WTL constructs next zones

May 31, 2023

CHASE BOTTORF/THE EXPRESSWayne Township Landfill General Manager Jay Alexander shows the layer make up, as well as its place under garbage zones at the landfill.

McELHATTAN — The Wayne Township Landfill is working on its next two zones for garbage.

Zones six and seven are in the works and should be complete by late fall of this year.

By midsummer, the landfill plans on lining the zone, putting the coverstone down as well as the necessary pipework, according to general manager, Jay Alexander.

In total, it cost the landfill about $1.3 million to purchase the liner materials for the zones. They purchased $380k worth of coverstone from Hawbaker that will be covering the bottom layer. The stone used is sandstone as opposed to limestone, according to Alexander.

"We have gotten $380k in coverstone — sandstone — from Hawbaker out of their Hagermans Run Quarry. We can't use limestone because it deteriorates in leachate," he explained.

CHASE BOTTORF/THE EXPRESSConstruction is underway for zones 6 and 7 at the Wayne Township Landfill.

Leachate is a collection of water that filters through waste placed in a landfill. When the liquid comes in contact with buried waste, it leaches, or draws out, chemicals or constituents from those wastes.

The layers are made up of, from the bottom: a layer of bentonite, three inches of clay, another layer of bentonite, a layer of textured 60 mil high-density polyethylene (HDPE), two layers of net on the liner, a piece of geotextile as a filter, another layer of bentonite, another layer of HDPE, a couple layers of net and then a final layer of geotextile on the top.

"The net layers on top of the liner create an area for the leachate to flow on top of. It filters down through and flows," Alexander explained. "The idea of a bentonite blanket is if something would poke through, liquid would go through the hole and hit the first layer of bentonite. It would theoretically swell up and seal the hole off."

The same process would happen if something poked all the way through, there was a crack in the liner or a leak; it would hit the second layer of bentonite. It would swell up again and seal off the hole, according to Alexander.

Eight acres of this exact liner makeup will be at the bottom of zones six and seven. The same layers of liner lay at the bottom of every zone of the landfill as well.

Zones six and seven are costing the landfill about $350,000 per acre for each of eight total acres. This is a dividend of the included coverstone and lining material costs, inspection costs that are about $100k and $1 million in equipment costs, according to Alexander.

The coverstone will be placed on top of the liner when it is laid. The landfill will then run a piping system through the layer of stone. A total of 2,000 to 3,000 feet of pipe will be run through, according to Alexander.

"The pipe is to try and move liquid around above the linear area and collect the gas," he said.

There will eventually be 12 total fields at the landfill in due time.

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