Landfill Vegetation Management
The maintenance of landfills in the United States is regulated and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA grants authority to enforce federal standards to state regulatory agencies. One such state regulatory agency is South Carolina’s DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control). These state regulatory agencies are responsible for all types of landfills. These include Industrial Waste, Hazardous Waste, Construction, Demolition Debris, and Municipal Solid Waste landfills.
Local governments often own landfills but many are owned by private enterprises. By statute, landfills are required to be maintained for thirty years after they are closed. This puts an enormous burden on the owner. Effective, cost-efficient management of vegetation becomes an important issue. Opterra Solutions is the perfect vendor to provide many cost-saving vegetation management services to this industry.
Mowing
One of the most important vegetation management services that Oopterra provides is mowing of the cap. Basic cutting of the vegetation must be performed regularly and provides several benefits. Mowing the cap makes:
Methane gas detection much easier
Assessing the condition of the cap easier and more effective
It's possible to find damage caused by the roots of woody vegetation
It's possible to find exposed waste from toppled trees
It is generally much less expensive to maintain the vegetation than to repair the cap after discovering problems caused by erosion or roots.
Storm Water Systems Maintenance and Repair
Hydroseeding
Hydroseeding is another service Opterra provides to landfill management companies. When erosion is discovered, or repairs have been made, Opterra is often called on to hydroseed affected areas. This process helps to establish desirable vegetation quickly and prevents continued or repeated repair issues.
In addition to Hydroseeding, Opterra offers a broad array of other erosion control methods. These methods include:
Installation of seed and straw mats
Installation of Rip Rap and Rock
Installation of Silt Fencing
Other stormwater control devices
Vegetation Management with Herbicides
One of the tools that Opterra uses to maintain vegetation effectively is through the use of herbicides. Many landfills choose to use only mechanical methods to control vegetation at landfill sites but the use of herbicides to supplement mechanical methods is a perfectly viable option. Incorporating herbicide applications as another tool for safe, efficient, and cost-effective vegetation management is something that each landfill owner should consider.
Graveled lots, roadbeds, fence lines, and rail spurs are examples of areas where total vegetation control is often desirable. Our “bare ground” applications eliminate to control weeds mechanically while protecting the environment. All of the herbicides used by Opterra have been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use at landfills.
Caps and other areas where maintaining turfgrass is a benefit from herbicide applications that remove weeds and undesirable vegetation. These applications not only remove undesirable vegetation, but they also promote the growth of desirable low growing grasses. Certain herbicide applications can regulate the growth of these grasses and create a denser ground cover. Through the use of herbicides, customers benefit from cost savings due to a reduced mowing cycle. In some cases, mowing becomes unnecessary.