Louisiana Landfill is State-of-the-art
The Washington Parish (Franklinton) landfill only accepts waste carried in by two commercial waste haulers and by parish residents. The latter must show identification to prove their residency, or they are turned away.
The landfill has room for 12 cells. Each cell is an approximate square of five acres and is more than 40-ft deep. The total height of a finished cell rises about 85 feet. Each cell has a thick plastic lining along its bottom and sides to prevent leachate from migrating to the underground aquifer. Rainwater and other runoff are collected in the cell and then flow from a pipe, which is buried under the refuse across the property, to an oxidation pond where they are treated and released to the environment.
Only one cell has been filled thus far. The current cell has until mid-1999 before it reaches maximum allowable height, according to an employee at the site.
Vehicles entering the landfill must drive onto a scale. After weigh in, they move to the rear of the landfill's property where the current active cell is being filled. After dumping the load, the vehicle must re-cross the scale before exiting the landfill. This allows landfill employees to track the amount of waste deposited.
The cell's contents increase by approximately 80 tons of refuse each day. A giant compactor with 55,000 working pounds rolls over recently dumped waste and its toothed wheels compress the trash to increase the landfill's life.
After the landfill's gates close each day, a worker polices the property for stray refuse and places it in the cell.
The Department of Environment Quality (DEQ) checks periodically to make sure that the day's refuse deposit gets an overnight tarp cover. The DEQ requires that the landfill's working cell is covered with about six inches of earth on weekends and holidays to minimize odor and deter animals' rummaging. "We have never had a bad inspection from DEQ," said Raymond Miller, site manager for Landworks, Inc., the company that operates the landfill.
The landfill reportedly could double its daily deposit without increasing labor and equipment costs-but would halve its life, which currently is figured to extend beyond 2030.
This case study was updated from an article appearing in the March 6, 1997, edition of The Daily News.