Proper facility design and training efforts can help mitigate common safety hazards found at MRFs.

While refuse and recyclable material collection continues to hold the ranking as the sixth deadliest occupation in the U.S., the overall industry has made strides in recent years to create a safer working environment for personnel.

These efforts can be seen through the implementation of new technologies, proactive safety measures, as well as better planning and facility design—especially at material recovery facilities (MRFs). Given the many hazards that can be found within a MRF, whether it be on the tipping floor or at the sorting line, these types of facilities can serve as a prime example of how to address and mitigate safety issues.

For Bob Gardner, senior vice president at Long Beach, California-based SCS Engineers, applying general measures to maintain a comfortable space for personnel is the first place to start.

“I spent a week during the commissioning of a facility in Maine and had a lot of time to reflect and look at what was going on around me,” he says. “I [created] a list of seven things that I observed [regarding safety], and the first one was noise protection.

“There were a number of people who were in that facility that didn’t have [noise protection], and I can see how over time that can have an impact on your hearing—especially when you have a big MRF with a lot of motors going, machines moving, things clanking all over the place; it’s a noisy place.”

The second area of concern for Gardner was dust control, which can pose hazards such as lung and eye irritation, choking issues and reduced visibility. When processing solid waste through trommels, screens and conveyors, Gardner says dust generation is inevitable, thus necessitating the use of masks or respirators.

“There are so many places within the MRF where dust could be generated,” he says. “When you go to the tip floor, when it goes into the hopper when you’re loading it., when it goes to the trommel or through all the screens, so there is a real [risk there].”

A safety hazard that has garnered significant attention in the media has been the issue of medical needles on sorting lines.

“This is a real issue. I sat there and looked at the fines line [at the Maine MRF] … and the amount of medical stuff that was on that fines conveyor was phenomenal,” Gardner explains. He adds that MRF personnel have expressed growing concerns surrounding needle pricks, leading many facilities to begin experimenting with different gloves to better prevent medical needles from piercing skin but also allow for enough dexterity for workers to properly do their job.

In terms of facility planning and design, Gardner says slip hazards should remain top of mind when considering personnel safety. Stairs going up to platforms or liquids on the floor from “drippage” are often slip hazards, so proper stair and hand railing designs can help prevent dangerous falls. Facilities should also keep sorbents on hand to deal with liquids on floor areas.

“Slip hazards are more of a design issue than anything else,” he says. “It’s important to make sure you get nice nonslip surfaces and railings and so forth, which are generally required by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).”

In addition to proper design, being aware of equipment hazards at a MRF also should be “common sense,” according to Gardner. Given the many rotating parts found at a MRF, he says equipment should be respected and personnel should have awareness of daily operations and their hazards.

“I always joke when I’m doing yard work that anything that isn’t eye level, you don’t see. So, being aware of the equipment hazards, trip hazards and the like is really important,” he says. “It’s more of a self-awareness kind of thing.”

This kind of awareness also comes into play during the startup and shutdown of equipment, which often includes specific processes and procedures. For the workers involved, Gardner says proper training can help keep everyone on the same page.

“In a MRF, lots of things can get wrapped around the axels of the various screens ... that are turning, so you don’t want somebody [working] in a machine when you ultimately turn it back on,” he says.

New York-based BQ Energy will install 20,000 solar panels at the Yeoman Creek Landfill.

A former hazardous waste landfill in Waukegan, Illinois, is getting a second life as a renewable energy facility after decades of mitigation efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Located 42 miles north of Chicago, the Yeoman Creek Landfill has been on the federal Superfund list since its closure in the late 1960s. Cleanup to address high levels of methane and other toxic gasses is largely complete, though EPA is still monitoring the site.

While a site of this nature can come with several restrictions and regulations, BQ Energy CEO Paul Curran views it as a business opportunity. As reported by WBEZ, the New York-based company will be installing 20,000 solar panels on the Yeoman Creek site—a project that will cost roughly $10 million.

According to Curran, many Superfund sites, also known as “brownfields,” make ideal candidates for renewable energy facilities.

“You don’t want parks or houses or any kind of public access on these types of properties,” Curran tells WBEZ. “But solar needs a lot of real estate. We need places with sun that [don’t] have a lot of trees or other impediments.”

As the idea of installing solar panels on closed landfill sites gains traction nationwide, Curran says his company—which has built 19 renewable energy sites around the country and is at work on another 28—is having a hard time keeping up with demand.

“Unfortunately, there are enough brownfields and landfill sites around the country that we turn down more properties and more projects than we do,” he says.

The solar panels at Yeoman Creek are scheduled to begin operating in 2023 and produce enough power for about 1,000 households every year.

EPA and DNREC have been working with potentially responsible parties since 1983 to clean up the site in New Castle, Delaware.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Delaware have reached an agreement with 21 defendants on completing a $41.6 million cleanup plan for the 27-acre Delaware Sand & Gravel Landfill Superfund site in New Castle County, Delaware.  

Between 1969 and 1976, about 550,000 cubic yards of industrial waste and construction debris, including at least 13,000 drums containing hazardous substances, were disposed of at the industrial waste landfill, formerly a sand and gravel quarry.   

The EPA and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) confirmed the presence of several hazardous substances in the site’s soil and groundwater. In 1981, the EPA added the site to the “National Priorities List” of the most contaminated sites nationwide.    

“EPA’s Superfund program focuses on making a visible and lasting difference in communities by ensuring that public health and the environment are protected,” says Adam Ortiz, EPA mid-Atlantic regional administrator. “This settlement with the responsible parties ensures that ongoing work will continue at this Delaware site that was abused for years with the disposal of hazardous waste.”

EPA and DNREC have been working since 1983 with potentially responsible parties to clean up the site, located on Grantham Lane, about two miles southwest of the city of New Castle.

The Chemours Company FC LLC;

Hercules LLC (individually and on behalf of its former subsidiary, Champlain Cable Corporation);

Waste Management of Delaware Inc.;

Chevron U.S.A. Inc.;

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.;

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.;

M.A. Hanna Plastic Group Inc.;

The agreement, a consent decree subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval, was reached under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. This requires landowners, waste generators and waste transporters responsible for contaminating a Superfund site to clean up the sit or reimburse the government or other parties for cleanup activities.

According to the EPA, several cleanup measures have been implemented at the site, including the installation of an underground slurry wall around the drum disposal area, excavation and off-site disposal of drums and contaminated soil.

There also has been construction and operation of a bio-venting system that supplied oxygen to live microbes in the soil from 1997 to 2009, enabling them to break down hazardous substances. A multilayer landfill caps were installed at two waste disposal areas of the site: the inert area and the Grantham South Area.

There also has been an extraction of contaminated groundwater from the Upper Potomac Aquifer with on-site treatment and discharge to surface water or discharge to the local wastewater treatment plant.

The city canceled its curbside recycling program in 2020 due to cost and contamination issues.

The city of Cleveland plans to resume its curbside recycling program June 13. The city had canceled its recycling operations in April 2020 when its previous recycling contract expired.

According to a statement from Orensel Brumfield, recycling coordinator for the city of Cleveland, the city halted recycling operations in 2020 because the city and its collection vendor at the time did not reach an agreement on the contract.

Brumfield adds, “I know contamination and costs were definitely factors.”

For about two years, Cleveland’s residential recyclables were sent to the landfill. In the last year, Brumfield says the city hired a consultant to rethink the city’s residential recycling program. In March, the city also approved a $1.5 million contract with Cincinnati-based Rumpke Waste & Recycling to haul recyclables from the city’s transfer station to its processing facilities. The City of Cleveland’s Division of Waste will handle curbside collection for the program.

Residential recycling is available to Cleveland residents who live in single-family homes and multifamily buildings that have up to four units. Brumfield adds that more than 30,000 households have signed up to participate in the new program.

The facility has the capacity to anaerobically digest 24,000 metric tons of landfill-diverted food scraps and other organic waste each year.

Anaergia Inc., a renewable natural gas (RNG) company based in Burlington, Ontario, has announced it commissioned a new biomethane facility called the Calimera Bio plant in the Province of Lecce, Italy. The facility is the second of seven facilities Anaergia is building which the company says will form one of the largest food waste to biomethane platforms in Europe.

The Calimera Bio facility has the capacity to anaerobically digest 24,000 metric tons of landfill-diverted food scraps and other organic waste each year. The company will convert this waste into about 2.1 million cubic meters of RNG that will be injected into the region’s natural gas pipelines. The new plant will also treat the digestate that remains after the anaerobic digestion process to create 9,000 tons per year of high-quality natural fertilizer. Anaergia was the technology provider for the project and owns 60 percent of the facility. Anaergia’s partner in this plant is a regional waste management company.

“With six biomethane plants opening in Italy, Anaergia is well-positioned to help meet the growing demand in Europe for biomethane, the European term for renewable natural gas,” says Andrew Benedek, chairperson and CEO of Anaergia. “We are proud of these facilities because they will help Europe meet its ambitious climate change goals, as well as its energy security objectives. Given these drivers, we hope to build many more such plants.” 

The commissioning of the new Calimera plant comes on the heels of the European Commission’s pledge of €37 billion to increase biomethane production in the EU, as part of its €300 billion RePowerEU plan to stop Russian energy imports and move to green energy by the end of the decade. The commission is proposing an action plan to achieve 35 billion cubic meters of annual biomethane production by 2030.

Additionally, the G7 Ministers of Climate, Energy and the Environment highlighted the importance of cutting methane emissions, citing “opportunities to mitigate methane emissions from the waste sector, primarily by diversion of organic waste from landfills…and waste-to-fuel technologies to produce renewable methane from organic waste, agricultural residues and biomass.”