Client
Waste Management, Inc.
Owner
Waste Management of Fairless, LLC
Location
Bucks County, PA
CEC Services
- Construction Quality Assurance
- As-built Surveys
- Construction Surveys/Staking
- Topographic Surveys
- Volumetric Surveys
Owner Objective
Waste Management, Inc. (WMI), the largest solid waste company in North America, is the parent of Waste Management of Fairless, LLC (WMF). WMF is developing and operates the Fairless Landfill (Fairless), located in Falls Township.
The regulatory permit issued for Fairless requires that all construction be certified under a very comprehensive third-party Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) program. Fairless is a new municipal waste landfill, consisting of 330 acres of permit area, with 197 acres developed as contiguous double-lined waste disposal cells. The landfill consists of 14 cells, with a total disposal capacity of 50 million tons.
The Fairless Landfill facility is being developed on property that was formerly a part of the US Steel Fairless Works steel mill. The property had no active steelmaking operations after closure of the mill and was “reclaimed” in accordance with the Land Recycling Program (Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Act 2).
CEC Approach
In various roles and at various other firms, the CEC Philadelphia office senior management team has provided engineering, CQA, and certification- and design-related services for the WMF complex since 1982. With this experience, CEC had a very good understanding of the client needs and expectations. CEC has been providing CQA and engineering services related to the certification of construction of landfill waste disposal cells and appurtenant facilities at Fairless on a continuous basis since the start of construction in 2015.
CEC maintained an open channel of communication with the owner project and operations managers. Due to being directly involved in all of the client’s meetings and site visits with regulatory agencies, CEC managers and staff developed a good working relationship with regulatory personnel.
CEC staff focused on details of the construction and the required specifications to meet permit requirements. Components have included double-composite liner systems, Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) perimeter berm structures, soils and geosynthetic materials field and laboratory testing, record documentation survey services, and contractor coordination. CEC recommended alternate details and procedures, as appropriate, to address issues that may arise during construction. CEC also provided project management support and developed
detailed daily summaries.
The facility continues to be developed at an accelerated construction schedule. The cell construction projects have been completed and PADEP has approved the CEC certifications to provide the required new disposal areas on schedule.
