is captured using gas-collection wells like this one and is converted to Compressed Natural Gas and electricity.
Once the trucks dump their waste in the designated area, large bulldozers and other movers push the garbage into the appropriate areas.
Debris being moved into the cell. Cells, or giant sections where the waste is dumped, are approximately 40 feet deep, leaving 15 feet between the bottom of the cell and the water table.
SWACO does its best to keep dust and debris to a minimum, utilizing fences across the landfill in order to catch papers picked up by the wind.
When a landfill section is full to capacity, it is capped with a final cover and monitored for at least 30 years. A typical cap consists of a synthetic plastic liner that is placed on top, entombing all that was put into the landfill. The liner is then topped with approximately 24 inches of soil and final vegetation.
Another gas-collection well dots the landscape atop the landfill.
Many cells within the SWACO landfill have already been filled and are now ready to be capped. Gas-collection wells dot the landscape.
Larger, permanent nets catch debris that might make it onto nearly roads and I-71.
A number of Central Ohio IFMA Chapter members unload from the tour van, getting ready for the next trip onto the landfill which sites on a 1,100 acre campus.