Neal Bolton

By Neal Bolton

As a resident of California's Central Coast, I've gotten used to hearing surfing stories. No, not about the web, about the waves. You know: Gidget, Moondoggie...the gang. One day I was listening to some guys talk about bodysurfing. Bodysurfing is like regular surfing, but without a surfboard. Well, it seems that everyone was having a difficult time catching the wave.

You see, as the waves roll in, the trick (so they say) is to swim with the wave and try to match its speed. If you're too slow, the wave rolls past and leaves you bobbing in the foam. Nobody could catch those waves that day except Tom. While everyone else was struggling to catch even a single wave, Tom was bodysurfing like a pro. He was an animal...a wild man. And almost 50 years old too!

A wave would roll in. Tom would speed up and catch it. It was amazing. How did he do it? Well, when Tom finally finished, they all found out. As Tom backed out of the surf they saw that...he was wearing flippers! Hah, Old dog, new trick.

"What in the world," you ask, "does this have to do with managing a landfill?"

It's cash flow, brother, cash flow.

Like waves, cash rolls in and cash rolls out and the trick (so they say) is to catch those waves and not be left bobbing in the foam.

Cash flow problems are common - they're among the most common problems that I've seen while conducting landfill operational audits at scores of landfills.

A midsize landfill needs a new compactor, but there is not enough money because the landfill’s compaction is so poor that it is way over budget on liner construction.

A small rural landfill can’t afford to hire the six trucks it would take to balance out its excavator/truck dirt-hauling spread … so it just uses its old truck, which takes a lot longer and costs more.

What's the problem? Cash flow. Every landfill has experienced cash flow problems to one degree or another. Yours might be experiencing some right now. So what can you do about it? Here are some ideas.

While every landfill is different, there are some general guidelines for producing that extra boost your landfill needs to get over the hump—to catch the wave so to speak.

Look for the big dollars that are in your budget, those things that you're planning to spend lots of money on. In most cases, those things include machines, closure (even closure funding), and liner costs. Once you've identified some budget items that represent big bucks, bring in a team that can help you brainstorm for ways to defer those costs. This doesn't have to be an outside team: Just get some of your own people and talk about options for alternatives to the traditional way of doing things.

For example, one landfill was able to free up a few hundred thousand dollars by simply changing their its fill sequence plan and not bringing areas to closure as soon as they'd it had originally planned. The same train of thought might have you working on outside slopes or the nooks and crannies that you thought you'd fill later, but by filling them now, you buy time and defer the cost of building that liner for another two years.

Or how about a landfill that discovered its ultimate waste density was much greater than the 1,200 pounds per cubic yard it had originally estimated? Remember, as landfills get older and deeper, the average waste density increases—sometimes dramatically. How can that help? By pushing that closure into the future and reducing the annual set-aside cost for financial assurance.

Cash flow? I's all about doing something that nobody's thought to do...yet. So look for the big bucks, grab your flippers, and catch a wave.

And for those of you who are startled to think of me surfing, relax. I'm no surfer. It's just not my thing. If I didn't get eaten by a great white, people might think I was one. No, I'm no surfer.

MSW - May/June 2004