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While most people avoid it, Tim Benson and Gary LaPolt are in the business of fixing it. The two are mechanics at Sullivan County’s Leachate Plant, the first of its kind in the state. Since it’s 30-plus years of converting “garbage juice” into water clean enough to return to the environment, they’ve become a backbone in managing the closed Monticello Landfill.
“This was the birthplace of treating it [leachate]. Normally it would just have been trucked out or discarded in the wetlands, kind of illegally, which shouldn’t happen,” said Benson.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, leachate can be defined as a liquid that is “formed when rain water filters through wastes placed in a landfill.” Think garbage juice.
As it leaks from landfills, it can cause harm to surrounding environments. Benson and LaPolt have black tubes span the length of the landfill, collecting the leachate falling through.
“The perimeter and tow drain collection goes here, from this pump station, it goes into the tanks and starts the process,” said Benson.
Their step-by-step process consists of acids and filtration methods that balance the mixture’s PH level, treating it until they’re left with two products: a solid form of leachate, and a liquid ready to move on to the nearby water treatment plant. After being treated at the plant, it flows out into a stream between the two facilities. Between the two sites, they have the method of transforming leachate into clean water down to a science.
“Other places will call and say ‘hey, what are you doing about this problem? What are you doing with that issue? We ran into this, what do you guys recommend? How did yup do that?’ Said Benson. Since they are working diligently to ensure the liquid returns to the environment as a clean product, they work frequently with the Department of Conservation and have become a reliable resource throughout the state.
“The DEC will step in, and to another facility, say ‘reach out to the guys at Sullivan, they’ve dealt with this problem, you may want to talk to them,” said Benson.
Since the closing of the Monticello landfill, the large mound shrinks on an annual basis. LaPolt and Benson work closely with the DEC to measure its size.
“It’s interesting to see what we do to clean this leachate up, to put it back into the environment,” said LaPolt.