Eurobodalla Shire Council

Surf Beach Landfill

The Challenge
Eurobodalla Shire Council manages a solid waste landfill located at Surf Beach, south of Batemans Bay. Council operated the site by having two separate cells, one for putrescible waste and the other for inert waste, and using a D7 dozer to compact and cover the tip face.

Space in both cells was running out and Council was facing the prospect of building two new cells in the next 6 to 12 months. The method used to place material in the inert cell had resulted in a 14 metre high lift that was poorly compacted and difficult to access and manage. In addition, having two tip faces increased the surface area for leachate collection and made it difficult to monitor disposal from the general public.

Council wanted to find a way to manage the site more effectively, increase compaction rates, reduce use of daily cover and improve site safety for staff and the general public. The solution needed to work within existing cells to allow Council sufficient time to review the long-term operational plan for the site before commencing any new cells.

How we helped
We worked with Council to reshape and recompact the existing inert waste cell. The leachate system in the cell was upgraded to allow the burial of putrescible waste in the inert cell and postpone the need for a new cell to be built.

The base of the inert cell void was excavated to allow installation of a leachate drainage system and increase the size of the cell. Using a purpose built 32 tonne compactor and a D8 dozer the waste from the 14 metre high lift was pushed down into the base of the cell and recompacted. This created a gentle sloping face and improved the compaction rate, increasing the amount of available space in the cell.

We also provided advice on source separation to ensure that resources such as steel could be recovered instead of going to landfill, and advised on a range of compaction and covering methods that could be used on the site to improve the life of the existing cell. Techniques to further separate stormwater away from the leachate collection system were also recommended in consultation with Council and Council's landfill management consultants.

Following our advice, Council also filled a void with the inert waste to redirect stormwater out of the leachate system; inert waste is now disposed with the putrescible waste in the same cell.

The results
It is estimated that about 46% of the airspace of the inert cell was recovered, resulting in the life of the cell being extended by several years and removing the need to create two new cells in the immediate future.

The new shape of the cell means that the site is safer for staff to work on and easier for customers to access and use. Council has received many positive comments from the public on the noticeable improvement to the site in terms of tidiness and better access for vehicles at the tip face.

Valuable resources such as steel and untreated timber that used to go straight to landfill are now recovered and recycled.