{"id":631380,"date":"2026-05-08T18:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631380\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:25:10","slug":"refuse-authority-now-using-incinerator-ash-as-daily-cover-boosting-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631380\/","title":{"rendered":"Refuse authority now using incinerator ash as daily cover, boosting revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of\u00a0our Civic Impact Reporting Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the past week, the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority has been covering deposited waste with a new medium \u2013 incinerator ash from the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a contract for three loads of LCSWMA ash a day,\u201d Skip Garner, GLRA executive director, said at Tuesday\u2019s board meeting. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a few challenges, but we believe the bugs have been worked out for us to use the ash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those challenges included a load with some waste not completely burned and another containing metal. Neither met GLRA\u2019s criteria for daily cover, so the materials were landfilled, Garner told the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe called, and LCSWMA was accommodating; they want to work with us, so we\u2019re working through the details,\u201d Garner added.<\/p>\n

GLRA had to submit a minor modification to its permit to the Department of Environmental Protection to allow the use of municipal solid waste ash as daily cover. Approval of that modification came on April 23, Garner said in his report to the board.<\/p>\n

Landfills are required to cover waste deposited daily in order to minimize odors and litter. Previously, GLRA\u2019s permit had specified use of clean fill, which had some costs associated with transporting and stockpiling the material.<\/p>\n

In contrast, GLRA is receiving 60 tons of ash per day and being paid $20 per ton by LCSWMA, Garner said in an email.<\/p>\n

GLRA saw a boost in revenues of $170,913 from the sale of carbon credits from October 2023 through June 2025. Those credits are created when the authority uses methane collected from the landfill to make electricity, Garner reported.<\/p>\n

Garner also reported that revenues from tipping fees exceeded budget by 14% in April. Volume of waste received was 12,390 tons, which was more than 850 tons in April 2025. Garner attributed the increase to commercial and construction demolition waste.<\/p>\n

In other business, GLRA announced a new name for its walking trail and disc golf course, the D.U.M.P. or Disc Utopia & Meadow Park, according to Morgan Hosler, staff engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted the name to do two things: Highlight the recreational side of the property and reclaim the nickname of \u2018the dump\u2019 the community already uses,\u201d Hosler said. \u201cWe decided to keep that familiar identity while tying it to the trails, course, and other recreational assets on site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the name change, the trail now includes more options to walk into fields and woods, Hosler told the board.<\/p>\n

GLRA employees are in the process of prepping the ground for the course. Baskets will be installed likely in the next two weeks, and the course open for play by the beginning of June, said Hosler in a telephone interview Thursday.<\/p>\n

The board of the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority meets at 1800 Russell Road. The next meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 2. These meetings are open to the public and do not require registration.<\/p>\n

Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we\u2019ll do our best to get back to you.<\/p>\n

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Strong communities need someone keeping an eye on local institutions. LebTown holds leaders accountable, reports on decisions affecting your taxes and schools, and ensures transparency at every level. Support this work with a monthly<\/a> or annual<\/a> membership, or make a one-time contribution<\/a>. Cancel anytime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of\u00a0our Civic Impact Reporting Project. For the past week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[165596,192,831,79],"class_list":["post-631380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-civic-impact-reporting-project","tag-environment","tag-featured","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}