The Peru Gazette

Morrisonville, NY—North Country residents see Casella Waste Systems’ trucks on highways daily. Last Saturday, July 27, Casella informed people what happens o the materials those trucks haul at an Open House held at the Morrisonville Landfill. Over 300 people enjoyed the attractions for kids, exhibits, free BBQ, and ice cream. General Manager Sean Lukas and Environmental Engineer Amy Davies explained the landfill’s operations during a 45-minute train ride through the landfill. 

Here are some of the landfill facts: 

Casella operates the landfill under contract to Clinton County. Forty people work at the landfill, including about 35 County employees and five Casella managers. Jobs include environmental engineers, groundskeepers, office personnel, heavy equipment operators, and truck drivers. 

The landfill receives 800 to 1,200 tons of garbage daily from Clinton County and surrounding areas. Casella estimates the landfill will meet Clinton County’s needs for the next 80 years. It occupies 80 of a 400-acre property.  

The trucks that pick up garbage and recyclables at homes and businesses have compartments for garbage and recyclables. The driver activates a diverter that directs them into the appropriate box. People watching the pickup arm dump material sometimes say they can’t see the separation, but it happens. 

The landfill’s hills/piles rise 200 feet above and 200 feet below the surface. At the bottom of every pile, there’s a double composite liner system consisting of a minimum of six feet of clay, two specialized heavy-duty plastic liners, and a groundwater diversion system. The piles must be a minimum of 10 feet above bedrock. Plastic encases the garbage on every side as it rises. When it reaches the maximum permitted height, Casella covers it and installs a clean water drainage system. 

Deteriorating garbage emits gas. Pipes capture that gas and bring it to four 140-megawatt generators in the landfill’s energy plant. The generators connect to the grid, delivering enough electricity to power 5,000 houses daily.

Liquid runoff is contained and piped to two 600,000-gallon storage containers. The liquid is then transported to Plattsburgh’s water treatment plant.

Cassella is gradually expanding its waste food composting and mattress recycling programs. 

The Casella website is the source of the following information.

Casella Waste Systems, Inc., headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, is one of the largest recyclers and most experienced fully integrated resource management companies in the Eastern United States. Founded in 1975 as a single truck collection service, Casella has grown its operations to provide solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to more than one million residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers and provides professional resource management services to over 10,000 customer locations in more than 40 states.