Today’s modern landfills are highly engineered systems that are subject to a tremendous number of regulations. First and foremost safety is paramount to a successful design. However, a balance is made between safety and practicality. It is the ugly truth; landfill design safety is sometimes curbed by space and economics. Here at EnCAP-IT we bring [...]
A simple analogy, coal ash storage is like trying to organize your closet in an endless battle to fit ever more stuff into little space. However, unlike your closet problem utility companies cannot get rid of those unneeded belongings (coal ash), or sign on the dotted line for storage-unit leases (landfills). It is all [...]
When utilities are determining how to eliminate environmental hazards posed by legacy coal ash, the paramount goal should be to beneficially reuse much or all of it, if possible, with disposal being the last resort. Beneficially reusing coal ash in productive ways yields many more benefits than simply disposing of this material. Coal ash [...]
We have a natural tendency to focus in on “shiny new things” versus the “dull things”. There is no exception to this trend when dealing with environmental stewardship. Our society wants to move on to renewable energy, carbon neutral, zero waste, the shiny new things, but we mustn’t forget about the looming landfill capacity [...]
The Utility industry has dealt with their coal ash dilemma at a snail’s pace for almost 15 years now. Although it is easy to blame the pace on the monopolistic tendencies of the Utility companies, environmental groups and regulatory agencies are just as much part of the bottleneck. – It takes two to tango! [...]
Unlike the lyrics of a famous Rolling Stones song; “Time is on my side, yes, it is”, in the environmental world folks don’t have time when it comes to landfill expansions. Sure landfill expansions may not be required for seven to ten years down the road for instance; however planning should always be front [...]
Since January 2022, the EPA has issued several decisions related to coal ash, signaling it is finally taking the 2015 rules seriously. Among other actions, the EPA has ordered companies to stop placing ash in unlined ponds since keeping coal ash in unlined storage has long been the threat to drinking water. VertiCell™ construction method [...]
It is all about STORAGE. A simple analogy, coal ash storage is like trying to organize your closet in an endless battle to fit ever more stuff into little space. However, unlike your closet problem utility companies cannot get rid of those unneeded belongings (coal ash), or sign on the dotted line for [...]
Working in the Waste Management industry can be very lonely at times. Despite recycling efforts, “green” initiatives, and organic waste diversions (composting); mankind will always generate solid waste and those charged with its stewardship are going to be criticized, whether they are doing a good job or not. Since the industry is a “quasi” [...]
HERE THEY COME. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently rejected requests from energy facilities to dump coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, into unlined surface impoundments. This new call for action exposes a simple truth, a reset is needed for all Stakeholders, not just Utilities It is not just the Utilities that [...]
