EREF Blog

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) will partner to hold the Coal Ash Management Forum on July 21 – 22, 2016. The conference aims to be a forum where both the utility and waste management industries can share ideas, research, operations strategies and case studies on how to manage coal ash beneficially or in a landfill setting.

This forum is geared toward engineers, landfill managers, ash managers, as well as the consultants and suppliers that provide solutions for managing coal ash. Opportunities to better understand challenges in how coal combustion residuals on the power generation side will be discussed as will experiences from existing landfill owners and management companies.

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Regulations specify that owner/operators of closed landfills are responsible for maintenance, monitoring and condition of the site for 30 years (Subpart F of Subtitle D). This period could change depending on the time required for a site to no longer pose a threat to human health and the environment (HHE). Current regulations provide no guidance or specific criteria to release a landfill from post-closure care (PCC). To provide guidance on ending PCC, the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) funded the development of a performance-based Evaluation of Post-Closure Care (EPCC) methodology in 2006. This methodology provides a modular approach for evaluating the four primary PCC elements, leachate management, landfill gas management, groundwater monitoring and cover maintenance. The EPCC methodology defines the end of PCC in terms of “functional stability.” Functional stability is achieved when a closed landfill no longer presents an unacceptable threat to HHE in the absence of active care.

Since this time, EREF has funded additional grants to further evaluate the methodology and is pleased to announce the availability of a final report from a recent effort aimed to illustrate how EPCC methodology can be applied to demonstrate step-wise reductions in PCC activity from active controls to fully passive measures. To do this, a series of retroactive data evaluations at a case study landfill were conducted over a 20 year PCC period. The landfill evaluated is a 29-acre municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill on an 80-acre property located near Frankfort, New York that operated between the early 1970s and 1991 and was closed in 1993.

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Raleigh, NC (April 19, 2016) – The Board of Directors of the Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) is pleased to announce the addition of two new staff members to the EREF team.

Dr. Stephanie C. Bolyard joined EREF in April as the Research and Scholarships Program Manager.

Catherine Ardoin joined EREF in February as Communications Coordinator.

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The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) is pleased to announce that Ice River Springs Water Co., Inc. has funded a named scholarship for the EREF scholarship program.

Fully integrated from water source to the manufacturing of bottles, Ice River Springs is an Ontario-based company that makes bottles, caps and packages, and packages spring water, purified water and distilled water. The company strives to constantly innovate finding new ways to recycle, reduce energy consumption and minimize waste. Ice River Springs is the only beverage company in North America to operate a closed-loop system that reclaims plastic from used containers and produces 100% recycled bottles along with filling and distribution.

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