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Landfill garners panel scrutiny

King George officials target problems involving Virginia's largest landfill

By ROB DAVIS

Date published: 1/30/2004

A continuing problem with foul odors coming from the King George County Landfill drew the attention of county supervisors and administrators.

And now that they've focused there, supervisors say they want to see more done to resolve related landfill problems.

During a work session last night, King George supervisors asked for more regular and detailed updates from Jason Pauley, the county's director of solid waste and recycling.

Previous reports have been minimal, board Chairman Joseph Grzeika said in an interview, "through no fault of anybody's. The past board has not made an issue of it."

Grzeika said he wants to ensure the county is wisely spending the $150,000 it receives for inspections from Waste Management Inc., the national company that operates the landfill.

He questioned Pauley about about the frequency of inspections of trucks dumping at the regional landfill, which accepted 1.2 million tons of waste in 2003.

Pauley told Grzeika that typically one load per day is randomly inspected, with employees also conducting frequent odor inspections. Environmental monitoring and erosion monitoring is conducted monthly, he said.

Medical waste, which is prohibited from being dumped, has been found, Pauley said.

"It usually comes back to a housekeeping issue," Pauley said. "It hardly happens anymore."

"So it happens, we just don't hear about it?" asked Supervisor Cedell Brooks Jr.

"It's very rare," Pauley replied.

Asked in an interview how recently medical waste was found, Pauley said he was not certain.

"Red bags I'm sure have been found," he said. "It's a very random thing."

Supervisors also questioned what's being done to clean stray trash from the landfill.

County Administrator Dennis Kerns recently made an unannounced visit to the landfill and said he found the entrance "didn't look very tidy."

Grzeika also criticized the buildup of garbage along State Route 3. "It is an eyesore," he said, "and we need to work on it."

Dean Lyle, new district manager for Waste Management, said steps have already been taken to remedy the problem. A crew picked up along Route 3 last week, he said.

In an interview after the meeting, Lyle said Waste Management would "try to step up inspections of trucks exiting" to make sure all of the trash has been removed from them or that tarps cover leftover debris.

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Date published: 1/30/2004