Retrospect: Landfill section capped

Twenty years ago this week, a section of Jay County Landfill was being capped.

The Sept. 2, 2000, edition of The Commercial Review featured a story about three firms that were hired by landfill operator Waste Management to install a plastic and earthen cover over 5 acres of the landfill.

The process, which had already been underway for more than a week, was expected to take another week or two to complete. The cover featured more than 5 feet of earthen fill, a plastic liner and a felt liner to help with drainage. It was designed keep water out of the trash beneath and control the odor of methane gas. The section had been filled earlier in 2000.

The cell was the first in Jay County to be governed under EPA regulations that were passed in the early 1990s and required specific systems of covering landfills. The new covering did not address 32 acres of the landfill that were started in 1970.

The project was unrelated to an effort to expand the landfill by 600 acres.

After closing the cell earlier in the year, Waste Management had 180 days to begin the capping process, which was handled by Taylor Geosynthetics of Danville.

The installation of the liners, which are black, was known to be extremely hot work. That was especially true in early September 2000, as temperatures rose well above 100 on the hill at the landfill.