OAL Welcomes Employees to Bi-annual Summit
By Nikil Patel, Business Services Administrator
The management team at Olinda Alpha Landfill held the bi-annual Employee Summit (ES) June 25-26, uniting employees to discuss and review past, current, and future endeavors. The summit started with a welcome message and an overview of the importance behind our ES by Deputy Director Jorge Hernandez, who provided updates on landfill direction and opportunities. Following Jorge, Nikil Patel, Business Services Administrator, Jim Markham, Site Superintendent, Samir Kaleem, Sr Civil Engineer, and John Powers, Sr Project Manager all provided updates from their sections. Each presentation included posters illustrating pertinent information providing the audience visuals and metrics covering operational, safety, and other important topics.
Nikil spoke on the current tonnage volume as it compares to last year. He also spoke about the importance of recycling metals and mattresses and the great job the staff is doing. He mentioned an interesting fact regarding the number of mattresses we recycled since the start of the program. Just based on the number of units that Olinda has recycled, you would be able to stretch them end to end from the California / Mexico border to just north of Napa Valley!
Next, Jim started off on the importance of safety at our landfill. He informed the staff that we are doing better in overall safety practices, but we can always do better. He spoke about how our incident rate is lower this year versus last year. He had shown how SPOT checks are used by supervision to ensure the work they do is being performed in a safe manner. He highlighted observations that included Safe Work Practices, Demonstrates Skills, and Proper PPE to mention a few. Jim encouraged the team to continue using safe practices, especially as our landfill continues to shrink. Lastly, Jim provided updates on the current fill sequence and future fill areas and its continuous collaboration with site engineers to ensure we are building the most efficient fills based on our shrinking fill areas.
After Jim, Samir showcased how the engineering team has been using drone technology over the past few years to enhance operations. Samir started out showing a map of the landfill that was taken by a vendor flying an airplane and then reproducing the image onto paper. He explained the cost was approximately $10,000 -$20,000 for each flight. This became very expensive since the landfill topography changes rapidly throughout the year and not having an up-to-date map can hinder operations. That is when the use of drones started. We started with a basic drone that took several pictures of the landfill and along with imaging software, we were able to produce maps at any time. This first drone was approximately $3,000. A few years later, we upgraded to a new drone that would also provide better survey with a built in GPS. Our most recent drone utilizes Lidar+GPS which, provides the most accurate and detailed surveying data than ever before. Lastly, we are piloting a project that will allow us to connect this new drone to a 3-D printer that can print the landfill topography in layers. With this 3-D model, we can show how the landfill has grown from the time we opened to the current time and into the future. Imagine how helpful a 3-D model can help in planning future expansions of landfill, future lift designs, drainage plans, etc.
Lastly, John provided updates on current and future projects at the landfill including the extension of our main access road, the Valencia Greenery Covered Aeriated Static Pile (CASP) project, the new administration building project, the remodel of the locker room, and final closure design. Of these projects, the locker room remodel will be done within the next three months, the main road extension will be completed this fiscal year, and the CASP project this fiscal year pending permit.
