Solid Waste Planning, Permitting, Design, and Monitoring Services
Souder, Miller & Associates provides comprehensive solid waste consulting services for public and private clients throughout the Mountain West. Our multidisciplinary team supports landfills, transfer stations, convenience centers, and related solid waste facilities from early planning and permitting through design, construction, operations, monitoring, reporting, and closure.
With more than 40 years of professional consulting experience and work at more than 80 solid waste sites, SMA understands the technical, regulatory, financial, and operational challenges faced by municipalities, counties, tribal entities, private operators, and industrial clients. We combine practical engineering, environmental science, geomatics, and regulatory compliance expertise to help clients maintain essential services, protect the environment, and manage project costs.
Full-Service Support for Solid Waste Facilities
SMA provides in-house planning, permitting, engineering, environmental, and field support services for new and existing solid waste facilities. Our experience includes landfill design and permitting, transfer station design, operating permit applications and renewals, construction quality assurance, regulatory reporting, groundwater and methane monitoring, landfill gas evaluation, closure and post-closure planning, and operational support.
Our solid waste services include:
- Solid waste master planning and feasibility studies
- Landfill, transfer station, and convenience center planning and design
- Solid waste operating permit applications, renewals, and modifications
- Subtitle D and special waste permitting support
- Regulatory agency coordination and compliance assistance
- Public meeting support, public hearing participation, and expert testimony
- Construction administration, observation, and QA/QC documentation
- Groundwater, vadose zone, methane, leachate, stormwater, and emissions monitoring
- Financial assurance planning and annual cost estimate updates
- Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWP3) and spill prevention planning
- Operations and maintenance plans, contingency plans, transportation plans, closure plans, post-closure plans, and personnel training plans
- Landfill gas investigation, monitoring, mitigation, and venting systems
- Groundwater monitoring well design, permitting, installation oversight, sampling, reporting, and statistical evaluation
- Cover erosion control, alternative daily cover evaluation, and final cover design
- NOV response, corrective action planning, and regulatory negotiation
- Aerial mapping, surveying, asset management, and site mapping
- Employee training, operations assistance, audits, and compliance reviews
Regulatory Compliance and Agency Coordination
Solid waste facilities operate in a complex regulatory environment. SMA helps clients navigate permitting, monitoring, reporting, and compliance requirements while maintaining cost-effective facility operations.
Our team has long-standing experience working with state and federal regulatory agencies across the Mountain West. We routinely prepare and submit monitoring reports, permit renewal packages, permit modification applications, financial assurance documentation, construction certification reports, stormwater plans, and responses to Notices of Violation or other enforcement actions.
SMA’s approach emphasizes clear communication, practical compliance strategies, and defensible documentation. When issues arise, we help clients evaluate options, communicate with regulators, negotiate reasonable permit conditions, and implement corrective measures that protect public health and the environment while supporting continued facility operations.
Landfill Planning, Design, Expansion, and Closure
SMA provides planning, design, permitting, and construction-phase services for landfill expansions, new landfill cells, closures, and post-closure care. Our landfill design experience includes siting support, geohydrologic investigation, grading, drainage, stormwater collection, liner systems, leachate management, cover systems, and QA/QC documentation.
For closure projects, SMA develops cost-effective cover systems that meet state and federal requirements. Our team evaluates cover performance, site conditions, available borrow materials, geosynthetic options, and long-term maintenance needs to help clients select practical closure solutions. We also assist with alternative daily cover approvals, including deployable tarp and spray-on systems where appropriate.
Transfer Station and Convenience Center Services
SMA supports communities and private operators with transfer station and convenience center planning, design, permitting, and operational improvements. Our transfer station services include site layout, grading and drainage, utilities, entrance facility design, traffic circulation, waste handling planning, stormwater improvements, management plans, and regulatory compliance audits.
We help clients develop facilities that are functional, durable, safe for employees and users, and responsive to local service needs. Whether designing a new facility, modifying an existing site, or addressing compliance concerns, SMA works to balance operational efficiency, regulatory requirements, construction cost, and long-term maintenance.
Groundwater, Vadose Zone, and Methane Monitoring
SMA provides monitoring and reporting services for active and closed solid waste facilities, including groundwater, vadose gas and water, methane, leachate, stormwater, and other environmental media. Our staff has installed more than 75 groundwater monitoring wells at landfills across the Mountain West and hundreds more at other facility types.
Our monitoring services include well design, well permitting, drilling oversight, geologic logging, well development, survey documentation, sampling, statistical analysis, potentiometric surface mapping, trend evaluation, and preparation of regulatory monitoring reports. SMA field staff are trained in standard purging and low-flow sampling methods, helping produce reliable data for regulatory review and operational decision-making.
Landfill Investigation, Mitigation, and Corrective Action
When landfill impacts or potential releases are identified, SMA helps clients investigate conditions, understand risk, and develop practical mitigation or corrective action strategies. Our experience includes groundwater detections, landfill gas migration, waste delineation, vadose zone impacts, contaminant pathway analysis, and evaluation of whether impacts may be facility-related, off-site, or naturally occurring.
SMA uses both direct and indirect investigation methods, including trenching, potholing, vapor and soil sampling, hollow-stem auger drilling, monitoring well installation, vadose zone characterization, and geophysical surveys. We develop conceptual site models, evaluate remediation alternatives, prepare corrective action plans, and support discussions with regulatory agencies.
Practical Solutions for Public and Private Clients
SMA understands that solid waste projects must meet regulatory requirements while also serving real-world operational and budget needs. Our team works closely with clients to develop solutions that are technically sound, approvable, constructible, and cost-conscious.
From small transfer stations to municipal landfills and regional solid waste systems, SMA provides the planning, permitting, design, monitoring, and compliance support needed to keep facilities operating responsibly and efficiently.
Call to Action
Whether you are planning a new solid waste facility, renewing an operating permit, addressing a compliance issue, expanding landfill capacity, designing a transfer station, or improving monitoring and reporting systems, SMA can help.
Contact Souder, Miller & Associates to discuss solid waste planning, permitting, design, monitoring, and regulatory compliance support for your facility: solidwaste@soudermiller.com