LaSalle-Grant Landfill

The soil of the LaSalle-Grant Landfill in central Louisiana was highly erodible, had a high plasticity index, and had a natural pH of 4.0, so its characteristics were not conducive to side slope maintenance. In fact, every spring the existing vegetative slopes required slope repair, reseeding and liming in order to remain intact. Pressure to find a more stable solution led the operator to implement ClosureTurf ‘s 43° interface friction technology, which is more than a 3.0 factor of safety against sliding failure, over 9 acres of the landfill.

Operators quickly learned of ClosureTurf’s ability to provide long-term erosion control as the system controlled rainfall runoff in excess of 4 inches per hour at times during its first year in action. In fact, the system has endured more than 290 inches of rainfall since 2008. And, three months after phase one of the project was completed, a tornado producing shear winds of 70mph hit the front of the landfill without damaging the turf cap. Finally, the LaSalle sand infill remained in place with no erosion when a levee broke, releasing five acres of water across the turf.

The ClosureTurf® system requires no mowing, little maintenance and has remained intact even under the most extreme weather conditions. Low maintenance costs can relate to significant savings over the 30 year post-closure period. Best of all, soil erosion, water infiltration, leachate reduction and fugitive gas emissions were immediately controlled once the turf system was in place.

“We’d been killing ourselves working and reworking our slopes, but after we installed the ClosureTurf® system we didn’t have to do anything to it again. The grass looks great, the sand hasn’t moved and there’s no erosion.”

Delaney Lewis
District Landfill Manager
IESI, A Progressive Waste Solution Company