Item Photo By OWEN O’ROURKE
Director of Public Health in Marblehead Andrew Petty with the $23 million landfill capping project directly behind him.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
MARBLEHEAD — Landfill capping continues to progress in Marblehead and is expected to be completed by June, according to the town’s director of public health.
Andrew Petty, director of public health, said the $23 million project will include the demolition of the current transfer station, located at 5 Woodfin Terrace, and the construction of a new transfer station on the same site. He said the landfill capping or closure, which accounts for about $16 million and is the first phase of the project, will be approximately completed by June. He said about 95 percent of the excavation has been completed.
Petty said the landfill capping began in August 2014. He also said the town’s existing landfill was constructed in the beginning of the 1930’s and the incinerator was constructed in 1950. From 1930 to 1950, there was open pit burning, with material brought on site, burned and placed in the landfill.
Petty added that “back in the day,” some products contained lead and other heavy metals and those burned items have long-term environmental impacts.
“All of the ash from the incinerator was left on site and placed in the landfill,” Petty said.
In the early 2000’s, the town entered into a consent decree with the state Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to cap and close the landfill.
“The consent decree would be that we would begin the process to close the landfill,” Petty said.
If the town didn’t comply with the consent decree, the daily fine would have been $2,000. Before the capping, Petty said the town hasn’t “landfilled material since essentially 1975.”
To close the landfill, the waste material is gathered in from around the edges. Then the material is piled up and shapes the landfill and the whole thing is covered with heavy duty plastic. The soil is covered on top of that and grass is planted,according to Petty.
The second phase, regarding the new transfer station, will begin after the landfill capping is completed. With the capped landfill, Petty said there would be a large area available for yard waste, recycling, swap shop and the new transfer station building. The current building is from 1950.
Petty said the new transfer station building was designed by Winter Street Architects. He said the town won’t go out to bid until July and will be looking for a Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAM) certified developer.
Petty explained that the completion of the landfill capping was increased by almost a year, as “we’ve run into a lot of additional waste.” The original budget for the landfill capping phase was $10.5 million. An additional $8 million was approved for the entire project at Town Meeting.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]