Waste Management Fined $500K For Bucks County Landfill Violations

Waste Management, Inc. is facing a more than half-million dollar penalty for violations at three of its Bucks County landfills, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Monday.

The $528,000 penalty is being assessed for odor nuisance and leachate storage violations at three landfills in lower Bucks County.

The $528,000 Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty is to resolve penalty liability related to the “frequent and recurring” offsite odor nuisances experienced by Florence, N.J. residents as a result of operations at the Tullytown Landfill, as well as leachate storage violations that occurred at all three of the landfills, the DEP said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the other two landfills involved in the violations are in Falls Township.

“Landfill leachate is a liquid, primarily from precipitation, that has permeated or drained through solid waste and must be treated onsite or transported to a treatment facility,” the DEP said.

“We received and verified complaints regarding offsite odors from Tullytown Landfill throughout a period from September 2014 through May 2015, despite efforts undertaken by the operator in an attempt to control and minimize their occurrence,” said DEP Southeast Regional Director Cosmo Servidio.

“The number and persistence of the offsite odors warranted a civil penalty,” Servidio said.

In addition, Waste Management was assessed a penalty for the storage of excessive amounts of leachate for unacceptable durations throughout the period of January 2013 through May 2015 at all three landfills.

“The storage violations resulted from Waste Management, Inc.’s inability to manage the leachate generated by the three landfills by its approved leachate treatment methods and necessitated the hauling of leachate to offsite treatment facilities in order to come into compliance,” the DEP said.

DEP recently renewed the Tullytown Landfill solid waste permit for a period for two years but after that, the facility must close.

“Public concerns regarding odor, noise, bird and aesthetic nuisances, received primarily from New Jersey residents were a significant factor in the DEP decision to limit waste disposal operations to no more than two years,” said Servidio.