Landfill liner must be replaced

A liner separating garbage from the earth has cracks, possibly from the sun. Replacing exposed portions is expected to cost about $175,000.

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

LECANTO -- The only thing at the landfill that separates the garbage from the earth, and ultimately the groundwater, is a black plastic liner as thick as a corrugated cardboard box.

The high density polyethylene liner, produced by Texas-based Poly-Flex Inc., is built to hold 126 pounds per square inch and is tested at temperatures of 185 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the company's material specifications.

But for some reason, the liner has not withstood the rigors of the Citrus County landfill.

Over the past year and a half, officials have discovered three visible cracks in the liner installed in the southern end of the landfill 10 years ago. Those cracks were quickly fixed, Solid Waste Management director Susan Metcalfe said, but a closer inspection has revealed microscopic cracks in other parts of the liner.

The vulnerable spots are at the seams and folds in the liner, both areas especially affected by heat, Metcalfe said.

At some of the seams, where two pieces of liner were joined using a hot glue gun, Metcalfe said the gun may have been too hot, causing tiny breaks in the plastic.

But most of the problem comes from the sun's ultraviolet rays weakening the plastic lining, particularly at the folds, she said. At places where the fold points down like the fold of an open book, the liner takes a greater beating because the stretched sides are also exposed to the sun, she said.

The bottom part of the liner that is shielded from the light by 591,000 tons of garbage is fine, she said. But the top stretch of liner that has been exposed to sunlight for the past decade needs to be replaced.

Metcalfe said Thursday that she is preparing a report to be sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection within the next few days, proposing to replace the exposed 3 acres of liner at an expected cost of $175,000.

DEP approval could take several weeks or months, she said, but the county will move forward with the replacement as soon as possible.

"Right now the main function is protecting the soil underneath," Metcalfe said. "This is something we won't be dragging our feet on."

The question then becomes: Who should pick up the tab?

The proposed county budget, which commissioners will review next week at public workshops, includes $175,000 for landfill repairs, Metcalfe said. But she said she is working with the liner manufacturer Poly-Flex and the installer, MWM Contracting Corp. of Mount Dora, to recoup whatever costs she can through the warranty.

Poly-Flex officials did not return a reporter's telephone call Thursday, and MWM Contracting president Ray Wild was not available for comment.

Metcalfe said it originally cost the county about $300,000 to create that part of the landfill 10 years ago, and the warranty is worth no more than the original project price. Because the 20-year warranty is also pro-rated, and 10 years have passed, the county would probably only be entitled to half of the project price, or $150,000, she said.

That would still leave the county with some costs, in addition to the $25,000 the county has already spent fixing the three cracks and testing other parts of the liner, Metcalfe said.

"It's going to depend on how hard we have to negotiate and whether these companies will accept our claim as valid without a lot of negotiating," she said.

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