The Medley Landfill Implements Sanitary Improvements
Agreement between the City of Doral and Waste Management
By: Edda Pujadas
Waste Management, the company that manages the Medley landfill is implementing new solutions that will mitigate the environmental impact and the emission of unpleasant odors from the facility.
Councilwoman Digna Cabral informed about this, explaining that these measures are part of an agreement between the City of Doral and Waste Management and they arise from the idea to improve the environment and the quality of life of the people that live, work or go through our city.
Among the measures that Waste Management will be implementing is the installation of approximately 10 acres of a geomembrane on the Southwest side of the Doral side of the landfill.
Geomembranes are geosynthetic sheets used for liquid containment in mining, environmental, and agricultural processes. They are characterized by their mechanical strength, permeability, and durability in the environment. A final deck will be installed on top, which will be covered with grass and will not be filled with waste.
The area will be filled to the fullest allowable degree with waste material. The process will take place between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. After the 2021 rainy season, the geomembrane enclosure will be installed.
Waste Management is also building a new area on the Southeastern side of the landfill, which will provide a different area to be used as a landfill that will sit further apart from the City of Doral. The construction of this cell, which was scheduled to begin between the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 actually started under a month ago.
Councilwoman Cabral also spoke about the installation of additional gas collectors and approximately 10,000 additional feet of gas collection pipeline to further ensure the complete collection, transmission, and destruction of the gas emitted by the Medley landfill.
Given the interest of everyone involved in these measures to move forward at the earliest, the gas pipeline has already been completed, and it is expected that the construction of the gas collection wells be completed at the end of this year. CEC Engineering is the company in charge of updating the plans that will provide the information on the additional footage of pipeline and the exact number of wells to be installed.
Another action that Waste Management is conducting is the installation of a new odor control system, which is based on a vapor that will be directed to the Southwest corner of the landfill, right in front of our city. The company has tested the system during the last months with excellent results. They will also extend this service along the South and West limits of the landfill, as they deem necessary.
It is important to mention that Waste Management will also increase the odor neutralization system that currently exists to now include two nebulization cannons or Working Face Misting Cannons (WFMC). This project has already been funded and right now they are in the process of requesting the equipment.
The truth is that the odor emission from this landfill has been a constant complaint from all the people that live or work in the 3,500 residential and 80 commercial addresses that are located within a 2-mile radius of the landfill.
The everyday operation of the landfill has impacted the City of Doral and its sixty-four thousand residents and businesses because of the harmful odors that come from it and that get exacerbated every time that it rains, affecting the quality of the air. Just between January 2016 and until August 2019, the City of Doral received a total of 2,542 complaints regarding the odor and its harmful effects on the health.
These were the reasons that moved the authorities of the City of Doral to get advice from environmental experts and work in conjunction with Waste Management in the implementation of efficient and proper methods to handle solid waste. These methods will help decrease any danger that the air and water pollution can cause to public health.
The residents and people working in Doral are the ones that will now see a benefit from the results of this Agreement between the City and Waste Management. They will now be able to verify a decrease in the odors, the gas emissions and therefore an improvement in the quality of the environment in our city.
” The everyday operation of the landfill has impacted the City of Doral and its sixty-four thousand residents and businesses because of the harmful odors that come from it and that get exacerbated every time that it rains, affecting the quality of the air”
I would think if you have health issues due to this you could and SHOULD sue them . Get a class action law suit going .
Keep on voting for the same all talk but do nothing Commissioners and Senators and this waste dump will be in Doral forever .
I am far from it but sometimes I do smell it though rare , usually early am coming home from work .
I should have added that be it Mayor Boria and Mayor Bermudez both have fought to remove this but when you are fighting a Governor and fighting without any help from Senators it is not easy .
A Mayor can only do so much but I have to give both men credit .