The Conestoga Landfill, under the direction of Republic Services, is working to get all state and local permits for all remaining cells and land development, said Engineer Gene Bonner at the final 2012 Citizens Advisory Council meeting, held at the landfill’s adminstration building. Plans are being made to move the leachate storage tanks to the eastern area of the landfill near Quarry Road. Each tank holds about 1.2 million gallons. The treatment process will change and it will be managed by Conestoga Landfill employees rather than being outsourced as it is currently. The new procedure will blend old and new technologies. Certain types of microbes are cultivated which feed on chemicals in the leachate. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources prefers that the tanks should only be 25% full. When the leachate treatment system breaks down, the leachate is trucked to the Exeter Treatment plant.

Presently the system is shut down until a very expensive electric switch, costing $15,000, is replaced. Bonner said the landfill wants to get the bid packages out by the end of February.

“By the end of April the bids should be in. We do not have to always take the lowest bids because these are not municipal or public contracts. No one works in secrecy. We will tell you anything you want to know. You have a right to know what is going on.