Newby Island landfill

The Newby Island Landfill (NISL) is one of the largest active dumps on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. It is located in Santa Clara County, California in the United States. The site is located within the City of San José at the western terminus of Dixon Landing Road. The address is 1601 Dixon Landing Road, Milpitas. Although the address and public street access to the site are both in the City of Milpitas, the landfill property is entirely within the City of San Jose.[1] Newby Island Landfill has a length of 5.07 kilometers.[2] It is located West of the City of Milpitas near Dixion Landing Road and 880. It is the terminus for waste for all of San Jose(62%), Santa Clara(14%), Milpitas (10%), Cupertino (5%), Los Altos (2%) and other cities (7%). The 342 acre pile is still at least a few feet from its permitted height of 150 feet. The landfill is an island surrounded by a levee which keeps its runoff from directly entering the bay, and the water that drains from it is treated in the dump's own treatment plant. Electricity for the dump is generated by burning the methane collected from the decomposition of the waste. Dried sewage sludge from the nearby San Jose Treatment Plant is the material used as cover, mixed in with the trash, blending San Jose's waste streams. It is operated by Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), which, along with Waste Management Incorporated, transports and disposes of most of the household trash in the United States.[3]

Materials that pass through the gate of NISL include waste that is disposed in the landfill; clean soil that is used for cover and for temporary roadways; construction and demolition (C&D) debris that is sorted, recycled, and processed for re-use both on-site and elsewhere; and materials that are used for alternative daily cover (ADC), which include but are not limited to biosolids, processed C&D debris, contaminated soil, green waste, and organic material from the on-site composting operations. In addition to C&D waste, bulky recyclables including appliances, tires, carpet, and cardboard are sent to NISL and either are recycled or diverted for beneficial use. Incoming organics received at the landfill are processed (i.e.,ground) and utilized as mulch for erosion control on-site and alternative daily cover or are sent off-site to be used as biofuel, for erosion control, or as a soil additive.[4]

The entire site is now called the Newby Island Resource Recovery Park.[5] The site includes both the Newby Island Landfill and the Recyclery.

History

The Newby Island landfill opened around 1930.[6] It operated as an open burning dump until 1956 when it became a landfill.

In 1968, it was annexed into the city of San Jose.[4]

Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) of Northern California began operation of this site late in 1973.[7]

In 1994, a settlement agreement between the City of Milpitas, City of San Jose, Browning-Ferris Industries, and the International Disposal Company of California. This agreement resulted in some odor mitigation strategies which included relocation of the composting area to the western most section of the landfill to reduce the odor impact.[8]

In 1999, BFI was sold to Allied Industries. In 2008, Allied Waste was acquired by Republic Services Group based in Florida.

In August 2012, Republic Services announced the Newby Island Resource Recovery Park located on the same site, the world’s largest recycling operation. It processes up to 110 tons per hour of multiple waste streams. The facility will process all of the commercial waste generated by businesses in San Jose. Newby Island houses the local hauling company, recyclery, composting facility and landfill.[9]

In 2014, Allied Waste submitted a permit to increase the capacity enough to hold 245 towering feet msl of trash from the current allowed height of 150 feet. The capacity would increase from 50.8 million cubic yards to 65.9 million cubic yards. The new closure date would be 2041.[4]

Current Permit (1997) Proposed Permit (2014)[4]
Design Capacity 50.8 Million Cubic Yards 65.9 Million Cubic Yards
Maximum Elevation 150 Feet Above Mean Sea Level 245 Feet
Estimated Closure Date 2025 2041
Permitted Disposal Area 308 acres 298 acres
Permitted Traffic Volume Equivalent of 4,000 Tons per Day 1,269 waste vehicles per day (does not include

employees, visitors, vendors, regulatory personnel)

References

  1. ↑ "AIR QUALITY IMPACT ANALYSIS AND AIR TOXICS RISK ASSESSMENT FOR PROPOSED LANDFILL PROJECT NEWBY ISLAND SANITARY LANDFILL MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  2. ↑ "Newby Island Landfill". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. ↑ http://clui.org/ludb/site/newby-island-landfill. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Permitting & Assistance Branch Staff Report" (PDF). January 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ "newbyisland.com".
  6. ↑ "Republic services". Retrieved 2015-01-07.
  7. ↑ "calrecycle.ca.gov" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  8. ↑ "RE: DEIR for the Newby Island Rezoning Pro,ject - PDC07-07l" (PDF). November 5, 2009.
  9. ↑ http://www.bulkhandlingsystems.com/republic-services-opens-worlds-largest-material-recovery-facility/. Retrieved 23 December 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

  1. CalRecycle Page on the Newby Island Site: Coordinates: 37°27′32″N 121°56′39″W / 37.458916°N 121.944038°W / 37.458916; -121.944038http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/SWFacilities/Directory/43-AN-0017/Detail/
  2. Republic Services site on Newby: http://www.republicservices.com/site/santa-clara-ca/en/pages/newby-island-resource-recovery-park.aspx
  3. Republic Services fact site on Newby: http://newbyislandfacts.com/
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