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History Channel To Feature Polk Landfill Bioreactor

Posted Oct 13, 2008 by Jennifer Leigh

Updated Oct 13, 2008 at 10:00 AM

It turns out one man’s wastewater is another man’s cable television feature. The History Channel show “Modern Marvels” will showcase Polk County’s North Central Landfill’s bioreactor at 8 tonight.

To fully understand how the bioreactor program works, you first have to understand a little bit about landfills.  Here’s the deal. Rainfall that seeps through the waste in a landfill is called leachate.  By regulation it has to be contained and treated as wastewater.  The bioreactor collects the leachate and pumps it back into the landfill waste, which in turn makes the waste decompose faster.  That increases landfill capacity, makes more space for waste and ultimately saves money.

Officials say that since 2000, the bioreactor has saved the residents of Polk County approximately $2.5 million.  Until 2000, Polk County was paying $1.5 million to $3 million every year to haul 10 million to 15 million gallons of leachate water to a wastewater plant for treatment.

In just eight years the bioreactor program has been deemed a huge success.  It is credited with cutting leachate disposal costs in half. Researchers say Polk’s program has become a model for the state and the nation.