June 9, 2009:
An issue has recently been brought to SWANA’s attention by Stella Miller, President of
the Huntington Audubon Society, regarding birds of prey sustaining injury or perishing at
landfills when coming in contact with landfill gas flares.
SWANA’s 14th Annual Landfill Symposium and Planning & Management Conference,
held in Savannah, GA, June 1-4, 2009, presented an opportunity to discuss this issue
with SWANA members, representing solid waste professionals from across the country
and around the globe. This issue was placed on the agenda for SWANA’s Landfill
Management Technical Division and SWANA’s Planning and Management Technical
Division.
Following discussions with both Technical Divisions, an ad hoc raptor committee was
formed to identify steps that SWANA can recommend to the landfill managers to protect
birds of prey from potential harm caused by landfill gas flares. A member of the raptor
committee immediately contacted the Carolina Raptor Center, an organization
dedicated to environmental stewardship and the conservation of birds of prey through
education, research and the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors.
Waste disposed in landfills generates landfill gas - roughly half of which is methane -
through the process of waste decomposition. Methane is a green house gas, which,
according to the US EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program, is 20 times as potent as
carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. In
order to prevent this gas from being released into the atmosphere it is becoming
common to use landfill gas as a fuel source to generate green electricity.
If a landfill does not produce enough landfill gas to make the capital investment required
for a green energy project feasible then another option is to burn off the landfill gas in a
device known as a flare. Some flares burn intermittently while others burn continuously.
Flares are also used in conjunction with green energy projects as a safety measure,
should the production of electricity be interrupted.
Flares are often the tallest point at a landfill, presenting an attractive option for birds of
prey as a place to perch. If a bird of prey is perched on a flare when the flare ignites, the
birds can be seriously injured and sometimes killed. SWANA’s raptor committee has
identified a number of documented instances where birds of prey have perished or were
injured in this manner and will conduct more research to understand and quantify this
problem.
The raptor committee has determined that the following preliminary options represent a
starting point in the development of a solution to this issue:
- Make the landfill gas flare “perch” as uncomfortable as possible for the birds. Make it a
rounded or cone shaped slippery piece of metal that the birds can’t grab a hold of.
- Add metal deterrent spokes to the flare outlet constructed from heat resistant materials.
- Create other more attractive perches that are more appealing than the landfill gas
“perches” are. Raptors are territorial and if one is established, another bird will not try to
encroach on its territory. The preferred perch should be 50 to 100 feet away from the
gas “perch”.
- Include the area near the landfill gas flare as part of the vector and bird control
measures that are already being used at the landfill. Standard bird control measures for
landfills include blank firing pistols, eliminating nearby food sources, bird scaring
kites/balloons, and automated loud sound devices. Develop a “Birds of Prey Protection
Committee” for your landfill. It is likely that your community already has a local chapter
of the Audubon Society or similar organization with knowledgeable and committed
individuals who can provide local guidance and assistance.
SWANA, The Huntington Audubon Society and the Carolina
Raptor Center will continue
to work together to identify options which will address this
issue. It is SWANA’s goal to
provide pragmatic and constructive input that can be used by
manufacturers of flares
and operators of landfills to allow them to continue to
manage solid waste in the most
environmentally responsible manner while protecting birds of
prey.