Approximately 1,500 Acres in the U.S. Capped with ClosureTurf
Atlanta, Ga. – January 17, 2019 – A leader in civil engineering and erosion control technologies, Watershed Geo today celebrates the ten-year anniversary of its first ClosureTurf® landfill installation.
ClosureTurf is an engineered landfill closure system that was designed to address the environmental and performance failures of traditional vegetated landfill closures. To date, ClosureTurf spans approximately 1,500 acres of closure, safely and effectively reducing the environmental impact of landfills across the United States.
While prescriptive soil covers have been the industry standard for over thirty years, their history of poor performance and high maintenance costs led to a demand for a more advanced solution. Watershed Geo was created to respond to the need for innovation and world-class engineering to solve this decades-old problem.
“ClosureTurf has solved a problem that has plagued the industry for decades,” said CEO Mike Ayers. “This innovative and expertly engineered solution for landfill closure outperforms traditional closure methods in every category. It addresses landfill stability and erosion problems by providing a long-lasting, geotechnically stable and environmentally friendly final cover system that significantly reduces maintenance costs,” continued Ayers.
Over the last decade, ClosureTurf and its customers across the United States have been recognized with awards from many industry organizations, including the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), the Solid Waste Association of America (SWANA), American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).
ClosureTurf is superior to other landfill closure options because of its patented system comprised of a structured geomembrane, an engineered turf, and a specified infill. The system features best-in-class materials, including Agru’s structured geomembrane that excels in drainage and stability. Additionally, a patented gas collection system, when required, offers many other performance and cost advantages. ClosureTurf was developed to last more than 100 years with very little maintenance. Specifically, ClosureTurf has set technical performance milestones in many facets of landfill construction and operations. Some of those include:
- Installs at least twice as fast as traditional vegetated covers
- Has reduced the production of leachate by approximately 100,000,000 gallons on larger projects due to a faster closure timeline
- Saves approximately 550 truck trips (275 round-trips) of soil per acre which prevents land destruction of offsite borrow sources and keeps community roads safe
- Eliminates a two-foot soil layer that can provide more than 80,000 cubic yards of potential air space for a typical 25-acre project
- Reduces the carbon footprint by approximately 80 percent (210,000 kg of CO² per acre) when compared with traditional soil/vegetative covers
- Sites have experienced 90 percent reduction in turbidity resulting in cleaner water
- ClosureTurf has survived multiple weather events with no erosion damage, including a record 500-year rain event in Pensacola, Florida
- Reduces long-term maintenance activities by over 90 percent compared to a traditional soil cover
“Watershed Geo is setting the standard for landfill closure and erosion control with products that are achieving outcomes beyond anything else that exists in the industry today,” said Ayers. “As a result, ClosureTurf has been selected to remediate numerous industrial sites, including a 200-acre EPA superfund site.”
Over the last ten years, Watershed Geo and its team of talented engineers has expanded the company’s geosynthetic solutions to provide civil as well as environmental applications for erosion control, soil stabilization and waste containment. Products include HydroTurf®, an advanced revetment technology for high hydraulic shear protection and VersaCap®, an intermediate, wind- and erosion-resistant cover that supports gas collection efficiency at landfill sites.
Later this year, the company will launch a unique approach to maximizing solar collection at landfills and impoundments that combines the most advanced, proven panel technology with a rackless, direct surface attachment system that can be used on the top decks and side slopes of a ClosureTurf foundation. The unique approach increases the power output by as much a three times per unit area.
“We are proud of our contributions to the industry and look forward to working with customers to demonstrate the value of our solutions in the years ahead,” concluded Ayers.
About Watershed Geosynthetics, LLC
Watershed Geo is an environmental and civil solutions company offering a broad range of products for landfill management and erosion control. Through best-in-class materials and extreme engineering, Watershed Geo products deliver improved performance and reduced environmental impact while limiting the long-term costs associated with landfill management and revetment projects. The company is headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga. and can be found on the web at WatershedGeo.com and on LinkedIn.