Acquisition of 260 acres will extend landfill's life In an effort to extend the life of the Monmouth County Reclamation Center, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has approved the acquisition of 260 acres that includes the former Shrewsbury Disposal Landfill, which sits adjacent to the county's existing 900-acre reclamation center in Tinton Falls. According to a press release, the county's plan is to convert an existing environmental liability into a state-ofthe art sanitary landfill. The county will mine the trash at the unlined 60-acre Shrewsbury Disposal Landfill and place it in the county's existing landfill at the reclamation center. Once emptied of the household waste, the county will pre- pare the Shrewsbury landfill site for reuse by properly installing a sand layer base, double composite liners, a leak detection system and a recovery system for landfill gases. It is estimated the acquisition alone will provide a guarantee for waste disposal in Monmouth County for 10 to 12 years. The reclamation center has about 18 years of usable space left now. "This acquisition will allow us to clean and properly close the Shrewsbury landfill, protecting the Shark River watershed from hazards posed by an unlined landfill," Freeholder Director William C. Barham said. "Furthermore, it will extend the life of the reclamation center, giving Monmouth County taxpayers predictability with regard to the cost of waste disposal for the next 25 years at least." The former Shrewsbury Disposal Landfill operated from 1963 to 1981 and has been owned by W.S.C.T. Falls of South Brunswick since 1986. In exchange for getting the property at no cost, the county will take the lead to ensure that the cleanup of the site is done correctly and that all remediation efforts are completed in accordance with current requirements of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), according to the press release. The DEP will review and approve the county's remediation design, which will address the control and monitoring of water runoff through appropriate storm water basins and discharge areas. As part of the agreement, W.S.C.T. Falls will be responsible for up to $1.9 million of costs associated with the discovery and disposal of material that cannot be relocated to the existing county landfill. W.S.C.T. Falls' financial obligation will be supported by a $1.9 million letter of credit. The transfer of title is subject to execution of a settlement agreement with the DEP that would bar the DEP from seeking pollution damages from the county related to the old landfill, according to the press release. The former Shrewsbury Disposal Landfill is currently included on the DEP's list of non-operating landfill sites with possible ground water impact. The county will monitor the environmental conditions throughout the cleanup and re-use process to eliminate any future potential for impact. It is cheaper for the county to operate its own landfill than it is to ship household waste out of state, said Larry Zaayenga, the county's solid waste disposal coordinator. Residents here generate some 2,000 tons of trash every day, equal to about 100 truckloads of garbage. "From an economic standpoint, selfsufficiency in terms of the county operating its own landfill is much cheaper than shipping out of state," Zaayenga said. "Furthermore, the county has a 20- year recycling history that limits the flow of waste into this landfill by removing as many recyclables as possible, and we continue to look for ways to do more recycling. We believe there are many more materials that residents can recycle each day that could go a long way in helping to extend the life of the landfill even more." "With the acquisition of this old landfill, Monmouth County will not only protect the environment, but the county now has a plan to meet its trash disposal needs for the next 25 to 30 years," Barham said.