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SCRANTON — Christine Cabets did not know what to expect when she boarded a yellow school bus for a tour of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill Saturday morning.
As the tour unfolded, Cabets heard much about the landfill’s liner system, leachate collection, stormwater drainage and monitoring system from Operations Manager Michael Bair, who fielded questions and provided information.
Cabets, a Throop resident, said it was a lot to take in at one time, but admitted it seemed like the facility was doing all it can to reduce odors coming from the site and manage its leachate, the contaminated liquid that forms from water percolating through solid waste.
She listened attentively as Bair described a process called reverse osmosis, which purifies leachate until it looks looks much like drinking water.
She was even brave enough to lean over and take a sniff of the clear liquid when Bair poured it into a glass.
Cabets was also impressed with how clean and organized the landfill looked, as Bair spoke of efforts to keep the grass cut and the area maintained.
Still, in spite of the landfill’s efforts to control odor and keep the facility safe, Cabets has some concerns about the facility, which sits between Dunmore and Throop.
“It’s a landfill between two little towns,” she said. “And it can be overwhelming.”
Cabets said odors from the site make their way to her home in the upper part of the borough.
Neighbors with a greater sensitivity to smell, say the odor bothers them and makes it difficult for them to enjoy their properties.
She knows the landfill, which provides revenue for both Throop and Dunmore and jobs for nearly 200 people, isn’t going away.
“I truly don’t know what to think,” she said. “I have very mixed feelings.”
Informing and educating
The landfill held the tour as it seeks approval from Throop Borough Council and the Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority to discharge its treated leachate through Throop’s sanitary sewer system for further treatment at the LRBSA’s wastewater treatment plant on Boulevard Avenue in Throop.
The landfill currently directs its wastewater to Pennsylvania American Water’s treatment plant in South Scranton.
As part of the project, the landfill said it would completely rehabilitate Throop’s sanitary sewer line, including removing root infiltration and fixing broken joints.
Throop borough council President Richard Kucharski said the tour was part of the process of informing and educating residents about the facility and the impact its use of the borough’s sanitary sewer system to transfer leachate for further treatment would have.
Kucharski said borough officials consulted with their engineer and held a public hearing earlier this week.
Saturday’s tour provided residents the chance to get out and see the facility for themselves, and to ask questions of its management.
“We’re doing our due diligence,” he said.
At the conclusion of the tour, Kucharski said he was impressed with the efforts the landfill was making to reduce odors and contain leachate, which includes two sealed leachate tanks expected to be operational by July.
He noted the facility was very clean and well maintained, with very little odor as the tour group drove through.
Cooperating with officials
The tour also comes after the state Environmental Hearing Board ruled this week that the Department of Environmental Protection erred in approving the landfill’s Phase III expansion on June 3, 2021, by issuing a permit that does not sufficiently control or mitigate issues with odors and excessive leachate generation, which the DEP was aware of prior to approving the expansion.
The 42-year expansion allows the landfill to triple its volume of waste into the 2060s by adding just over 94 million tons of garbage, or about 188 billion pounds.
“The Department must assess on remand whether additional measures to control odors and leachate, some of which have been required by a recent Consent Order and Agreement, warrant inclusion in the landfill’s permit or changes to the landfill’s operating plans,” the five-member panel of environmental judges wrote.
Grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna, which formed in 2014 to oppose the landfill and its expansion, appealed the expansion approval in July 2021, taking it to the hearing board.
The DEP must now review its decisions and will likely require the landfill to implement additional measures to mitigate odor and leachate.
The facility is owned by Louis and Dominic Denaples.
Business manager Dan O’Brien said the facility, owners and management welcome any DEP recommendations, and is confident the facility has a positive path forward.
“We intend to be 100% in compliance,” he said.
