This
article appeared in the
By
ROGER H. AYLWORTH
Staff Writer
In
the near future, workers at the county’s
will be using a new device
to quite literally wrap up their day’s work.
Eric
Dugger, a solid waste engineer working in the , said long-standing
state regulations require each day’s accumulation
of trash at a landfill be covered, either with a
layer of dirt or tarps.
Dugger
explained the covering keeps trash from blowing
around, and makes it harder for seagulls, rats, raccoons
or anything else looking to dine on the debris to
get into the garbage.
While
the regulations allow the use of tarps or dirt,
there is a problem with using dirt.
The
landfill has a finite life to it,” said
the engineer. “Realistically, less dirt allows
us to put more trash in it.”
Now,
after the day’s load is compacted, landfill
workers manually place tarps over the area.
Dugger
said the process is labor-intensive, and it is
dangerous to walk out onto the trash. Besides that, “it’s a pain” to place the
tarps in any kind of a wind, he continued.
Tuesday,
the approved
a lease-purchase agreement with the firm that makes
the “Tarpomatic” to change that.
Instead
of having a crew of “three, and four
and five staff” place the tarps, a single bulldozer
driver will be able to do the job.
The
driver attaches the machine to the dozer blade,
and, using a wireless control box, he unrolls the
tarp while maneuvering the dozer over the trash.
The
device, which is manufactured in Canton, Ohio,
will cost Butte County $84,550.
Certainly
it is a staffing issue and it is a safety issue,” said Dugger.
The
landfill staff, according to Dugger, tries to keep
the active part of the landfill as small as possible
each day. The “tipping face” usually
runs about 100 feet on a side.
Bill
Glick, the Western states sales representative
for the Ohio firm, said the tarps on the device
has purchased are 40 feet wide and
100 feet long. The purchase includes three rolls
of tarps.
The
tarps are made of a “high-density, woven
polyethylene,” said Glick.
He explained that “cable weights” are
spaced every 10 feet along the edges of the tarp
to keep it in place in a wind.
The
next day, the tarp is rewound onto the machine.
Then the Tarpomatic can be detached and the dozer
can go back to bulldozing.
Staff
writer Roger H. Aylworth can be reached
at 896-7762 or raylworth@chicoer.com.
