Sanitary landfill for Lethem
DPI, Guyana, Monday, February 11, 2019
The controlled landfill facility at Lethem, Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo (Region 9) will soon be transformed into a sanitary landfill site; Senior Environmental Engineer attached to the Ministry of Communities, Satrohan Nauth disclosed recently.
During a recent visit, Nauth told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the ministry will be crafting a design for the new site.
The sanitary landfill will allow for leacher treatment as is done at the Haags Bosch landfill facility at Eccles, East Bank Demerara. He said, however, that with Lethem being hot, and with inorganic waste such cardboard, plastic bottles and cans there are a minimal number of leaches.
The Ministry of Communities has collaborated with the Lethem Town Council to manage and operate the landfill site. The contractor, International Imports and Exports collects, compacts and covers the waste daily. The 18-month contract $31M is expected to come to an end by the end of July.
Alexis Rodney.
Images: Karime Peters.
Editor’s Note: For the leacher system/leachate collection system, the bottom of each landfill is typically designed so that the bottom surface of the landfill is sloped to a low point, called a sump. This is where any liquids that are trapped inside the landfill — known in the waste industry as leachate — are collected and removed from the landfill.
The leachate collection system typically consists of a series of perforated pipes, gravel packs and a layer of sand or gravel placed in the bottom of the landfill. Once the leachate is removed from the sump, it is typically pumped or gravity-flowed to a holding tank or pond, where it is either treated on site or hauled off-site to a public or private wastewater treatment facility.