It's a part of daily life many take for granted, the mundane routine of taking out the trash.
But for the Schuylkill County government, it's part of a strategic plan to dispose of the more than 142,000 tons of waste that comes from the households, businesses and industries a year in the county.
"The county is required to update its solid waste plan every 10 years, and this process is currently ongoing. The county hired a consultant to assist with the update and appointed a Solid Waste Advisory Committee. At the present time, the SWAC is reviewing the trends in waste disposal and recycling and will be making recommendations to the Board of Commissioners prior to its adoption," Lisa Mahall, engineer and real estate director for Schuylkill County, said Tuesday.
There's no immediate concern about where Schuylkill County's trash will go in the next decade, William Tomayko, manager for the waste management program at the state Department of Environmental Protection's Northeast Regional Office in Wilkes-Barre, said Monday.
The one operating landfill in the county, Commonwealth Environmental Systems, 99 Commonwealth Road, Hegins, has enough capacity for the next 15 to 20 years. Plus the county utilizes more than 20 landfills located outside the county, according to Tomayko and Michele Nestor, president of Nestor Resources Inc., a solid waste consultant hired by the county.
"Essentially, the county's solid waste plan is designed to identify projected waste stream over the next 10 to 20 years and identify where that waste will be disposed. And some out-of-county landfills have requested to be included in the county's plan," Mahall said.
This week, Tomayko and county officials talked about some of the issues the county will be considering as it works on its next 10-year solid waste plan. They include the development of the Blythe Recycling and Demolition Site in Blythe Township, a landfill that will accept only construction and demolition waste.
History
Tomayko wasn't sure which was the first landfill in Schuylkill County.
"I would assume that as long as there were people, they had stuff they used and needed to throw away or discard," Tomayko said.
In the early 20th century, he said, it seemed as if every municipality had its own.
"We have an inventory of old landfills and I checked it yesterday. I quickly found there were at least 21 landfills in Schuylkill County," Tomayko said Tuesday.
The listings included: Ashland Borough, Blythe Township, Buck Mountain-Mahanoy Township, Coaldale Borough-Rahn Township, Cressona Borough, East Union, Frailey, Hegins, John Fry I-Swatara Coal Co.-Reilly Township, John Fry 2, Minersville, Norwegian Township, Pine Grove Borough, Pine Grove Township, Schuylkill Haven, Saint Clair Borough, Tamaqua, Tremont, Turkey Run-West Mahanoy Township-North Schuylkill Landfill Association, Washington and West Schuylkill Council for Good Government-Reilly Township.
In 1971, the state formed the Department of Environmental Resources, now DEP.
"Prior to that time, there were no records that I am aware of. As you can see from the above list, most communities had their own landfill. I think most of the larger municipalities in the county, like Pottsville, hauled their waste to the John Fry landfill owned by the former Swatara Coal Company. The John Fry landfills were at the time the largest operations in the county," Tomayko said.
Such open dumps were deemed public nuisances and led to the passage of state regulations, such as the Solid Waste Management Act of 1980 and Act 101 of 1988.
"Modern day landfills have liner systems, leachate management systems, decomposition gas management systems, ground water monitoring program, financial assurance as major environmental safeguards," Tomayko said.
The Pine Grove Landfill opened in the early 1990s and, when it reached capacity, it closed in late 2011, according to Tomayko.
Today, most of these former landfills "sit idle," Tomayko said.
"Many are generally one to five acres in size. Some may be larger. Most are located in areas that formerly were mined for coal so all the surrounding land is impacted from mining. I do not know of any examples in Schuylkill County where the landfill has been put to use," Tomayko said.
Now
When explaining how many landfills Schuylkill County utilizes these days, Nestor explained that there are two basic categories of waste.
First, she said, there's municipal waste.
"Municipal waste is household trash, what comes out of our businesses, sewage sludge and construction/demolition waste," Nestor said.
Between 2005 and 2013, 23 disposal facilities accepted municipal waste from Schuylkill County, she said.
Then there's all waste.
"All Schuylkill County waste includes municipal waste, sewage sludge and construction/demolition waste. It also includes industrial waste from manufacturing facilities," Nestor said.
Between 2005 and 2013, 28 disposal facilities accepted all waste from Schuylkill County, she said.
"These facilities are located in approximately 19 to 20 different counties and include landfills and waste to energy facilities, which use combustion to convert trash into steam and subsequently electricity," Nestor said.
They include landfills in Bethlehem, Pottstown, Lancaster County and York County.
Most of the municipal waste in Schuylkill County is sent to the landfill run by CES in Hegins, owned by Louis A. DeNaples, Dunmore, Lackawanna County, according to Nestor.
Set on 230 acres, it received its permit on Dec. 22, 1994. The permit was renewed on Dec. 1, 2004, according to the CES website at www.ceslandfill.com.
"They are permitted for 5,000 tons of garbage a day and generally operate under 2,000 tons a day," Tomayko said.
From 2005 to 2013, CES received between 70 and 98 percent of all Schuylkill County waste disposed. In 2013, CES received "approximately 84 percent" of all Schuylkill County waste disposed, Nestor said.
In 2013, the total of all types of waste disposed in Schuylkill County equaled 142,255.3 tons. Of that, CES disposed of 119,248.5 tons, Nestor said.
From 2005 to 2013, CES received between 74 and 99 percent of Schuylkill County municipal waste. In 2013, CES received 87 percent of Schuylkill County municipal waste disposed, Nestor said.
In 2013 in Schuylkill County, the total municipal waste disposed equaled 123,384.8 tons. Of that, CES disposed of 107,467.4 tons, Nestor said.
CES accepts waste from other counties, as well.
According to an operating report for the first quarter of 2014 CES submitted to DEP, in January, February and March CES accepted more than 102,000 tons of garbage from 10 different counties in Pennsylvania - Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Leigh, Luzerne, Northumberland and Schuylkill - and garbage from New York and New Jersey.
"Almost 58 percent of that garbage came from New York and New Jersey. Schuylkill County garbage made up 22 percent of that garbage in those first three months," Tomayko said.
In January, CES received 7,801 tons from Schuylkill and 33,781.1 total. In February, CES received 6,310.5 tons from Schuylkill and 30,107.7 total. In March, CES received 8,263.3 from Schuylkill and 38,575.3 total, according to the report.
Since July 11, efforts were made to contact CES managers for a facility tour, but calls were not returned.
Future
In February 2004, Blythe Township submitted an application to DEP to construct a construction-demolition waste facility.
After public hearings and numerous revisions, DEP issued a permit July 16, 2012, to allow the township to construct and operate the municipal waste facility.
The Borough of Saint Clair appealed the permit and the state Environmental Hearing Board found in March that the permit was unlawfully issued and it was sent back for further investigation. And several things need to be addressed before the permit is reissued.
"Those issues all require BRADS to collect more data," Tomayko said.
They include a study on the potential of an underground mine subsidence at the site. This week, DEP approved the plan for the drilling.
"I am not sure which contractor will be doing the drilling, but the consulting firm that prepared the plan and who will be overseeing the plan is called Meiser & Earl out of State College," Tomayko said Tuesday.
Blythe Township and FKV LLC are seeking to develop the landfill on 252 acres along Burma Road in the township. The proposed Blythe Recycling and Demolition Site landfill will only accept construction and demolition waste and have a 1,500-ton daily volume limit.
In a related matter, the Schuylkill County Commissioners approved the appointment of Joseph Scribbick, Minersville, to solid waste and recycling coordinator. He started work July 7 with an annual salary of $34,435.