In the Spotlight

City of Maysville-Mason County Landfill: The Future of “Going Green”

In partnership with East Kentucky Power, the Maysville-Mason County landfill houses a gas to energy plant which plans to use the methane gas generated from both the contained landfill and closed residential landfill to produce electricity for the area.

The Maysville-Mason County landfill is a 544-acre permitted site owned and operated by the Mason County Fiscal Court. The site consists of a 41-acre contained landfill, 21-acre certified residual landfill, recycling center, waste tire drop-off, composting facility, and a landfill gas to electric generating facility. Established in 1981, it was originally owned and operated by the city of Maysville, KY, however, through an inter-local agreement between the city and county, Maysville-Mason County took over operations in 1987 and is still responsible for its updates and maintenance. Employing 24 and mainly dealing with municipal solid waste, the landfill is currently permitted to accept waste from nine Kentucky counties (Bourbon, Bracken, Fleming, Greenup, Lewis, Mason, Nicholas, Robertson and Rowan) and seven Ohio counties (Adams, Brown, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland, Lawrence and Pike). The contained landfill serves a population of about 100,000 to 125,000 and currently receives about 240 tons per day.

Since the County has operated the landfill, many significant improvements have been made including modernizing the facility in the 1990s when new regulations were developed at that time. Not only was the facility updated, but a 28-acre section was permanently capped off and a new section was built. In 1997, construction was begun to build a 41-acre contained landfill. Just this last year, a 13-acre phase of the landfill was completed. In addition, a gas system was installed into the old city residential/construction/demolition landfill and the current contained landfill. By pipelining both together, the facilities are able to get gas to their electricity project—a partnership between the County and East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

Gas to Energy Plant

The gas to energy facility’s partnership started about three years ago when Judge James Gallenstein and Maysville-Mason County Landfill Manager, Todd Leonard, looked at other landfills around the country as to what they were doing to extract gas from their landfills. As a result, they began having casual meetings with East Kentucky Power Cooperative about the project. “We told them we had some interest in building a facility that would convert our landfill gas into energy. We both wanted to participate in a green project so we ran some gas projection tests onsite for both the contained and closed residential landfills and were happy with the results. In turn, East Kentucky Power put up the funds and the building needed, and we leased 1 acre of land to them, and provided gas types and gas wells; it was a joint effort on both of our parts,” says Judge Gallenstein.

Owned and operated by East Kentucky Power Cooperative, a major power producer in Maysville-Mason County, the plant is built directly on the landfill site and has a Caterpillar 3516-800kWengine/generator set that will use the methane gas generated from both the contained landfill and closed residential landfill to produce electricity. Running at full capacity, the facility will be capable of producing enough energy to power 1200-1500 homes. “The general operation of the gas collection system is managed and operated by East Kentucky Power. They do all the computer work, run the fuel skid, run the generator, etc. The only thing we have control over is the gas wells,” says Judge Gallenstein. “Currently, they are about 98% to 99% complete and are just about ready to go into full operation late spring to early summer. Although they are not powering homes just yet, they are putting electricity on the grid and powering their own buildings.”

Training and Outreach

Making it a point to hold monthly safety meetings, Maysville-Mason County Landfill management discusses with employees general landfill safety rules, operating in cold and hot weather, heavy rainfall, gas systems training, as well as attending a safety show annually. “We have attended training offsite and have even had trainers come to our facility and go over gas issues on our site, the basics of the landfill flare, gas wells, equipment operation etc.,” states Leonard.

In addition to keeping up with training, the landfill participated in community outreach which includes opening up their recycling center and holding programs for earth day and offering free tire, and waste oil disposal for county residents. Some of the employees have even held discussions at the facility, local schools and community centers to talk about the operations of the landfill, what it means to the community, farmers, and other waste issues. “Giving lectures at the facility is more effective because then people can actually see what it is we do and we can show them the equipment, etc. We always get a lot of positive feedback after these sessions,” says Leonard. “We also give tours to the local school systems in order to understand the issue of recycling and reuse.”

Continuous Improvements

Judge Gallenstein and Leonard both agree that keeping on top of new regulations is the most challenging aspect of the operation. “We want to make sure that we are always informed of what is going on, so we not only go to several SWANA trainings per year, but we also consult with other landfills in the area, read industry publications, and use the Internet. We are always looking for new ways to improve,” says Leonard. When updating the landfill site according to a new standard or regulation, Leonard says it can take from one day to three months to implement the change, depending on the type of regulation presented. “We are now getting ready for all the upcoming new greenhouse gas reporting rules and this year our five year waste plan is due, so we have to reprint all of that documentation and submit it to the state for their approval,” stresses Judge Gallenstein.

Despite the up and down economy, Judge Gallenstein points out that while they’ve only had a slight decrease in some of their roll-off business, other landfills in the area have felt more of an impact due to more heavily populated areas where some of the job losses were a little bit higher. He is particularly proud to point out that the surrounding community has always given the Maysville-Mason County Landfill the support it needs, even through its major improvements. “I’ve been around since the first facility was operated by the city. We moved the facility in the 1990s due to the changing regulations that stated that landfills had to be clay, lined with synthetic materials, implement a collection system, put in caps, etc., so if we were going to stay viable we had to make those changes. When that facility was closed, we went across the road to build a brand new, modern one with all the bells and whistles—liners, synthetic materials, gas wells, etc.—and throughout this process, I’m most proud to say that the community realized the value of this project and supported us every step of the way. We are a diversified farming, diversified manufacturing, and a commercial community—sort of the financial hub here; people know this and understood that we were establishing a low-cost disposal facility for commercial and industrial business in order to keep a low-cost household monthly fee.”

Working to Improve their Bottom Line

Currently Maysville-Mason County Landfill has special construction that they’re working on with a material flue gas authorization desulfurization waste stream, produced by Dayton Power and Light, which uses synthetic materials to reduce air emissions. Judge Gallenstein points out, “We are also continuously making improvements to the landfill. On the 44-contained acre landfill we just lined a 13 ½ acre section of it and installed four new gas wells. We started to put waste in it in October. We have 44 years left on what we’ve got certified and ready to go now. There doesn’t need to be a construction move for about 10 to 15 years so we will finish out the last phases now.”

Says Judge Gallenstein, “As we operate under these economic conditions, we will continue to provide our services and we are hopeful that we are able to hold onto our current volumes. As our economy improves, so will our bottom line.”

For more information about the Maysville-Mason County Landfill, contact Todd Leonard, Manager, at (606) 759-7049.

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