sun country materials landfill Waste Disposal, Diversion and Recycling

Sun Country Materials , along with our parent company, Waste Connections, supports sustainability efforts across the company and the communities we serve. We recognize the importance of continuing efforts to minimize our impact on the environment by: encouraging materials recycling and reuse; using waste to generate clean, renewable energy; reducing our carbon footprint and use of fossil fuels; and exploring alternatives to land disposal. Sun Country Materials recycles methane associated with the decomposition of organic material in the landfill. While construction and demolition debris does not generate very much methane as compared to municipal solid waste, Sun Country Materials uses this captured fuel to destroy carbon dioxide and compounds that can be a potential source of odors at the facility. Sun Country Materials has been very cooperative with conservation efforts in the immediate area incorporating, within its development plan, approximately 200 plus acres of property to act as natural buffers Our well maintained land hosts various forms of wildlife including , various species of birds observed at the site include; blue herons, ducks, roseate spoon bills, hawks, kestrels, etc.. Sun Country, as part of their Natural Resources Permit, manages two Kestrel nesting boxes for local population on the eastern property buffer.

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The Sun Country Materials facility design and related environmental protection systems meet all state and federal regulations. The Sun Country Materials Facility encompasses a total of approximately 450 acres of land, which includes approximately 126 acres that were permitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for the disposal of C&D debris. Of the 126 acres, the initial 36 acres permitted in 1991 and filled consist of an unlined disposal area. This 36-acre disposal area was certified as closed by FDEP in 2009. An additional approximate 55-acres of disposal area was permitted for C&D debris disposal in 2005. This additional permitted area (referred to as the Phase I Expansion) is constructed to include high density polyethylene (HDPE) bottom liner system. Leachate (liquid, i.e., rain that percolates through the C&D debris) is collected on top of this liner system. Any liquids percolating through the debris flows through a geotextile filter fabric and sand drainage layer to the lowest portion of the disposal cell where it is collected and pumped to on-site temporary leachate storage bladders. Leachate is then conveyed via force main to one or two of the Hillsborough County wastewater treatment facilities for treatment.

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To help ensure the integrity of the facility’s containment system, twenty-five(25) groundwater monitoring wells are strategically placed throughout the site to ensure that facility operations do not affect groundwater quality. Sun Country Materials follows an aggressive capping schedule to control rain infiltration, erosion and to control potential odors from decomposing organic materials. A combination of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) liners, drainage materials and geotextiles are used to cap and seal the facility as it is filled to design grades. Soil and sod are then placed above the synthetic capping system. Active gas collection is not required under FDEP rules; however, Sun Country Materials has permitted (via FDEP) gas collection and destruction devices and incorporates these control features into the capping design for the facility. Though very little gas volume is created versus the amount created at a putrescible landfill, gas at C&D disposal facilities can contain high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which has a very pungent “rotten egg” odor even at very low concentrations. H2S concentrations at the Sun Country Materials perimeter checkpoints are very low, if detectable at all, because our gas extraction features allows us to draw H2S by vacuum and destroy it at a flare that uses the methane component of the captured gas as fuel.