Franklinton Landfill

Soil Cover System for Pre-Regulatory Landfill

Project Details

Sector:
Government

Location:
Franklinton, NC

Engineer:
Froehling & Robertson

Environmental Contractor:
Action Environmental LLC

Manufacturer:
Presto Geosystems

Critical Products:
GEOWEB®

Installing GEOWEB geocell over nonwoven geotextile fabric

Filling GEOWEB geocell with structural fill

GEOWEB geocell tendons, clips and ATRA Keys

Materials delivered to Franklinton Landfill project

About the Pre-Regulatory Landfill

The Franklinton City Dump is a pre-regulatory landfill located in Franklin County, North Carolina. The dump operated from sometime before 1955 until 1974 when it was formally closed.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality describes a pre-regulatory landfill as “any land area, whether publicly or privately owned, on which municipal solid waste disposal occurred prior to January 1, 1983, but not thereafter, and does not include any landfill used primarily for the disposal of industrial solid waste.”

In 2007, North Carolina law established the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Unit within the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch to address the remediation of these sites.

The Franklinton Dump covers approximately 4.9 acres and includes an inundated quarry. Single-family homes, a mobile home park and agricultural tracts surround the site.

Pre-Regulatory Landfill Remediation

Remediation of pre-regulatory landfills is thoroughly outlined by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. In short, the program includes a multi-phase approach to thoroughly access the site, analyze the findings and remediate the contaminated area.

The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program phases include:

Remedial Investigation Phase
Remedial Action Phase
Remedial Action Plan Design
Public Comment
Remedial Action Implementation

Remedial Action Phase

The goals of the Remedial Action Phase (RAP) for Franklinton Landfill included construction of erosion control measures to perform remediation, clearing the upper section of the waste disposal area, removing surface waste from the waste disposal area and inundated quarry, placement of an engineered cover system and amending the top soil to support sustainable vegetative cover.

GEOWEB Cover System

The GEOWEB® Soil Stabilization System (geocells) was recommended by Froehling and Robertson for the engineered cover system. The cellular confinement system covered the final waste area limits and “is intended to cover the waste and isolate those underlying materials from exposure, to promote uniform stormwater drainage from the waste disposal areas without ponding on their surfaces, and to resist erosion.”

The GEOWEB® Geocell System was chosen as the cover system due to its significant operational advantages:

The GEOWEB System required less construction traffic than a traditional soil system which would have required truckloads of soil to be hauled to the site.

The GEOWEB System required 60% less structural soil volume.

The volatile cost of hauling which would have inevitably affected the cost to transport cover soils, potentially negating the difference in construction cost.

The GEOWEB System can be installed faster and easier than traditional soil cover systems which saves time and allows construction timelines to be more closely adhered to.

The GEOWEB Geocell System required 60% less heavy dump truck volume resulting in less road maintenance.

Design and Installation

102,810 square feet of 4-inch GEOWEB GW30V (mid-sized geocell) was installed over an 8-ounce nonwoven geotextile fabric. The vegetated system was filled with approximately 2,320 tons of imported structural fill and covered with approximately 2,500 tons of imported topsoil.

The GEOWEB® geocell panels were connected with ATRA® Keys and secured with Woven Polyester Tendons and ATRA® Tendon Clips.