Colorado landfill saves on soil with waste latex paint and LSC spray

Faced with a shortage of soil to cover their daily intake of waste; and an increasing supply of waste latex paint, the Mesa County, Colorado, landfill looked to LSC Environmental Products, Apalachin, New York, for help. Working closely with LSC in 2014, the county applied for and was granted regulatory approval to combine their waste latex with LSC's spray applied Posi-Shell technology, and over the past year, the innovation has preserved valuable landfill airspace, dramatically reduced expensive and disruptive on-site earth moving operations, and eliminated costly paint disposal fees for the facility, says LSC. Posi-Shell is a patented blend of water, clay binders, reinforcing fibers, and polymers that are spray applied and dry as a thin, highly durable stucco.

"In the long term, the site just didn't have enough on-site material to continue using soil for their daily cover." says Joe Donze, CEO of LSC. "We love working with innovative landfill operators, and Posi-Shell's unique attributes allowed us to get creative with the incorporation of Mesa's waste latex paint as well."

Jennifer Richardson, a compliance manager for Mesa County says, "The air space we saved last year by using the (Posi-Shell) slurry, instead of soil, is about $1.4 million dollars."

The facility now completes in 30 minutes what once took several hours with several pieces of expensive heavy-equipment, according to LSC.

Mesa County has also saved more than $11,000 in paint processing and disposal fees over the past year, and expects to double that figure in 2017. As previously reported by Waste Today, the creative solution earned Mesa County, the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association's (NAHMMA) Program Innovation Award.

Since receiving the award, Richardson has fielded inquiries from solid waste managers from as far away as New Zealand. "My phone has just been blowing up," she says.

More information about the process is available at www.lscenv.com/leachate-latex-paint-landfill-cover-pg.htm.