NikonSniper

Every safety rule/law has come as a result of blood, broken bones, and deaths of workers.
God forbid companies and businesses are proactive instead of reactive when it comes to employee safety, health, and life.
Deals like this proves that profit is above the well being of the employees....

From what I hear this story is not over. The last I heard DEP had another driller in taking samples. I wanted to post today because I actually met with one of our sludge producers this week for the first time at their facility, and I have a better understanding of where it comes from, how it is solidified, and why certain materials have to be used. This will be kind of a long and boring post, but for anyone wondering what sludge actually is I will try and explain it.
Wastewater treatment sludge is easy to visualize, it's just whatever settles to the bottom of a treatment pond, and it makes up about 40% of our sludge intake. The rest is classified as "industrial sludge", so in my mind it was coming from the back end of a plant as the sludge I see. I asked our hauler if he would give me a tour of the facility, because we have to work with each other on haul times so I'm not bombarded with more than I can handle in a short period of time. Sometimes this puts our hauler in a bind, so I wanted to see what he was up against. I was surprised to learn that his facility isn't producing the sludge, he is taking liquid waste from all kinds of industry, solidifying it, then sending it to the landfill. When I say liquid waste, I mean almost any liquid you can think of. Oil, ammonia, shampoo, milk, all different kinds of liquid chemicals. He said almost every manufacturing process produces liquid waste on some level. His facility receives these liquids and what can be recycled, like oil, is recycled. All other liquids are hauled in tankers, or in 50-100 gallon totes. These liquids are dumped into a "solidification pit", a concrete lined pit about 15ftx15ftx10ft deep. The next step is to add a binding agent, and this is where the dangers of sludge in a landfill begin. Sawdust is commonly used, and I love it, but the problem with using sawdust is it doesn't totally bind the liquid. If only sawdust was used, the trucks would leak from the facility all the way to the landfill, about 45 miles away, so other binding agents have to be added. One option is a cottony looking material that soaks up the liquids, and that works for me because the liquid is squeezed back out in the landfill by the weight of the equipment and the weight of the trash stacked on top of it. Picture it like a saturated sponge. The problem there is you still risk trucks leaking en route, so another agent they use is binding polymers, basically powders that lock the liquids. This is the stuff that makes sludge so hard to handle, so dangerous if it isn't mixed properly. The very thing that makes it safe to haul is what makes it dangerous in a landfill. It's not like a sponge, it doesn't release the water. It never dries and stabilizes, and if too much is placed in one area it makes an impervious layer that will trap other liquids either above or under that layer, creating those invisible underground ponds that I've described before.
This is why I want the story of Greentree to come out. If it is proven that sludge was responsible for that collapse, the waste industry needs to take a long look at what it is, and what it is doing to us. Liquid waste will always be generated, and it has to go somewhere. Modern landfills are the best option we have at this time, but the workers in those landfills have to be protected. When "wet waste" studies are done, they are done by engineers, and those results are shared with upper management. The field operators are not brought in to the discussion. Things that look good on paper don't necessarily translate to good practice in the field. One of my engineers came to me after one of those studies, excited to tell me they had proven that the "moisture retention capabilities" of the polymers were very high. To the people watching the bottom line, what that means is less leachate generation, less liquid at the bottom of the landfill that has to be hauled off and treated. An engineer doesn't think about what this waste that never dries does to the surfaces we work on every day, and how those initial savings in leachate generation turn into expense exponentially for years and years after the waste is dumped. You have to dig up bad areas and repair them, you have slides that if not repaired turn into exactly what happened at Greentree. You have odor issues because of gas migration, and lawsuits have been settled for millions of dollars with neighboring communities. The biggest issue of all is the instability it causes, and the dangerous conditions employees have to work in if it is not handled properly. There needs to be a national discussion about how this liquid waste can be safely disposed of. You can't dump free liquids in a landfill, so it will always have to be solidified in some fashion. I want the industry, regardless of the company you work for, to take a look at this issue and make common sense decisions that include input from the people that actually have to handle this material. It can't be fixed by a spreadsheet.
If the Greentree collapse doesn't get everyone's attention, then nothing will. If it is swept under the rug and disappears quietly, it will happen again

Head to any of the coal burning power plants around the area and look at the fly ash "mountains" built around them. Fly ash has been used in cement, cement block, flow fill, and various other things for many years.
As far as the radioactivity in fly ash. You have been exposed to more radiation to various things in your home and things you eat on a daily basis. Have stone or marble counter tops or tile in your home? Guess what your're living with a radioactive source everyday.....

First, my job is to notice it before my employees do. Second, if my lead operator said he was afraid to be on the hill, I would damn sure be concerned that something was wrong. If you want to play the scenario out, I would move the entire tipping operation to a safe area of the landfill, then I would call my GM, area Ops Manager, and area Environmental Engineer to come and evaluate why the hill was moving. That's called "differential settlement", and is a sure sign that one area is settling much faster than the rest of the landfill.
I'm not going to comment what the other guys should have done, hindsight and all, but you asked me what I would do, not the company I work for. That's how those questions should be asked on the other side as well...

From the very beginning many of us have feared that it will all be settled with a fine and everything would be swept under a rug. I know that the employees are afraid of losing their jobs, no union-no protection, PA is an at will state. And these folks have families and aren't earning a lot of money as it is. The whole mess is just so sad because a life was lost, and it could have been many more. 

Have seen OSHA fine companies $3k to $7k for ground plugs missing on extension cords.
This $12k fine is a slap in the face to the man that died, his family, and every employee at the landfill. Like I said many, many posts ago this area of PA is the most underhanded corrupt place I have ever seen and this just proves it again!! 

Have seen OSHA fine companies $3k to $7k for ground plugs missing on extension cords.
This $12k fine is a slap in the face to the man that died, his family, and every employee at the landfill. Like I said many, many posts ago this area of PA is the most underhanded corrupt place I have ever seen and this just proves it again!! 

Have seen OSHA fine companies $3k to $7k for ground plugs missing on extension cords.
This $12k fine is a slap in the face to the man that died, his family, and every employee at the landfill. Like I said many, many posts ago this area of PA is the most underhanded corrupt place I have ever seen and this just proves it again!! 

Have seen OSHA fine companies $3k to $7k for ground plugs missing on extension cords.
This $12k fine is a slap in the face to the man that died, his family, and every employee at the landfill. Like I said many, many posts ago this area of PA is the most underhanded corrupt place I have ever seen and this just proves it again!! 

I think they have been given a forced vacation......

I think they have been given a forced vacation......

LFG this area of Pa is so corrupt it's pathetic. In my half a century + living in this area I have seen so many things swept under the rug that it would make you puke. The old saying that money, influence, and your name buys you blindness, silence, and deafness is the golden rule around here.......

Got them on Ebay. The sellers name is GoldenLeash.
 
 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

Just like everything else with dogs you have to train them and be patient. A few tasty bribes along the way helps too. 
He is a Frisbee catching nut so I used those to keep his mind off the Doggles and it has worked pretty well. He'll still paw at them or roll around on the ground trying to get them off sometimes but as long as he has his mind on a task he leaves them alone.

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

My German Shepherd like every dog loves to ride in the truck with his head out the window and loves to run on the trails when we ride bikes. I worry he gets nailed in the eyes with something. Found these Doggles on the internet and they work great!! Look cool too!! 

 

LFG this area of Pa is so corrupt it's pathetic. In my half a century + living in this area I have seen so many things swept under the rug that it would make you puke. The old saying that money, influence, and your name buys you blindness, silence, and deafness is the golden rule around here.......

LFG this area of Pa is so corrupt it's pathetic. In my half a century + living in this area I have seen so many things swept under the rug that it would make you puke. The old saying that money, influence, and your name buys you blindness, silence, and deafness is the golden rule around here.......

IF Advance actually has these "videos" why the heck isn't DEP and OSHA flexing some muscle by going to a Judge to demand they turn over said "video" evidence for their investigation. 

IF Advance actually has these "videos" why the heck isn't DEP and OSHA flexing some muscle by going to a Judge to demand they turn over said "video" evidence for their investigation.