Several big projects are in the work for the landfill through the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board (R-Board) including a new landfill cell, glass recycling program, and wheel wash system.
The construction of its new landfill cell, F-3f is a $4.2 million, 7-acre project is set to be completed on-time by the end of 2020. The fiscal year 2020 budget covers $1 million of the project, $2.2 million comes from the R-Board’s short-term investments and cash account, and $1 million will come from the fiscal year 2021 budget.
The landfill needs to build a new cell every four to five years. The current cell where all the solid waste goes, F-2, is projected to be full by March to June of 2021. The design of the new cell was done several years prior and was approved by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Everything has to go through a permit process, and there will be tests to make sure that there are no holes in the liners of the cell. At the end of the day, workers will cover the waste with either dirt or a tarping system.
The R-Board has increased its use of the tarping system in the past six months as it helps conserve airspace, but weather effects if the tarps can be employed. “We want to have odor control, fire control, it’s a safety issue, and it’s a DEQ requirement that your waste is covered at the end of each working day,” Buchanan said. The landfill, opened in the early 1990s, is estimated to have around 20 years left in its lifetime.
The R-Board also entered into a six-month pilot program that ended in March with the Fairfax Purple Can Club who transform the recycled glass into sand and gravel. Through this pilot program, Fairfax hauled the material, but now that it is over, the R-Board has decided to continue hauling the glass to them. Gravel is a needed material for the construction of Cell F-3. The glass gravel from Fairfax costs $8 a ton and could be backhauled, while industry range gravel products range from $13 to $18 per ton.