Keeping the environment safe

Landfill continues pill collection, renewable energy efforts

SULLIVAN>> Estrogen, testosterone, narcotics, antidepressants, flea medication in your drinking water? Not if the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation can help it.

On Saturday, the Madison County Landfill held an prescrip- tion pill drop off and paper shredding event. One of two yearly pill disposal events, county residents were able to drop off expired prescriptions for free as part of the sanitation department’s efforts to keep area drinking water clean and safe.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 227 pounds of unwanted medications were left with the sanitation de- partment for proper disposal.

Throughout the course of a year, county residents can drop off prescription and over-the-counter medications at four kiosks located at the Madison County DMV, the Madison County Department of Social Services, the NewYork State Police Barracks Troop D Oneida station, and the Chittenango Police Department. Over the course of a year, 683 pounds of medication was collected from those locations.

“We do not want these pills to be flushed,” recycling coordinator Sharon Driscoll said, explaining that sewer treatment facilities are not designed to filter out drugs or vitamins that enter the system via improper disposal. “It is important that people understand they are

hurting the environment.”

Once all of the pills are collected, they are turned over to the DEA and then “properly destroyed in accordancewith environmental safety regulations,” said director James Zecca.

In regards to the paper shredding efforts, the sanitation department collected 6,000 pounds of paper documents brought in by Madison County residents seeking to destroy important documents or checkbooks in order to combat identity theft.

Pill collection and shredding are only a portion of the department’s efforts to maintain a healthy environment.

On Dec. 29, the Department of Solid Waste began collecting Styrofoam in a pilot project that runs through June 30.

Residents wishing to recycle their Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) foam No. 6, commonly called “Styrofoam,” are asked to bring it to the main landfill on Buyea Road in the Town of Lincoln in clear plastic bags with all tape and labels removed. The collection site will be set up across from the ReUse Store on the east side of Buyea Road. EPS foamis accepted during regular operating hours Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Foam cups, packing peanuts, meat trays, soiled containers and packingmaterials made of materials other than Styrofoam are not accepted due to contamination.

“Styrofoam breaks apart and wildlife eats it just like oceanswildlife eats plastic,” said recycling coordinator Mary Bartlett.

It takes 50 years for EPS foam to break down, but since polystyrene is not biodegradable, it never really leaves the environment.

The 6 month study will give the landfill a chance to evaluate the amount of Styrofoam can be collected, andwhether or not it makes sense financially to purchase a Styrofoam densifier so thatMadison County can market the recycled goods instead of sending it to an outlet.

Bartlett said that properly recycled Styrofoam can be range from anywhere from 25-38 cents a pound.

“It’s a pretty valuable commodity,” she said. “It’s so light it takes a while [to collect enough].”

The county is also in the process of installing a plastic-to-oil facility at the landfill. Ten to 12 companies have submitted proposals after Madison County issued a request in February.

The facility would process 1,800 tons of non-recyclable plastics and produce 450,000 gallons of low-sulphur diesel fuel which could be used in the county’s vehicles each year. Zecca said the county typically needs a volume of 500,000 diesel gallons. He also said the project would reduce greenhouse gases, extend the use- ful life of the region’s landfills, and reduce illegal burying and burning of agricultural plastics on farms.

In 2012, the Madison County landfill began accepting agricultural plastics which historically were burned, buried or land filled.

For years, the county recycling center has been heated using the harnessed methane gas, and about 50 percent of its electricity has been gathered by a solar cap on the landfill. The facility captures methane gas from the landfill and converts it into usable heat.

Only two other landfills in the country, both privately owned -- one in Texas and one in Georgia -have affixed solar panels to the slopes of capped landfill cells. Madison County will be the first municipal dump in the country to attempt the green energy project and the first in the Northeast, Zecca said.

In addition to the solar cap, the county installed a 210-panel, 50 kilowatt pho- tovoltaic installation that provides all of the electrical needs for the landfill operations building in 2014.

The landfill also has its Landfill-Gas-to-Energy facility that is run in cooperation with Waste Management Renewable Energy which uses a giant, 3520 IC Caterpillar engine which burns landfill gas to generate electricity. The county expects to save $9.3 million during the course of its 20 year agreement with Waste Management Renewable Energy. Upon becoming operational in early 2009, the 20 cylinder engine powered Gas-to-Energy facility is generating 1.4 megawatts of electricity – enough to power about 1,200 homes, and produces enough excess thermal energy to heat three facilities at the landfill.

The Johnson Brothers Lumber Companies currently utilizes some of the excess thermal energy to operate their recently installed kilns, and the company has plans to create a greenhouse at the landfill as well.