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Lycoming County approves landfill equipment and leachate forcemain contracts; officials describe methane cogeneration and disposal hazards
Summary
Commissioners approved multiple contracts for security systems and landfill operations, extended an electronics-recycling agreement, and awarded a $1.22 million contract for a new leachate forcemain; county staff described onsite methane-to-energy generation and concerns about lithium batteries in the waste stream.
Lycoming County commissioners on May 1 approved a suite of contracts and amendments tied to county landfill operations and awarded a $1,223,721 contract to R & L Development Company for a leachate forcemain project.
Gary Staggart, deputy director at Lycoming County Resource Management Services (LCRMS), briefed commissioners on landfill operations and several agenda items. The award to R & L Development will fund installation of a new 6-inch forcemain to pump leachate from the county’s lagoon to the WBRA wastewater treatment plant. Staggart said the existing line is a three-inch pipe more than 30 years old and that the new line will be shorter, easier to maintain and will reduce trucking; county staff estimated the installation will pay for itself in less than four years compared with current truck-haul costs.
The board also approved multiple service agreements with Montronics for security and fire systems at LCRMS facilities (transfer station, shop buildings, admin/scale house, pump station and recycling building); approved a contract acceptance with Bergey Truck Center (noting Bergey acquired the prior vendor, Sunbury Motors); and voted to extend the county’s e-waste recycling agreement with GreenChip to Dec. 31, 2027. All motions carried as presented in the meeting record.
Staggart described the landfill’s methane-to-energy operations: landfill gas is piped to a cogeneration plant with four Caterpillar engines driving generators that together produce about 6.4 megawatts — roughly enough electricity for 6,400 houses, he said. The county receives revenue from some recycling streams, Staggart added, including electronics collected under the GreenChip program.
He warned about disposal hazards, especially lithium batteries, which can enter “thermal runaway” if damaged and can ignite quickly, potentially triggering prolonged landfill fires. Staggart said full tires and hazardous wastes are not accepted at the landfill and that many business-generated residual wastes must be preapproved and tested.
The Leachate Forcemain project will be paid from the landfill’s closure funds, according to the meeting record. Commissioners voted to approve the R & L Development award and the Montronics and Bergey agreements during the session; the record shows aye votes after motions and seconds but does not list individual vote tallies.
