Basic Operating Budget

One of the most difficult tasks is tracking and controlling costs. Most often it doesn't occur because either the input is too difficult or the output isn't useful.

This is a simple spreadsheet that a landfill or transfer station manager can use as a thumbnail budget. Add or subtract items as needed to fit your facility and your reporting needs. The equations are simple arithmetic… addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The goal here is to keep it simple and practical. The output is basic, the input requirements and quick and easy and the feedback is immediate.

And, while it is a very simple spreadsheet, it can be expanded as needed to fit virtually any type of operation.

Machine Rebuild Schedule

Cash flow related to equipment repair/rebuild costs can seriously impact a facilities annual budget. It’s one thing to know the annual average repair/rebuild cost of your machines. It’s another to manage the cash flow when they all happen to come due at once.

This is a fairly complex spreadsheet that can help landfill and transfer station managers predict and plan for major equipment repairs and rebuilds. To use it, you must first take inventory of where your machines are in terms of remaining life for each component. Components may include engine, transmission, undercarriage, wheels, final drives, torque converter, etc.

After you've input the current hours and remaining component life for each machine, you can modify the expected lifetime (in hours) of each component. You can even factor in the difference in expected lifetime between the components in a new machine Vs. rebuilt components in a used machine.

The output shows when each component is expected to fail and provides and good estimated of cash flow. Of course for best results, you’d want to combine the results of all your machines.

Optimum Cell Geometry

Every day, landfills build cells. They are the basic building blocks of landfills. For this reason, it’s critical that the cells being built are efficient in regard to depth, width and slope. Using some basic input information such as daily tonnage, waste density, slope and width of the tipping area (usually set at the minimum width that will accommodate the maximum number of vehicles unloading at a given time), this spreadsheet calculates the surface area of various cell configurations.

The resulting graph shows the optimum cell depth for landfills that use traditional or alternative daily cover.

Pave vs Gravel

Landfills and transfer stations needs good, reliable and cost-effective roads. Some use gravel and some use asphalt. But more often than not, the selection is based on tradition or personal preference …not on a real economic analysis.

Using this spreadsheet, you'll be able to calculate cost and resulting break-even point between gravel and paved roads. Simply enter site-specific information such as cost per square foot to construct roads with gravel or asphalt, maintenance costs, etc.

Pick-Line Production Table

Many transfer stations are associated with material recovery facilities (MRF) that utilize a pick line. One of the tricks to pick line efficiency is to focus on picking the commodities that make diversion and economic sense …and ignore the rest.

Using this spreadsheet, you can evaluate the cost Vs. benefit of picking various types of materials. Of course, there are lots of variables so that you can customize it to your facility.

Scraper Cycle Time Cost

If you’re using scrapers to haul soil at your landfill, you know that time is money. This simple spreadsheets shows the relationship between cycle time and total cost of hauling soil.

Soil Mass Diagram

Most landfills are planned to develop in phases. Each phase includes excavation (of soil) and filling (of waste). Typically the individual phases may not balance, even though the overall landfill does. As a result, the landfill may experience periods of soil shortage or excess that can cause costly long hauls or double-handling of soil.

This simple spreadsheet helps you to the time and quantity of soil shortage or excess. It’s quite basic, but can be expanded to meet your specific needs

Effective Density

This is not so much a spreadsheet as it is a table. However, it can be integrated into other spreadsheets if desired.

Effective density relates to the all-inclusive waste density of a landfill. Landfills often measure their performance by stating the waste density they achieve. However, there are many ways to measure density. The most common is in terms of in-place, waste-only density. For example, the industry standard is 1,200 pounds per cubic yard (pcy). But, in order to determine how much waste a landfill can receive, one must also consider cover soil, construction material, ADC and other things that might take up airspace. When all is said and done, a cubic yard of airspace in a landfill will actually contain (on average) somewhat less than the 1,200 pcy of waste listed in this example.

On the other hand, effective density reflects the site=s overall use of airspace by taking into account all materials that go into the landfill. Waste and its related waste density is only part of the equation.

One of the difficulties with effective density is that the individual values of the ingredients that it is comprised of (e.g., waste density, cover ratio, construction materials, ADC, etc.) may not be known. Thus, while it=s easy to fly the site, check the total volume used and compare it to the incoming tonnage in order to calculate the effective density, it=s not clear how well the landfill is doing in each area. As an example, consider a landfill that is currently operating with an effective density of approximately 1,055 pcy (average) as measured by aerial topography. Yet as can be seen below (See Table A), this value could represent various combinations of waste density and cover soil ratio.

For example, an effective density of 1,055 pcy could result from:

• a waste density of 1600 pcy with a cover ratio of 2:1… or

• a waste density of 1350 with a cover ratio of 3.5:1… or

• a waste density of 1150 with a cover ratio of 7:1… or

• a waste density of 1100 with a cover ratio of 10:1.

The point is this: a reasonably good effective density doesn't necessarily mean that its components are both good. But, by measuring one of them (in this case the waste density), you can determine the other. Then you'll be in a knowledgeable position for making further improvements in efficiency.

Download All Files

If you would like to download all of the tools at once, you can download the compressed file below. (You may need a program to decompress the file.)