Jun. 23, 2025
Machinery
According to the Waste Business Journal’s Waste Market Overview & Outlook, from through , the projected landfill capacity across the United States will decline by approximately 15%. As a result, by the end of , only 17 years of landfill capacity is projected to remain—with less than ten years of space remaining in the Northeast region. Considering the lengthy, arduous, and expensive tasks associated with siting and permitting new landfill space, extending the lifespan of current landfills has become a high priority. In addition, landfills must also overcome some of the most common challenges that impact efficiency, safety and profitability.
Most landfill managers consider airspace a valuable asset of their site and one they must protect. For decades, waste compaction has been the primary strategy to maximize airspace and retain the most value from it.
The compaction process is simple: an operator drives a large, steel-wheeled machine back and forth over mountains of trash, using the machine’s weight to compress the waste below. However, the compactor’s effectiveness will often vary due to fluctuating waste types and shifts in moisture content. In addition, the compactor’s weight can sometimes be inadequate to break down bulky waste like mattresses, furniture, and household appliances. As a result, many U.S. landfills have begun seeking additional solutions to enable more efficient processing of bulky waste while increasing airspace recovery.
Since early , the waste and recycling industry has had to absorb some of the most extreme surges in fuel prices in recent years, with no significant end in sight. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, from October to June , retail prices for diesel fuel rose by approximately 240%. As a result, many landfill operations have seen facility fuel expenses skyrocket.
When bulky waste is not adequately size-reduced before final landfill disposal, the number of passes a compactor must make increases. The more passes, the more fuel used—not to mention the added equipment operator time and machine wear and tear. Additionally, bulky waste can further drive fuel expenses upward due to debris clinging to and wrapping around a compactor’s moving parts.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) governs solid waste disposal in the United States. Subtitle D of the RCRA requires solid waste disposal operations to apply an alternate daily cover (that they don’t always have) to active landfill cells to help contain waste, control odors, minimize animal scavengers and reduce fire risk. When bulky waste isn’t compacted well or reduced enough, landfills are usually forced to use additional daily cover to prevent waste exposure. Daily cover expenses are further increased by associated fuel and labor costs.
As part of Subtitle D requirements, landfills must also install composite liners in cells to prevent toxic leachate fluid from seeping into and polluting the surrounding soil and groundwater. According to MSW Management, more than six billion gallons of leachate are generated annually in landfills in the U.S.
Despite their protective defense, leachate liners can also be susceptible to accidental punctures or tears when underprocessed, sharp-edged bulky waste is placed in a cell. Once this happens, a liner’s impermeability is compromised, and leakage risks are drastically increased.
Landfill owners know that bulky waste can consume valuable time and space at their facilities. However, many landfills miss out on lost revenue by burying this commodity-rich waste. In addition, materials found in bulky waste are not only recyclable but have tremendous market value when properly separated and recycled.
Most bulky and C&D waste is rich in recyclable commodities like ferrous iron and steel, non-ferrous aluminum, and wood. Recovering these recyclable resources can open new revenue streams for landfills as market demand grows due to volatile fluctuations in virgin material costs and supply.
Landfills are now solving these bulky waste challenges with the help of purpose-built size and volume reduction technology. For example, low-speed, high-torque shredding is an efficient method to reduce the material size and increase the bulk density of solid waste. In addition, the low-speed shredding process helps break up valuable recyclables like metals and wood from other low-recovery materials like plastics which typically are buried in the landfill.
“To maximize landfill airspace and reduce costs, volume reduction best practices must be learned and implemented, especially with bulky waste,” says Garrett Lapsys, Midwest U.S. Area Sales Manager at Viably (formerly Komptech Americas). “The Komptech Terminator single-shaft industrial shredder is a proven size reduction technology solution that enables landfills to optimize production easily.”
One of the immediate and significant impacts landfills realize from combining low-speed shredding with compaction is the airspace reclamation within cells. Shredding bulky waste before it is compacted allows the oversized and oddly shaped materials to be broken apart, reduced, and homogenized in size. In addition, pre-shredding enables the compactor to do its job much more efficiently, reducing the number of passes by up to half. As a result, landfill airspace is maximized while compactor usage and fuel costs are reduced.
Shredding bulky waste with a low-speed machine like the Komptech Terminator creates a more uniform product entering the landfill. Shredding also reduces bulky waste to a fraction of its original size, ensuring materials are more densely packed in the cell, eliminating air voids. Additional benefits of shredding bulky waste include decreased daily cover amounts, reduced daily cover application times, and lessened risk of puncture to the cell liner.
Manually separating and recovering metals from incoming waste can be tedious and hazardous, leading to valuable commodities being missed and buried. The Komptech Terminator single-shaft shredder automates the process with an optional overbelt magnet. Regardless of the slope of the conveyor, the magnet provides parallel positioning over the discharge conveyor, delivering optimal metal separation in all working positions.
On August 25, at the Environment, Energy & Recycling Conference in Gatlinburg, TN, Garrett Lapsys of Viably (fomerly Komptech Americas) will deliver an informative presentation on recommended best practices and technology steps for landfills to streamline bulky waste processing.
Link to SVL
Further reading:“Although landfill operations are faced with several challenges, there is still a significant opportunity to profit from streamlining their process,” says Lapsys. “Staying aware of adapting market trends by leveraging advanced shredding technologies will be vital for landfills to capitalize airspace and profitability in the future.”
We invite you to join Garrett Lapsys in the exhibit booth at the Environment, Energy & Recycling Conference . Throughout the event, attendees can speak one-on-one with Lapsys to discover how Komptech industrial shredding technologies deliver more efficient bulky waste size and volume reduction at lower costs.
For more about the Environment, Energy & Recycling Conference , hosted by the Tennessee Recycling Coalition and Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, visit https://www.tnrecycles.com.
Wednesday, August 24, – 5:00 PM–6:30 PM
Thursday, August 25, – 7:30 AM–3:30 PM
Friday, August 26, – 7:30 AM–10:00 AM
Every company needs technology to succeed, especially in the modern world. Numerous advantages of technology aid in streamlining daily tasks and improving client experiences and services, which boosts revenue and profitability.
Businesses have the option of maintaining an efficient and effective workflow by storing the majority of their information in one platform. On the longevity of the hard disks people have in their computers, though, one cannot trust. Odds are, if the company’s data volume increases, they’ll need to replace these outdated hard discs or heaps of paperwork.
A shredding company may seem like a huge project to invest in, yet it will undoubtedly benefit the company in the long term. Companies not investing in a shredding company don’t adhere to data protection laws, which results in lawsuits. It is especially economical for firms that handle a lot of confidential information, such as law firms, hospitals, and governmental archives.
If you are looking to invest some funds, here are some reasons why investing in a shredding service can be beneficial for you:
If you are investing in a shredding service, it will automatically give off an image of an environmentally cautious brand that is working toward a sustainable lifestyle. This improves the image of your company, and more clients are attracted to working with such companies.
Companies who invest in shredding companies do not have to outsource the paper shredders anymore and waste big bucks. Instead, they can do the shredding for free and get additional profit by doing it for others.
Old systems and storage devices take up a lot of room in the workplace. By investing in a shredding service, one can spare valuable space and use it for various things.
Moreover, investing money in shredding reduces the possibility that this material will be used for risky activities. Companies should therefore seize this wonderful chance to stop future catastrophes.
Above all else, a data leak could cause the clients to lose faith in the company. Even if the consumers enjoy doing business with the company, they could quickly lose trust if their personal data is exposed.
Clients want to collaborate with companies that rigorously adhere to the data deletion procedure to safeguard their personal details. One may maintain solid relations with customers, staff members, collaborators, suppliers, as well as other data-exchanging stakeholders in this manner.
Several companies in today’s modern data-driven society use the information for their personal benefit. This is the reason privacy laws are so important in today’s society. Since shredding is the need of the hour, an investment in this type of business guarantees profits, as companies have to adhere to all compliance rules to secure customers’ private information.
If you are convinced on investing in a shredding service, then start your research for a company that follows all the legal rules and regulations as well as ensures safe disposal.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Solid Waste Shredder.
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