HOT SPRINGS -- Regulatory approval for the second phase of the Cedar Glades Landfill should be completed before roofing material stripped from structures peppered by recent hailstorms arrives en masse, said the county's director of environmental services.
Paul Thompson said phase one can accommodate the inevitable influx if approval from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is delayed, noting that it can take two to three months after a hailstorm before the landfill receives a steady stream of roofing debris.
Recycling is a possibility for future disposal of roofing material, he said. A grinder already on site could convert the granular asphalt that composes a roof shingle into a product to pave roads or walking trails.
Thompson said conditioning roofers to remove copper and aluminum flashings that don't adhere to the grinder's internal magnet would be a must. Plywood used to cover weak spots in roofs would also need to be separated, and finding a market for the product and getting Environmental Quality Department approval pose additional impediments.
"The roofers would have to understand there are certain specs we have to have," he said. "There'd be an educational curve we'd have to go through, and we couldn't just keep it.
"We'd have to find somebody who would come out and purchase it, sort of like what the city does with compost, because we'd get a bunch of it. It's something to approach the Quorum Court and county judge about after phase two is approved."
Thompson said the 12 acres of phase two have been excavated and lined with clay. Verifying the county has funds sufficient to clean up the site in the event of its being shut down or abandoned is the final regulatory hurdle, he said, adding that B&F Engineering Inc.'s calculation of the reclamation costs is awaiting Environmental Quality Department approval.
"ADEQ has to approve the figures," he said. "As soon as they do, I can use those figures in my form for requesting financial assurance of all our facilities."
Phase one's nine ground-level cells have been filled. Additional collections are being placed on top of the ground cells, which are covered with an 18-inch layer of topsoil. Thompson said air space allows phase one to collect a few more months of material and still maintain compliance with the department's slope-ratio requirements, which guard against the sides of the landfill becoming unstable.
The Class IV landfill is permitted for construction and demolition debris but is prohibited from receiving household waste. The county compacts and transports household material to Waste Management Inc.-run landfills in North Little Rock and Pine Bluff, making five to six runs daily.
Thompson said the first cell of phase two will be on the northeast corner of the landfill, a 61-acre expanse capable of receiving a 120-year waste cycle.
Metro on 04/27/2015