The unusually hot temperatures noted in some of the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority’s gas-collection wells have started to cool down, the board learned Tuesday.
“Our mitigation efforts have been working, and the wells are decreasing in temperature,” said James Zendek, GLRA’s engineering manager. “We believe we have the situation under control.”
At the February board meeting, Zendek had reported that several of the authority’s 86 gas collection wellheads had registered what were abnormally high temperatures for GLRA — close to 135 degrees Fahrenheit — caused most likely by an internal landfill fire.
Read More: Refuse authority monitoring high temperatures of gas collection wells
Besides closing off the collection wells in the radius of the wells with high temperatures, GLRA also added soil to the area to choke out any oxygen feeding the fire. That combination appeared to be successful as the affected wells’ temperature is now in the low 120-degree range, Zendek said.
Zendek told the board that at no point did the wells’ temperatures reach 145 degrees, the limit set by the state Department of Environmental Protection in GLRA’s permit. By comparison, he added, temperatures within GLRA’s compost piles are in the 150- to 175-degree range.
“Our assumption is that the higher temps are a result of something like a battery fire in recently placed waste, but since the concern is within the landfill, we have no way of knowing for sure,” Zendek had said in an email after February’s board meeting.
In other business, the board approved waiving tipping fees for the first two tons of waste collected as part of the Pick-Up Pennsylvania Project sponsored by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and DEP.
“Pick-Up Pennsylvania asks all landfills to take clean-up waste at a discount,” said GLRA executive director Skip Garner. “We go one step further and waive the tipping fee for the first two tons.”
Last year, GLRA received waste from about four to five clean-ups, Garner added.
Revenues from tipping fees were $635,137 in February, 3.7 percent over budget, he said. Tonnage for the month was 8,658 tons, about 218 tons more than the volume budgeted.
Also reported at the meeting:
- Random, pop-up observations of waste haulers continue so as to ensure co-mingling of waste and recyclables is not occurring in municipalities with mandated recycling.
- A routine inspection by DEP in February noted no violations.
- The landfill is collecting and shipping two boxes of batteries a week since it started its educational battery-recycling campaign. Previously, GLRA’s electronics recycling center was filling two boxes a month, said GLRA recycling coordinator Amy Mazzella di Bosco. Boxes weigh about 55 pounds each.
The board of the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority meets at 1800 Russell Road. The next meeting will be 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 1. The meetings are open to the public and do not require registration.
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