Waste Age magazine, in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin, Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center, Madison, Wis., is pleased to offer the Landfill Independent Learning Correspondence course.

The course is designed to provide continuing education opportunities to people who have an interest in solid waste disposal issues, including landfill owners and operators, landfill managers, people associated with developing and designing landfills, regulatory agency specialists, and the general public. There are no prerequisites. Anyone who has an interest in landfilling can, if they read the lessons and do the homework, successfully complete the course.

To enroll, send the registration form (requires Adobe Acrobate Reader) and a check for $149 (payable to the University of Wisconsin) to Phil O’Leary, Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin, 432 N. Lake Street, Madison, WI 53706. For more information, or if you are unable to download the registration form, contact: Phil O’Leary at (608) 262-0493 or oleary@engr.wisc.edu.

The independent learning course will be presented as a series of 12 lessons published monthly in Waste Age, and include:

1. Landfilling as the Cornerstone of an Integrated Waste System

2. Land Disposal of Solid Wastes: Protecting Health & Environment

3. Landfill Gas Movement, Control and Energy Recovery

4. Landfill Cover and Liner Systems for Water Quality Protection

5. Evaluating Potential Sanitary Landfill Sites

6. Bioreactor Landfill Design and Operation

7. Preparing Landfill Design Plans and Specifications

8. Slope Stability and Seismic Issues at Landfills

9. Landfill Equipment and Operating Procedures

10. Landfilling Demolition and High Volume Industrial Wastes

11. Landfill Community Relations Programs

12. Landfill Closure and Long-Term Care

Persons wishing to enroll in the course will have Waste Age magazine articles made available to them. Students also will receive access to an Internet web page that will provide additional information and links to other information sources, homework assignments, independent learning materials and access to an Internet chat room.

Persons can enroll in the course at any time during 2002 as the lessons are published, and for five years after the course has been completed in Waste Age.

The course must be completed within 12 months. Those enrolling at the beginning of the session can expect to complete the course by Dec. 31, 2002.

At the completion of the sixth and 12th lessons, course enrollees will be given exams, and will be eligible to apply to their state regulatory agency for 2.0 continuing education credits (CEUs) (20 hours of training) toward maintaining their operator or manager certification. Successful students will receive a certificate indicating satisfactory completion of the course. Generally students successfully complete the course if they finish the readings and the homework assignments.

This course generally is recognized as proof of continuing education by state regulatory agencies to satisfy landfill operator and manager continuing education requirements.

This is the fourth time that the independent learning course has been offered through magazine articles in Waste Age. The last time it was offered was in 1990. The course has been completely rewritten, incorporating any new developments associated with the landfill industry in the past decade. The first edition of this course was prepared in 1977 by John Reindl, who now is the recycling coordinator for Dane County, near Madison, Wis.

To enroll, send the registration form (requires Adobe Acrobate Reader) and a check for $149 (payable to the University of Wisconsin) to Phil O’Leary, Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin, 432 N. Lake Street, Madison, WI 53706. For more information, or if you are unable to download the registration form, contact: Phil O’Leary at (608) 262-0493 or oleary@engr.wisc.edu.