Baltimore County, MD Department of Public Works, 14 Jun 2016

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From YouTube: EasternSanitaryLandfill

Description

The Eastern Sanitary Landfill, located in White Marsh, is Baltimore County's only active landfill.

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( ♪♪♪ ).

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It's trash collection day, again.

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You're, bringing your empty garbage cans back up the driveway.

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And a thought strikes you: what happens to the trash?.

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It couldn't have all just disappeared.

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Once the garbage collection truck is filled,, it heads to either the county's only active landfill.

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Or one of its three trash transfer, stations.

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At the transfer station,, the collector drops the load of trash.

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Onto a tipping floor., all residential trash is then relocated into tractor trailers.

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For shipment to the waste to energy, facility, bresco, in baltimore, city,.

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While commercial trash is sent both in state and out of state for landfilling.,.

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Anything you throw away as trash --.

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Paper products, food, scraps,, plastic,, general household waste, --.

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Will be disposed of as trash.

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After your trash is collected,, no sorting is conducted to remove recyclables from the trash.

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Valuable recyclables will be wasted unless you separate them from the trash.

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And put them out for recycling collection.

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Most of baltimore county's municipal, solid waste.

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Goes to the waste to energy facility in baltimore, city.

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Here trash is incinerated., various metals are extracted from the resulting ash to be recycled.

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And steam produced by incineration is sent to the city's heating and cooling system.

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This steam also turns a turbine, creating electricity that is sold to the electric market.

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The remaining ash -- ten percent of the original volume --.

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Is transported back to baltimore, county and city to be landfilled.

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While most of the county's waste is shipped to the waste to energy, facility,.

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A portion is landfilled., a modern landfill is a carefully engineered structure.

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Built into or on top of the ground., the main purpose of the design is to safely isolate.

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The trash and any water entering the trash.

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From seeping into and polluting the surrounding environment.

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Baltimore county has only one active landfill for trash,.

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Located in the white marsh area., the eastern sanitary landfill, solid waste management, facility, or esl,.

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Is a multi-purpose facility,, including a trash transfer, station, landfill,.

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And residence drop-off center for recyclables,, trash, and other items.

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It also houses a composting site for residential yard materials.

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Esl is more than half full.

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at the current average rate of landfilling,.

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Esl may be able to accept trash until the year 2054.

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Esl opened in 1982 and is comprised of a total of 375 acres.

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However,, only 195 acres are available to bury trash.

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The landfill consists of 13 sections, called phases.

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One phase at a time is prepared to accept trash.

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Phase one through nine are filled,.

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While phase ten is currently accepting trash.

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Phase ten will be 192 feet at its peak --.

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The landfill's highest point -- and 68 feet above sea level at its base,.

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Totaling 124 feet of vertical space to bury trash,.

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The greatest of anywhere on the site.

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phase, ten covers 14 acres,.

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Which is the equivalent of more than ten football fields.

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What does it take to build a phase of the landfill.

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Before any trash is buried there?

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once the existing soil is excavated and graded to the permitted level,.

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A complex work to turn this very large hole into a waterproof area. Begins.

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The bottom layer placed on top of the prepared soil foundation.

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Is a geosynthetic clay liner that acts as a shell.

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To prevent any migration of contaminated liquid, --, otherwise known as leachate -- into the ground.

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Leachate is created when rainwater comes into contact with waste.

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The leachate and liquid that's within the buried trash.

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Percolate down through the landfill collecting contaminated substances.

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From the garbage along the way.

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On top of the clay, liner is a thick 50ml, flexible pvc geomembrane,.

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Which extends over the bottom and up the sides of the landfill.

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Imagine a very thick swimming pool, liner.

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On top of these liners is a non-woven 16 ounce, geotextile material.

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This protects the pvc liner from the next layer, up,.

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Six inches of crushed stone.

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This layer contains a system of perforated collection pipes.

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Designed to collect the leachate,, which is then pumped to the sanitary sewer system,.

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And directed to a wastewater treatment, plant.

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Another non-woven geotextile separator is placed on top of the stone layer.

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This material keeps the next layer, up, 12 inches of specialized soil,.

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From getting into the stone layer and restricting leachate flow.

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Now the landfill is ready to accept trash.

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The first four feet of trash --, otherwise known as the fluff layer, --.

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Is strictly residential., the fluff layer helps protect the bottom layers of the liner.

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From being punctured when larger items are crushed by heavy equipment.

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So what happens when the trash arrives at the eastern sanitary landfill?.

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The first stop is the scale house.

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trucks drive over scales, precisely measuring the weight of the trash.

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Of which they are about to dispose., some trucks may be directed to the transfer station.

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And some may be directed to the working phase of the landfill.

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Where trash is buried., residents may also be sent to the working phase,.

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Depending on the vehicle type and nature of material.,.

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Once a vehicle empties, its load at the working phase,.

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Front-End dozers spread the trash out for very heavy vehicles,.

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Called compactors, to drive over.

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compactors crush the trash to reduce volume.

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At the end of each day,, the trash is covered with a uniform layer of six inches of soil.

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Material in the landfill is tightly compacted,.

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Creating an oxygen-starved environment.

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Therefore,, anaerobic bacteria, --, meaning bacteria without oxygen, --.

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Break down the organic material., this process creates a gaseous byproduct that is 50 percent methane.

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And 50 percent carbon dioxide.

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Methane is a flammable greenhouse gas --.

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Dangerous to the earth's climate., methane is 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

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From 1982 to 1997, methane gas passively vented into the atmosphere, --.

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Either through the top ground surface or through a perimeter, landfill gas vent system.

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In 1997,, a landfill gas collection system was constructed.

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For phases, one through a portion of phase six.

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The system expanded as each new phase was constructed.

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Collected gas during this period was combusted and flared.

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In 2006,, a landfill gas conversion operation opened in esl.

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To use the methane to produce electricity and sell the product to the energy grid.

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A blower creates a vacuum that pulls the methane through a perforated pipe in the landfill.

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There are approximately 142 well heads that control the vacuum.

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The gas is routed to three internal combustion engines.

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That use the methane as fuel..

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These engines are used to turn a generator that produces electricity.

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At times,, this process generates up to 3 megawatts of electricity, --.

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Enough to power 1,900 homes for a year.

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It also reduces the amount of greenhouse gases.

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That would otherwise be generated by the equivalent of 2,400 cars annually.

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Any excess methane is combusted and flared.

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When a phase of the landfill is completely filled,,.

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It is capped with a waterproof liner and a thick layer of soil.

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To prevent rain from entering the material.

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This decreases the quantity of the leachate produced.

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However,, even when the landfill is totally filled and enclosed,.

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It must be monitored indefinitely to ensure it does not contaminate the environment.

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So next time you're carrying your empty garbage cans up the driveway,.

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Think about where your trash really went.

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