Richmond Landfill
Pollution Prevention Plan

Stuart Somerville, Ecowaste Industries Ltd. and
Graeme Bethell, Reid Crowther and Partners Ltd.

Presented at the 19th Canadian Waste Management Conference
St John's, Newfoundland, September 16, 1997

1. Introduction

1.1 Ecowaste Industries

Ecowaste Industries Ltd. (Ecowaste) owns and operates the Richmond Landfill a DLC (demolition, land clearing and construction) landfill in Richmond, BC which serves the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). Ecowaste is a private company, which has operated a landfill at this site for over 20 years. In addition to the landfill operations, the company also operates a windrow compost facility for yard waste and biosolids.

In 1996 Ecowaste prepared a pollution prevention (P2) plan that was jointly funded through a cost sharing agreement between Environment Canada - Fraser Pollution Abatement Office and the company. The P2 plan is a demonstration project for implementing pollution prevention initiatives in the DLC landfill industry within the Fraser River Basin.

1.2 Pollution Prevention (P2) Planning

Pollution prevention is defined by Environment Canada in their P2 Plan Reference Workbook (1994) as:

The P2 process is as much about increasing efficiencies, reducing waste management costs, improving flexibility and gaining a competitive advantage as it is about enhancing the ability to protect the environment.

The P2 planning process has three stages as described below:

• Stage I Preparation of an environmental review addressing waste management issues, management systems, baseline conditions of the receiving environment and identification of pollution prevention opportunities;
• Stage II Identification and detailed analysis of options to address the opportunities identified in Stage I; and
• Stage III Preparation of a pollution prevention plan which outlines the schedule and requirements for implementation of feasible pollution prevention options.

1.3 P2 Hierarchy

In the P2 process options are screened by the P2 Hierarchy as a means to ensure that there is a continual emphasis on minimization of waste generation. The P2 Hierarchy has the following priorities:

• avoidance and elimination of polluting inputs and outputs;
• reduction in the use of polluting inputs and outputs;
• reuse and recycling of polluting inputs and outputs;
• recovery of energy; and
• treatment, containment or remediation of polluting residual outputs.

2. Stage I - Environmental Review

2.1 Waste Stream Overview

The following material (waste) streams enter the Richmond Landfill:

• soil and fill,
• demolition waste and construction waste,
• gypsum and concrete,
• biosolids,
• Clean Green ® (yard waste),
• dry MSW,
• pulp mill waste, and
• other inert industrial wastes

Clean fill and demolition and construction wastes make up the largest portion (over 60%) of waste materials received. Table 1 summarizes the wastes received at the landfill over the past four years.

Table 1   Waste Received for 1993 to 1996¹

2.2 Primary Operations

The landfill layout includes separate areas for yard waste, fill, small vehicle loads, demolition and construction materials, concrete and biosolids. The primary operations of the landfill are as follows:

• Gatehouse, Wastes are received in trucks at the gatehouse. The loads are inspected, accepted and recorded or rejected at this point.;
• Unloading. Trucks are directed to the appropriate areas for unloading;
• Salvaging. After unloading salvagers inspect the loads and recover recyclables. Loads can also be rejected at this point. Quantities recycled are shown in Table 2;
• Filling and compacting: Loads are incorporated into the active face;
• Maintenance of vehicles and equipment (routinely performed);
• Composting.
• Leachate collection and treatment;
• Topsoil production;
• Hazardous waste disposal;
• Gypsum recycling;
• Concrete recycling; and
• Management and administration.

Table 2   Quantities of Materials Recycled, 1991 - 1996

2.3 Leachate Collection and Treatment

Ecowaste has implemented an extensive leachate collection and treatment system at the Richmond Landfill. The collection system consists of lined trenches and collector pipes which border the east and west boundary of the current landfill and along the Francis Road alignment. Leachate is conveyed to the first aeration lagoon, located in the northern expansion area. The leachate then passes through a treatment marsh before being aerated in a second lagoon. The treated leachate then discharges to Nursery Ditch, which runs along the north boundary of the landfill. Nursery Ditch drains into No. 7 Road Canal which eventually discharges into the Fraser River. The system is successfully treating the effluent to below permit levels.

2.4 Hazardous Waste Recovery and Disposal

Hazardous wastes are not accepted at the landfill, however hazardous wastes such as lead acid batteries, paint and solvent cans are recovered from the active face and temporarily stored in approved hazardous waste storage facilities. Also used oil is generated on site. Hazardous wastes are transported off-site by licensed hazardous waste disposal contractors.

2.5 Other Recyclables

On average, over 25,000 tonnes of concrete are recycled annually.

2.6 Waste Material Balance

The landfill has a computer database going back a number of years of material received identified by type and volume on a per load basis . As well, data is available for material recycled or disposed of at other facilities. In 1966, weigh scales and a point-of-sale computer program were installed.

2.7 Water Balance

An accurate site water balance for the Richmond Landfill is difficult to determine due to many complicating factors, however, annual records show that the average daily effluent discharge was approximately 900 m³/day for 1994 and 1995. Effluent discharges typically from October to May, there is zero discharge during the summer months due to lack of precipitation. Golder Associates have also concluded that there is almost zero runoff from the site.

2.8 Permit Requirements

The Richmond Landfill is permitted to accept inert solid waste. The permitted level of discharge is 350 tonnes per day, 365 days per year. At current filling rates, it is estimated that the Richmond Landfill will operate until 2016 (GNH Engineering, 1996).

The landfill also has a permit to discharge treated leachate at an annual average rate of 2,000 m³/day from the landfill. Actual treated leachate volumes are approximately 900 m³/day. The leachate treatment system consists of a pre-treatment aeration pond, a natural marsh and a secondary aeration pond and discharge into the Nursery Ditch.

2.9 Environmental Emergency Response Plan

2.9.1 Spills

Ecowaste landfill has spill containment areas for the waste oil storage area capable of containing 110% of the waste oil storage tank. All workers are WHMIS trained to be able to deal with spills.

The landfill has three double-walled above ground fuel storage tanks (ASTs) to minimize the risk of a petroleum release. There are two other ASTs which are planned to be upgraded to the double-walled design.

2.9.2 Fire

Due to the nature of the operations at the Richmond Landfill, spontaneous fires are a potential hazard. Ecowaste has formalized their fire prevention and control plan in their compost manual. Fire prevention and fire protection procedures will also be included in the landfill operations manual.

2.10 End Use of Landfill

The southern landfill area is zoned for industrial development and consists of 170 acres. The land is being filled and closed for future industrial land use. Specific end use plans for the current landfill have not been established.

The north portion of the site is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve and consists of 160 acres of undeveloped land.

3. Stage II - Identification and Analysis of Pollution Prevention Opportunities

3.1 P2 Opportunities

The Stage II process identified a number of pollution prevention opportunities:

• Prevention of Soil Contamination
• Enhance Recycling of Wood and Other Materials
• Increase Recycling of Fill Material
• Improve Composting Program
• Leachate Quality
• Waste To Energy
• Improving Maintenance
• Improve 3R's Through Education and Training

3.2 P2 Opportunities Screening Criteria

The pollution prevention options generated from the P2 opportunities are screened according to the technical, environmental and economic criteria described below. Each criterion is assessed a high, moderate or low benefit or impact and assigned a corresponding numerical rating between 1 and 5 as an assessment of their value. The numerical rating enables the options to be prioritized according to their total scored value. The value scoring system is summarized in Table 3.

The criteria are specific and may not apply to all the options. For example improvements in recycling granular fill materials will not affect reduction of hazardous materials or an increase in the number of salvagers will not involve equipment purchases and maintenance.

3.3 Technical Criteria

• Recovery of valuable materials
• Compatibility of new equipment or procedures with current modes of operation
• Availability and reliability of equipment
• Minimizing leachate discharges/contaminant loadings
• Waste reduction quantities

3.4 Environmental Criteria

• Compliance with current and anticipated government regulations or good corporate policy
• Reducing actual and potential impacts on the environment
• Hazardous properties of the waste materials

3.5 Economic Criteria

• Costs of waste management (capital and implementation costs)
• Operation and Maintenance costs
• Potential financial benefits (Net Salvage Value)

Table 3   Technical, Environmental and Economic Criteria Summary

3.6 Detailed Assessment and Prioritization

The overall evaluation and prioritization of the action items identified to address the P2 opportunities are presented in Table 4.

3.7 Prioritization

The technical, environmental and economic criteria ratings applied to the options of each P2 opportunity have been added together to provide a total for each category. These totals have been recorded in relation to the total possible score for each category and normalized into a decimal fraction for each criteria category. These fractions are added together to get a total score and are again normalized. The normalized decimal fraction enables the P2 opportunities to be prioritized according to their total normalized score.

Table 4   Pollution Prevention Options Ranking

4. Stage III - Preparation of a Pollution Prevention Plan

4.1 Prioritization and Implementation Schedule

The prioritization and implementation schedule for each P2 option selected as being both feasible and economically viable at this time is shown in Table 5. A number of options were deemed not to be feasible in the Stage II analysis, some of which may become feasible in the future.

Table 5   Pollution Prevention Plan

4.2 Tracking and Monitoring

The monitoring plan provides for both qualitative and quantitative measures of progress. Due to the nature of the industry, it is difficult to set specific quantifiable goals. Changes in the incoming waste stream are uncontrollable, therefore so is the amount of recyclable material. However, any changes implemented will be measured on a normalized basis to try and remove this bias. The evaluation of the P2 options will be based on the quantities of materials and operating conditions of 1995.

Monitoring programs have been developed for all P2 options, however some of the options will not be implemented unless the economics of the option warrant their implementation.