By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
The county plans to expand the Resource Recovery Complex landfill and make updates to the composting facility located on the Florence-Mansfield border.
Mary Pat Robbie, director of the county Department of Resource Conservation, said Monday that the $30 million bond ordinance approved at the July 9 freeholders’ meeting will be financed through the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which makes countywide improvements as well as operating the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and the Burlington Bristol Bridge.
”This expansion is going to be the fifth and final of the landfill construction,” said Ms. Robbie.
The last expansion is slated to cost approximately $20 million, and will expand it by 17 acres, bringing the total up to 69 acres.
Ms. Robbie said previously the county had only tackled 10 or 11 acres at a time.
Also factored into the cost are increases in the price of gasoline and materials, specifically the PVC pipe used for drainage.
”The major expense in the project is going to be the excavation of the material that sits overtop of the liner,” said Ms. Robbie.
The ground is mostly comprised of thick clay, and it will be cleared out to create additional landfill space, she said.
Ms. Robbie estimated that about 300,000 cubic yards of material will be cleared.
After that, she said, the ground has to be tested to make sure the space meets state-mandated permeability requirements, and then another membrane of material would be added to the bottom, so waste doesn’t seep through to the water supply.
Plans to build an additional stormwater basin near the Resource Recovery Complex in Mansfield are included in the project.
The construction of the water basin may actually precede the landfill expansion, which would siphon out clean water to be discharged.
”We will be installing collection lines, so all of the rain water doesn’t sit and collect at the bottom of the landfill,” she added.
In addition to taking care of all water extraction and collection for the landfill addition, the county plans to install additional gas extraction wells to safely remove methane gas generated by the facility.
The landfill collects approximately 325,000 tons of waste annually, a figure Ms. Robbie said was actually down from past years when it exceeded 350,000 tons.
”Last year it was about 306,000 tons, which was even less,” she said.
Ms. Robbie attributed the decrease to loads being taken out of the county, specifically to Camden County.
The Board of Chosen Freeholders is authorizing upwards of $6 million for improvements on the composting facility at the site, which has suffered erosion due to the ammonia and other gaseous emissions released from composting wood chips and other materials. She added that the additional $10 million in the bond will go toward repairs for the facility.
A public hearing for the ordinance is scheduled for the next freeholders’ meeting, Wednesday, July 23, at 7 p.m.