Remarkable goings-on at the landfill

The secret is finally out. It was revealed tonight at a City Council meeting at Richland College during which various city department directors outlined the ways in which they are promoting the city's "green" initiatives. Most of what was said was already known or so mundane it's not worth repeating. But two presentations stood out. One was by Paul Dyer, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, who announced the Dallas Zoo is constructing a facility that will transform all the waste generated at the zoo -- everything from elephant manure to discarded pizza cartons -- into energy that will power a couple of the zoo's buildings.

But the major news, the one that will affect all of our wallets, came from Sanitation Services Director Mary Nix who publicly announced that bioreactor technology is being installed at the city's McCommas Bluff Landfill.

Here's the situation. All of our garbage that we don't recycle is taken to the landfill. All cities either have a landfill (or two) or they have agreements with nearby cities that have available space in their landfills. Dallas' McCommas Bluff Landfill occupies the northeast quadrant of the corner of I-45 and I-20 in deepest South Dallas. It is the largest landfill in the state of Texas and the fifth largest in the United States. But as large as it is, it was destined, as is every landfill, to eventually fill up with trash. The latest estimates I heard was that McCommas would reach its limit in around 60 years, obviously nothing I needed to worry about, probably nothing my son needed to concern himself over, but his daughter was going to feel the pinch. Why? Because when it fills, the city is going to need another large parcel of land to convert into a landfill and there are no such parcels in the immediate vicinity. I would guess that the closest possible site would be, at a minimum, 50 miles outside the city limits and probably closer to 100 miles. That means severe transportation costs -- including, of course, all those rising fuel costs -- would have to be incorporated into our sanitation fees.

The significance of bioreactor technology is two fold. First, it will mean the landfill will never reach capacity -- the city will never have to concern itself for finding land for and constructing another landfill. Second, the landfill -- the place where all our garbage is dumped -- will become an environmental center, the source for a clean-burning alternative energy and compost.

Although the name, bioreactor, makes it sound like something that could create its own China Syndrome, the technology is actually comparatively low tech. In effect, in the words of Ms. Nix, each cell in the landfill would be converted into a giant compost pile. A series of pipes installed in the individual cells soak the garbage with water and gases, the combination of which drastically accelerates the garbage degradation rate. I'm not sure how long it takes a cell to degrade completely, but I do know that landfill processes must be monitored for 30 years after they are completely filled and closed. With the bioreactor, the process takes five years. During that five-year process, large amounts of methane gas are produced that will be converted on site to natural gas and sold to Atmos Energy. Plus, at the end of five years, the cell has produced reusable compost, which, when removed, allows the cell to be used again.

Here's the bottom line: Bioreactor technology at the McCommas Bluff Landfill will generate enough income and save the city enough money to build and operate a half dozen convention center hotels and still come out on the plus side.