Look around you. Is your car built the same way it was 30 years ago? What about your house? Your office building? The A/C units that keep them all cool? The chair you sit in? The desk you write on? Even the pen in your hand? In every case, the answer is no, because all these industries have benefitted from advances in modern technology.

The Natural Flow of Things

It’s only natural for industries to evolve. In nature, a species that does not adapt becomes marginalized or ends up extinct. The same happens in the industrial world. Rare is the industry that has resisted the move forward for 3 decades. But waste landfilling is one. Odds are that your landfill operates basically the same way it did 30 years ago. You may have bigger, shinier, more efficient dozers and compactors, but the way they push, pack, and cover the waste at your landfill is probably similar or exactly the same. Why is this so?

“Well it is just a dump after all, right?”

Modern Landfill Engineering Services doesn’t think that way. In fact, Modern Landfill operators should take personal when someone refers to their facility as a dump. Some wonder what the difference is–a dump is an uncontrolled mess with no organized plan or development, while a proper landfill is an engineered system designed to protect human health and the environment.

Not Your Grandfather’s Landfill

Thirty years ago all landfills were basically dumps, but today most landfills have taken the first steps forward, using some technology to improve. However, almost all of them have a long way to go. ML has spent the better part of the last decade applying modern technology to operations at the largest landfill in Texas and one of the biggest in the U. S. While there, ML developed money-, resource-, time-, and labor-saving techniques to process the 5,000 tons of waste that arrive each day—a figure that climbs to 8,000 to 10,000 tons per day during busy periods.

Let ML Show you what Modernization can do for You!

ML’s unique approach combines survey-quality GPS grade control and optimal use of computer technology for operational analysis (including tailor-made software packages) with sound engineering principles to modernize your landfill. ML can show you ways to run a Modern Landfill that will guarantee immediate savings in costs, time, labor, and resources. In the end, you’ll stop asking why you need a Modern Landfill and start wondering how you can live without one.

Who wrote your permit? Who applies its provisions? Do they speak the same language? It’s highly likely that they don’t, since the typical permit is written by an engineer, but applied by field staff. Unfortunately, engineers are notorious for writing language that is unintelligible to the average layperson. Indeed, there is very good chance that your permit is written in a language that your landfill staff simply cannot understand.

ML’s Language Lessons

ML’s Senior Landfill Engineer, Adam Jochelson, P. E., has spent most of the last decade interacting with landfill equipment operators almost daily. As the planning and development engineer for the largest landfill in Texas, Mr. Jochelson realized the need to bridge the communication gap between permit and operator. To solve this problem, he developed Permit Fulfillment Plans (PFPs)–your facility could benefit from implementation of PFPs.

What is a PFP?

A Permit Fulfillment Plan (PFP) is a guidance document with no actual legal bearing that describes in plain English how a facility fulfills a particular requirement stipulated in the facility permit. Because it is not part of the permit, a PFP can me modified at any time to reflect changes in practices in the field, without triggering the sometimes burdensome permit modification process.

Your recommended daily dose of PFPs

ML will read and evaluate your permit, draw up an outline of sections in need of translation from Engineer to Operator, and talk to you and your operators about how you fulfill those sections, then develop your PFPs to fit your activities. After implementing the PFPs (including any training needed), ML will continue working with you on a regular schedule to ensure that your PFPs stay up-to-date as your facility grows.

Get your PFPs today . . .

Let ML give your staff a fighting chance to properly apply the provisions of your permit. Without PFPs, you risk violating your permit due to the simple act of misunderstanding. Don’t let the intention of your permit–and your environmental compliance reputation–be lost in translation.

Are you on facebook? Your customers are. How often do you update your twitter feed? How about your LinkedIn profile? Got any commercial pitches on YouTube? Think about your future customers–it should be clear by now that they will become more and more internet-savvy as time passes. ML helps you keep up with the rapidly changing times.

What about Your Employees

Does your landfill have a mission? Do your employees know what it is? Do you?

How much soil do you use each day for cover? How long does it take to haul your cover material? How much fuel does each of your dozers use per hour? What kind of waste compaction do you achieve?

How many of these figures are more (or less) than they should be?

Modern Landfill provides answers to these and other questions by applying modern analysis to performance metrics at your landfill.

The answers may surprise you . . .

Many landfills figure that as long as the garbage is buried each day, that’s good enough. Performance Analysis doesn’t enter their train of thought.

How do you control grade at your landfill? If your operators use their eyes to keep a lift on grade, you are checking grades after the fact, and (maybe) repairing incorrectly graded surfaces. Modern Landfill will show you the value of providing real-time grade control guidance to your operators all day, every day.

Most important metric . . .

Many landfills figure that as long as the garbage is buried each day, that’s good enough. Performance Analysis doesn’t enter their train of thought.

How quickly are you using your available airspace? When will you start your next lift? When will you run out of space? Where would you put waste in an emergency? Modern Landfill supplies the knowledge of your airspace that allows you to make confident planning decisions about where you will be placing waste and when.

The More You Know . . .

ML’s products will give you more information about your airspace and its consumption than you imagined was possible. Our measurements and observations will become an indispensable part of your development decisions.

“Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.”
    –Louis Pasteur

 • Topographic Services

Modern Landfill Topography Products (ML-Topo) will change the way you look at your landfill…

Current Topographic Maps (Active Areas)

Super-accurate maps showing topography of active areas of your landfill.

• Indication of Waste Placement Areas
• Indication of Airspace Consumption Rate
• Contours in 2-foot Intervals
• Minimum 11×17 Color Drawings in Printable Electronic Format

Airspace Consumption Reports

Learn how much airspace you use at your landfill each week, month, and year…

• Total Airspace Consumed and Consumption Rate
• Analysis of Individual Waste Placement Areas (if >1)
• Lift & Cell Completion Dates
• Estimated Date of Airspace Exhaustion
• Milestone Dates for New Airspace Construction

Annual Report Activities

Information you will need to complete your annual MSW Report

• Current Topography of Entire Landfill Permitted Area
• Annual Airspace Consumption
• Airspace Reclaimed through Settlement
• Total Airspace and Years Remaining
• Location of Remaining Usable Airspace

Grade Control Staking/Flagging

In-the-field indicators of specific grade control features and transitions

• Toe Lines & Daylight Lines
• ELR Infrastructure Boundaries & Alignments
• Other items, as needed

Topography Status/Progress Reports

Evaluation of topography-related performance indicators at your landfill

• Daily & Intermediate Cover Evaluation
• Grade Control Evaluation
• Erosion Control Evaluation
• Leachate Spring Evaluation
• Miscellaneous Observations

Current Topographic Maps (Full Landfill)

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“Although human subtlety makes a variety of inventions . . . it will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.”
    –Leonardo da Vinci

 • General Environmental Services

ML’s primary target audience is, of course, landfill facilities in need of modernization. But ML can provide value-added service applying the same engineering principles to protection of the environment outside of the solid waste management field.

From SW3Ps to EMSs and a whole host of acronyms around and in between, Modern Landfill can supply what you need to make sure your project or facility operates with minimal environmental impact.

SW3P = Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan

Construction sites, municipal facilities, and industrial locations of various sorts–they all need to manage storm water runoff in a way that protects the environment. ML provides effective and efficient SW3Ps for any application.

EMS = Environmental Management System

ISO 14001 sets the worldwide standard for responsible action in protecting the environment from byproducts of your business activities. ML walks you through whole process from determining your impacts through establishing targets all the way to internal auditing

SPCC = Spill Prevention, Control & Countermeasure

Do you store bulk petroleum products of any kind? If so, Part 112 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations [40 CFR 112] may require you to develop and implement an SPCC Plan. ML will make sure yours is EPA compliant.

QMS = Quality Management System

As an EMS standardizes your efforts to improve environmental impact, so a QMS works to better your customers’ experience with your products and services. ML was instrumental in development of the first ISO 9001 certified QMS for a landfill.

RTK = Right to Know

You have chemicals. Some of them may pose potential hazards to your employees, customers, and the environmental. Federal law establishes their right to know about those hazards and how to react to exposure. ML determines what is applicable to you and ensures you have the right documentation (MSDSs) on site.

Tier 2 = Protection for Fire Fighters

Are your chemicals stored in bulk containers? If so, you may need to ensure that local fire fighters know what’s at your facility in case of an emergency call. Enter the Tier 2 Chemical Reporting Program. ML ensures your report goes to right place with the right chemicals listed.

and the list goes on . . .

Modern Landfill specializes in innovative technologies, but they also provide high quality service in the more traditional realms of landfill development. These are things all landfills must do, often prescribed by state laws.

 • Traditional Landfill Services

Environmental Monitoring, Permit Writing & Modification, Cell Design, Construction Management, … Let ML’s extensive field experience ensure quality completion of all these tasks at your landfill.

Permit Evaluations

Who wrote your permit? Who applies its provisions? Do they speak the same language? ML will translate any section of your permit from Engineer to Operator.

Environmental Monitoring, Testing & Reporting

Landfills require monitoring of all sorts–earth, air & water. ML streamlines your monitoring procedures and reduces (or eliminates) the need in some instances.

Cell Design & Development

The engineer’s job should not end when the liner systems is in place. ML actively manages development of your landfill. Top to bottom–every layer of waste is designed.

Construction Management

Quality landfill construction requires frequent and regular supervision. ML’s experience with many construction projects will ensure you get the best every time.

Soil Management Plans

Soil is one of your landfill’s most valuable resources. Turn to ML to tell you where your best material is, how much of it is there, and how to use it wisely.

“Genius is the ability to evade work by doing something right the first time.”
    –Anonymous

 • Cutting Edge Grade Control

Grade Control is probably the most poorly managed task at an average landfill. In fact, most landfills practice a system of grade check-and-repair rather than true grade control. Why is grade control important? Because poor grade control leads to

• Wasted Airspace
• Mismanagement of Resources
• Re-grading of Waste Mass and Cover
• Heightened Erosion Potential
• Increased Likelihood of Leachate Springs

Without proper grade control, landfill waste lift development is little more than guesswork, which leads to poor work, which must be re-worked, all of which is wasted work. Modern Landfill will help you avoid all of that by doing smart work to get it right the first time.

ML’s approach applies cutting edge technology to ensure tight grade control for each lift of waste at your landfill. With ML’s help, your operators will construct waste lifts on-grade the first time, every time. ML will also show you how strict grade control is just the first step forward in their unique methodology, and how the next steps will save you time, labor, money, and resources. You’ll be amazed at the savings realized at your Modern Landfill.