Multi-Million Dollar Sanitary Landfill Inaugurated

On Tuesday’s newscast, News Five showed you the brand spanking new transfer facility which makes the old garbage dump look like…well, garbage. These transfer stations have been constructed in San Ignacio and Belize City. And as the name implies, the garbage dropped off at the transfer stations will be transferred to another new and very impressive regional sanitary landfill at Mile twenty-four on the George Price Highway. Our news team was there for the inauguration and has the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

The new Regional Sanitary Landfill at Mile twenty-four is an integral part of the Solid Waste Management project funded by the I.D.B., OPEC and the Government of Belize. The official ribbon was cut on the impressive three hundred and fifty-acre facility on Tuesday by project members and stakeholders.

Gilroy Lewis

Gilroy Lewis, Director, Solid Waste Management Authority

“This sanitary landfill is an engineered facility. It means that the entire process from site selection to design and construction was done in a matter that it will protect human health and the environment, especially ground water and surface water. The overall principle of the sanitary landfill is that of confinement and containment and what do we hope to contain? We hope to contain the emissions that are derived from the decomposing solid waste.”

From the transfer stations located in different parts of the country, garbage will be transferred here via high tech trailers.

Gilroy Lewis

“The incoming waste that will be entering this facility from the transfer stations will enter at the site entrance there. When you came in you saw a weigh bridge which is a scale…so the trailers and the trucks would just pass over that weigh bridge, they would park on the weigh bridge and then the weight of the truck would be taken and then that would be recorded in the computerized system so as to determine the weight of the garbage that is being brought into this facility.”

After weighing and recording, the garbage will be brought to this five acre cell and dumped.

Gilroy Lewis

“It’s not a haphazard operation. Where every cubic meter of garbage is going, that is already planned. There are sub-cells where each amount of garbage is going to be disposed and once there it’s going to be compacted to the smallest volume possible in order to preserve the air space and thereby extend the life of the landfill facility.”

If you’re looking at this cell and thinking that it’ll be filled pretty quickly…keep in mind that garbage will be compacted and stacked as high as one hundred and ten feet. And there’s a comprehensive plan for the contaminated liquid which will be present.

Gilroy Lewis

“Whenever solid waste is decomposing it produces a contaminated liquid. That liquid there is going to be collected by the stones you see right there behind us there…that is the drainage layer. And then the bottom of the landfill is sloped in such a way that the liquid will flow toward the east where there is a series of collection pipes that are perforated and that will collect the contaminated liquid and then convey it all the way to the southeast portion of the cell…and there are some submersible pumps that will then pump out all the water and then send it to the lagoons. We have three lagoons there. The first one is an anaerobic pond followed by a facultative pond and then a maturation pond.”

After forty days in the ponds the treated water will be tested and returned to the environment if it meets acceptable standards. Strict testing regimens are in place to ensure that there is never any contamination of surface or ground water. And if you’re concerned about hazardous waste, the project managers were too, and constructed a specially engineered hazardous waste cell. It’s a project which was long in coming…but after a look at the facility we’re definitely prepared to say better late than never. Mike Rudon for News Five.

The Regional Sanitary Landfill will be operated by PASA Belize Limited. Government officials told News Five they are still working on a revenue structure for the facility to ensure its efficient operation and sustainability.