EAST BRUNSWICK– The odors noticed by residents who live near the Middlesex County Landfill are being caused by gas emissions.
Responding to residents’ complaints of smelling foul odors, the Middlesex County Utilities Authority (MCUA) held a presentation about ongoing improvements at the Middlesex County Landfill.
More than 85 residents listened to MCUA Executive Director Joseph Cryan discuss the landfill’s ongoing improvements and the reasons behind the bad odors on Jan. 16 at the East Brunswick Municipal Building.
“When you are doing a public presentation, one of the things you want to do is work and have an audience with you,” Cryan said. “They say the worst thing you can do when you begin is to apologize, but on behalf of all of us and especially me … I want to apologize for the inconvenience and the impact to your quality of life, especially over the past few weeks. We know it has been difficult.”
Cryan said the landfill has been in East Brunswick off Edgeboro Road since the 1950s and is the second largest landfill in the state.
The landfill is the disposal site for the majority of all waste generated in Middlesex County. The landfill is open for residents and communities 300 days per year. The landfill accepts approximately 2,000 tons of waste a day, which equates to 4 million pounds of waste a day, according to Cryan.
The reason it smells is due to a major capital improvement to the landfill’s Gas-to-Energy system that is currently ongoing, according to Cryan.
Methane, a gas naturally occurring from decomposing solid waste, is collected from the Middlesex County Landfill. The methane is transported via a network of pipelines to the Electric Power Generating Facility in Sayreville. There, the gas is turned into 16 megawatts of electrical green energy. The recycled energy is then used to power the MCUA Central Treatment Plant where most of the county’s sewage is sent. The gas delivers cost-saving green energy for Middlesex County residents, according to Cryan.
“There are three sources of odors … and I want to make sure you understand all three. One is what I just mentioned to you – 4 million pounds of trash each and every day of collection,” Cryan said. “Second, we create a product in our central treatment plant you all help create it every single day called Meadowlife, it’s a caked bio-solid product. … We use Meadowlife as one part of the cover we apply to the trash and then finally and probably the main thing we are going to be talking about tonight is gas emission.”
MCUA has been literally digging holes and drilling wells in the landfill which is contributing to the odors, according to Cryan.
Cryan said in 2018, MCUA also drilled seven wells which are there to collect the gas and pump it out, as well as remove water and other things.
“We do have more work by March of 2019. We will have implemented another 13 vertical wells into cell eight. Cell eight needs more well collection to collect the gas if not, it will emit,” Cryan said.
Cryan said MCUA believes the gas smell residents have been complaining about comes from gas emissions.
“When I approved this project and when we moved forward on it, I approved it for December [2018] and thought we would be done by the end of December. We have got most of it done now, but it has rained every day. … Rain in landfills, a little bit great; the highest rain amount in New Jersey’s history in any given year not so good,” Cryan said. “It has helped create our delays. We are not looking for excuses, we thought it would be colder and a little less in terms of inclement weather. It simply has not worked out that way.”
The year 2018 was New Jersey’s wettest year on record, Cryan said. This had a major impact on the cause of the odors in two ways: the landfill gas extraction lines have to be continually pumped to remove water from the system; rainwater can cause the landfill to smell even though the waste is covered every day, according to Cryan.
“Landfills also collect water. We have a very high quantity design leachate collection system. … We constantly have to remove that water and when we don’t bad things happen,” Cryan said. “If you are collecting gas and you have a lot of water your screen gets flooded your pipes get filled so you don’t collect gas. What happens to gas you don’t collect? It emits and you all have the result of that, especially over the past few weeks.”
Cryan said residents have also complained about smelling a rotten egg smell. The smell is caused by the hydrogen sulfide present in landfill gas. Air sampling was performed along the property line in December. Hydrogen sulfide suggested limit is 30 parts per billion averaged over a 30-minute period. The landfill is operating well below these limits, according to Cryan.
“The rotten egg smell is bad for your nose but very little else,” Cryan said.
While there is no one single factor, one cause of the recent increase in odors is because the gas collection system is undergoing major renovations. This will be an ongoing activity as long as the landfill exists. As improvements are completed, MCUA expects to see a reduction in odors, according to Cryan.
“The estimate in this system is $15 million when you include the corrections that we’re making in our [gas] collection system at the plant for our energy system,” Cryan said. “We are making a financial commitment to make sure that we have this done correctly.”
The process is difficult because the pipeline system spreads over 200 acres of the landfill. As waste continues to come to the landfill, MCUA will continue to build and expand the gas collection system and improve its water collection and pumping systems. Landfills by design are constantly settling and the gas collection system within the landfill has to adjust accordingly, according to Cryan.
There are ongoing projects through the fall of 2019. MCUA believes the completion of these projects should not cause the level of odors that were recently experienced. A significant improvement to the landfill’s gas collection system was completed in December. Significant new landfill gas system improvements to a portion of the landfill’s cell eight are underway and will be completed by March 2019 and a high capacity water pumping system this spring, according to Cryan.
For residents who live in the Pine Ridge neighborhood, Cryan said cell eight and cell nine are the two cells that affect their quality of life the most. Cell nine borders the neighborhood and resident may smell odors from cell eight anytime an eastern wind blows.
In addition to the landfill gas system improvements, other capital initiatives that will reduce odors include: the temporary cap that was installed in December along the eastern portion of the landfill, covering 12 acres; an interim cap on top of the landfill, which is a soil cover, planned for this spring; an HDPE liner will be installed on approximately 34 acres at the top of the landfill this summer. This will seal off a significant portion of the top of the landfill for approximately the next two years, reduce the active area and help keep odors sealed below the cap, according to Cryan.
Other capital initiatives include: a final cap covering 18 acres will be placed along the Edgeboro Road portion of the landfill and should benefit the Pine Ridge neighborhood. This permanent cap construction will begin in late spring and will be completed in early 2020; a significant investment to develop and install a new odor control system, the system will create an entire ring around the upper portion of the landfill. A vapor system will help control various odors coming from the landfill. Based on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection permitting process, this will be installed by early summer, according to Cryan.
For more information, visit www.mcua.com/communityupdate/.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
