EPA reaches agreements to close two landfills in Puerto Rico

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached agreements with two municipalities in Puerto Rico -- Cayey and Arroyo -- Rich to permanently close their municipal solid waste landfills, improve landfill operations, make major improvements to recycling and introduce composting programs.

In a release, EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck says, “It is imperative that Puerto Rico expand source reduction, recycling and composting on the island. The most effective way to handle solid waste is to produce less of it, while making sure that landfills are properly closed when they reach capacity. That is the strategy that the EPA has used in addressing the many landfills in Puerto Rico that are near or beyond capacity.”

Cayey will permanently stop receiving waste at its landfill by Jan. 1, 2018, and Arroyo will permanently stop receiving waste at its landfill by June 30, 2019. Both landfills would be permanently closed according to an approved closure schedule.

Under the two legal agreements with the EPA, Arroyo will create a recycling program, and Cayey will expand and improve its existing recycling program. Both municipalities will also create new composting programs. These recycling and composting programs, which will be designed with EPA and community input, will be aimed at minimizing the disposal of recyclables, food and yard waste. Both municipalities will also develop an educational and outreach program to inform the public of these initiatives, and will include outreach to schools, municipal facilities, small businesses and households.

The municipalities have also agreed to make improvements to operations, including measures to better manage stormwater, reduce dust, monitor ground water and install landfill gas control systems. Both Cayey and Arroyo also are required to submit Zika virus mosquito control plans to the EPA, and to implement them at their landfills. In addition, both municipalities will continue to cover exposed areas of the landfill on a daily basis to help control odors and blowing debris. Cayey and Arroyo are required to improve landfill security and will inspect incoming loads of waste to ensure that hazardous wastes, certain liquid wastes, scrap tires, recyclables, refrigerators and other appliances are not being sent to the landfill.

During inspections of the Cayey and Arroyo landfills, the EPA discovered that both lacked adequate security, adequate stormwater controls and effective groundwater and methane monitoring systems, and had steep and potentially unstable slopes. Both landfills also were expanded without installing required liners and leachate collection systems. Arroyo also failed to properly maintain a partial liner and leachate collection system on its landfill. Leachate is a liquid that percolates through a landfill or has been generated by decomposing waste.

Since 2007, the EPA has reached agreements with 12 municipalities and other owners and operators of landfills in Puerto Rico to improve landfill operations and to put them on schedules for closure. Eleven of the agreements have included the implementation of municipal recycling programs.

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An elevated cab is one of several features improving operational efficiency at the Macon County Solid Waste Management agency in North Carolina. When it comes to waste management, efficiency, safety and reliability are priorities driving decisions from day one, according to staff members of the Macon County Solid Waste Management Department in western North Carolina. The agency operates a recycling plant in a facility originally designed to bale incoming materials. More recently, the building has undergone significant transformations centered around one machine: a SENNEBOGEN telehandler (telescopic handler).