Leachate on the move

At a recent regional Swana conference the discussion of one session centered around reducing or fixing leachate seeps. This problem of leachate breaking out of the landfill at a location not in the design is not uncommon. In "The Solid Waste Handbook" William Robinson states that "The use of heavier textured soils as daily cover may interfere with the downward movement of leachate and has resulted in the appearance of leachate seeps on the side of a landfill."
The Swana conference presenter, a regional engineer for a publicly held waste company, stated one effective way of preventing these seeps is to use an Alternate Daily Cover product - thereby avoiding those heavier soil layers that can interfere with the flow of leachate through the landfill and reducing soil usage.
Todd Green, of American Environmental commented that Posi-Shell made a big difference for their landfill in eliminating leachate breakouts allowing leachate to make it's way to the liner and recirculate more quickly.
The importance of keeping leachate within the landfill is vital to public water and safety, taking the needed steps to protect our water makes the issue of daily cover more than just a decision of preference.

What do customers say? It's Easy.

Things are going wonderfully. Thanks so much for coming down to go through everything with Barry and me. It was very helpful. So far, Barry and I are still the only ones doing the Posi-shell. We plan to slowly work some of the other guys into it. We’re trying to find the right mixture for us as far as adding the paint is concerned. But honestly, we have been very happy with the ease and the time that it will free up. Thanks again for everything!

Marcie A. Smith

Quality people

A recent comment received from a customer just reflects what we enjoy as a part of the team at LSC - quality people.

From an email:
Just wanted to let you know Scott finished up out here and he did an outstanding job. I bet it's nice to have someone of his caliber working for LSC. Very cordial, polite, and technically very thorough!

Thanks again to all!

Respectfully,

Brian Van Straten|Operations Manager|Buena Vista Landfill Recycling & Solid Waste Services Operations

Quality people make all the difference.

A celebration of 20 years

The City of Albany Landfill, run by Joe Giebelhaus is a model of best practices in the modern landfill. Last week I got to see for myself as we went there to celebrate the 20 years we have provided the Posi-Shell product to the City of Albany Landfill for use as daily cover, intermediate cover and much more. The site has grown over the years from the "old days" of unlined landfilling practices. Today you will find there a modern lined landfill, with shredding capabilities to process those items that would otherwise decrease the ability to compact and place the waste efficiently. A well organized site with different locations to deposit waste of different types for proper processing makes the motion of the site smooth. Landfill gas is being captured and utilized to create electricity, and has been for years now. GPS software allows not only the operator to monitor the compaction beneath him, but management from the office can observe the movement as well, allowing them to properly plan as waste streams into the facility from many sources.

It was great to hear about the planning that is going into the future for this facility. Native trees and plants are going to begin to be grown there as they develop a nursery to eventually populate a preserve over the landfill as it moves into a closed state.

Today's landfill manager needs to be a person of many skills; people skills in managing the large crew required to staff such an operation, engineering skills to plan and organize the construction projects that are constant, business skills to make the best financial decisions to allow a facility to be profitable, and vision to plan ahead for a bright future as a facility closes and the space turns to a new life. Joe has shared his skills successfully in Albany and we count it a privilege to provide tools he can use.

Posi-Shell on Display

On Tuesday, August 10th we were one of a select few vendors invited to a nationwide Waste Connections’ managers meeting held at one of their facilities near Denver, Colorado. Thanks again to the team at WCN for this invitation, as opportunities like this (live demonstration in one place for so many decision makers) are rare. We demonstrated our Posi-Shell Environmental coatings and set up one of our Solar-Spark Vent Flares as a static display.



Our Central and Western Regional Sales Managers, Jim Shumsky and JD Carter put in a lot of time bringing their demonstration units to the site and did a phenomenal job of showing our stuff. The day prior to the demo, they applied a panel of our long-term product and were able to show first-hand it’s durability because it rained like cats and dogs immediately after they applied it and on into the evening! This photo taken the next morning shows that NONE of the Posi-Shell washed!



Jeff, the manager for Waste Connections in charge of coordinating the event, did an awesome job as everything seemed to go off like clockwork. On Tuesday morning two tour buses arrived with a small army of the nation’s top landfill managers coming to check out various landfill products being demonstrated. One of our demo units contained a short-term (for overnight/week long cover) version of Posi-Shell and the other unit had the long-term version (multi-month/year cover).



Everybody seemed duly impressed with how quickly and efficiently Posi-Shell covered. When they were made aware that the overnight cover they were seeing costs less than a penny a square foot and that standard hydroseeding units can be used to apply it, the requests for site specific demonstrations started piling up.

Submitted by Joel Lanz - President

Problem solving

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers." Voltaire

The current economy is pushing everyone to cut costs. Managers looking over their whole operation with an eye to cutting costs are challenged to put all of their problem solving skills into action. It is so important for each of us to have a large perspective when seeking answers. Remembering to look at situations from different angles, asking tough questions, and changing our perspective will give us an advantage. Keeping a broad perspective will definitely influence how you approach a problem - and it's final outcome.

Abraham Maslow said "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."

Take some time this week to stretch your mind, find one of the books out there just for that purpose. One you might consider "Mind Boggling one-minute Mysteries and Brain teasers". It's just a fun book but it will challenge you to think and just maybe it will help you gain the perspective you need.

Rain Shield in Vietnam

Vietnam Waste Solutions operates a major modern landfill serving Ho Chi Minh City. Posi-Shell ADC and odor control coatings are an integral part of the daily operations at this site.

Southern Vietnam experiences a monsoon climate with daily heavy rains during the wet season, lasting throughout the summer. Landfill Service Corporation developed Xtreme Rain Shield tm to meet the challenge of providing a water based spray-on ADC which will not wash away in immediate heavy rain.

Field trials were conducted at the Da Phuoc Landfill in Ho Chi Minh City during July, 2009. Several possible mixtures were applied; complete success was achieved with the "monsoon" mixture which held up extremely well after an immediate heavy rain, and the cover remained intact after over 7 inches of rainfall over the following several days.

LSC now offers Xtreme Rain Shield tm in several mixtures tailored to specific climate requirements, ranging from temperate North American conditions with occasional rainfall, to Asian monsoon climates with daily heavy rain.

This product works!

Living up to your word - Xtreme Rain Shield tm in Asia

It had taken well over a year to bring to fruition an opportunity for Landfill Service Corporation to demonstrate their Posi-Shell Cover System for a large environmental firm operating one of the solid waste landfills in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Due to encroaching populations, the engineers and managers of this well run facility conducted extensive international investigations for products to enhance the existing gas odor control measures already in place. They had become convinced that Posi-Shell, with it’s long history in this arena, would work for their situation as well. Additionally, they recognized Posi-Shell’s other numerous uses as well such as Alternate Daily Cover, Erosion Control, and Hydroseeding.

However, the Asian climates and weather conditions posed a serious challenge for a product, such as Posi-Shell, that is spray-applied and requires curing time. RAIN, lots of it, lots of the time!

After several months of working out the logistics involved with an overseas demonstration of this magnitude, LSC representatives departed in mid-September armed with their standard tool, Posi-Shell Advanced Formulation, but for this trip they would also be utilizing a newly developed additive called Xtreme Rain Shield, which had been developed for situations just like this. Xtreme Rain Shield is a cellulosic polymer additive, in layman’s terms, the product gives Posi-Shell an increased resistance to heavy rains…even before it has cured.

Having performed well during several field evaluations and a few commercial installations, the LSC team was confident in Xtreme Rain Shield’s ability to live up to it’s name, but had really only tested it up to a two inch rain, in a ten minute time span immediately after application. By demonstrating in September in Hong Kong, it appeared that simulated rainfall may be required (spraying water out of a hydroseeding unit), since the summer typhoon season was “technically” over in that region. The team welcomed this notion as controlled testing is better than testing left to the elements.

As things go, however, a latent typhoon had been lurking out on the Sea of China and decided to make landfall at the landfill the very first day of the demonstration! The first demo load was applied to this slope early afternoon Monday (photo 1), while the rain was beginning to come down in earnest (photo 2). Shortly thereafter everybody was sent to their homes or hotels as the storm intensified and continued through noon the next day. Overnight, it reached signal 8, which can have sustained winds up to 116 mph. Fortunately no major damage was inflicted in Kowloon or at the landfill, other than a few downed trees and several thousand square feet of a protective rain cover which was torn away by the wind.

Tuesday afternoon, when the team returned to the site, there was a short moment of suspense while heading to their demonstration panel, as they had just been told by the landfill engineer that over four inches of rain had fallen during the storm. To their relief though, he followed up by saying “…but the Posi-Shell looks pretty good”. Photo 3 shows the product after the storm. The dark streaks are areas where slight washing occurred, although not completely through to the soil beneath the cover. The landfill staff concluded that the washing probably only amounted to about five percent. A huge success given the fact that there was zero cure time before the rains started pounding it!

Why training?

When a sales representative of your business goes in to talk with your customer or prospect how important is it that they know the ins and outs of your business? It is vital, particularly when the products and services you provide are new technology. You want to provide answers, and solutions to the problems your customer faces, and the sales representative is the link between you and them. Your representative needs to be able to clearly sort out just where the problem lies and give answers that will work.

Training for more than just head knowledge, but hand-on understanding will strengthen belief in your product among both your employees and the customers they serve. When you have a product that works you want everyone to know it. Training helps your messengers to be excited about what they have to offer.

Last week we spend two days learning to mix lab samples to diagnose the cause of various problems customers might face. Then we spend time shooting various covers to observe the coverages and curing. Lastly, we spent time honing public speaking skills, funny how the people who think they can't speak well tend to talk the longest.

Landfill Service Corporation believes in training, do you?

Where we've been

This spring has been busy - our sales managers have been at regional trade shows all over the country. Most recently at the NY Federation of Solid Waste and Recycling show in Lake George, NY. It is a privilege to partner with so many great associations that work to help our industry keep up on regulations and to keep it's people informed on the topics we need to hear about.

What we value most about trade shows are the people. The show organizers for sure - they provide the vehicle to make it happen. But also the people who walk the aisles. We have had the privilege of learning so many things by spending time talking with landfill managers about the things they are facing.

Along with trade shows we are getting out and meeting some new people in the engineering world. Thanks to everyone who has taken time to let us get to know more about the projects and problems that need solutions.

Something to consider about... flies

In recent reading on other completely off work subjects, we came across this information about fly predators. Knowing that landfill people often fight battles with insects we thought some might find this link interesting. Your situation might be too large to battle it with these predators - but it certainly is an interesting thought, and maybe you have a home farm or pet situation where you might find this helpful. The link at the bottom will take you to the site where we found this information.

Long Term Preventive Area Fly Control

Any location where flies breed in manure or decaying organic matter can benefit from using Fly Predators. Because flies reproduce nine times faster than Fly Predators do, adding supplemental Fly Predators every three to four weeks during warm months keeps the population balanced for good fly control. If you release enough Fly Predators, they can control all the fly reproduction in the area. Effectively, you are treating your farm and kennel for flies instead of treating your animals.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/fly-predators.html?source=html-email&publish=1268697268

Raining Cats and Dogs? No problem

As we have expanded our market to include the world we discovered the monsoon season! Knowing that a landfill needs to accomplish its cover rain or shine, they needed a solution that would withstand rain BEFORE it was cured. As we worked with Posi-Shell customers in Asia to solve the problem of monsoon rains - you know the ones where it can rain 4 inches in a hour without any problem- we successfully implemented this new additive to Posi-Shell, making it more versatile than ever.

The Posi-Shell Cover System doesn't need any additive to deal with rain once it is cured - but when heavy rains are expected within 12 hours of application we now have this great solution.

Technical Seminar brings Landfill and Erosion Control customers together

In February we hosted an International Technical Seminar that brought together both Landfill managers that use Posi-Shell, and international distributors of Posi-Shell for erosion control use. The landfill managers were eager to learn about ways that the product is being used for erosion control around the world - and saw applications that might help them with some tough situations they face within their landfills. The distributors enjoyed learning more about the challenges the landfill managers face.

Thanks to our customers for the time they took to be a part of this Seminar.

Product Development

As 2009 came to a close, Landfill Service Corporation released it's newest innovation, a literal one bag mix for the Posi-Shell Cover System. For a 1,000 gallon load we now offer a single bag that contains everything you need except the water. This exciting development will make daily cover even easier than it already was with Posi-Shell.