The Pioneer Crossing Landfill, a PADEP-permitted municipal waste landfill owned and operated by a J. P. Mascaro & Sons' affiliate in Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, has been and will continue to be a vital component in the Mascaro company's long-term regional waste collection and disposal operations.
Over the last 24 months, Mascaro has been able to enhance its operational capabilities and its long-term disposal capacity at Pioneer Crossing through strategic planning and a substantial capital commitment, and by working cooperatively with its Host Municipality.
These efforts have recently culminated in DEP's permitting and Mascaro's construction of the Pioneer Crossing Western Borrow Area, on a 100 acre contiguous landfill property, that will provide cover soil for the landfill operations, and in a long-term Joint Cooperation Agreement between the landfill and the township. That Agreement provides for significant current and future benefits to the municipality and governs future disposal operations on the Western Borrow Area property.
Speaking to these milestone events, Pioneer Crossing company President, Pat Mascaro, said, "I want to recognize the hardworking efforts of our Director of Engineering, Ryan Inch, and his staff, in designing the Western Borrow Area and in securing the necessary DEP permits, as well as the efforts of our company's General Counsel, William F. Fox, Jr., in working out a Joint Cooperation Agreement with the township."
Mascaro added, "Both the Western Borrow Area and the Joint Cooperation Agreement are vitally important to our company, with the first providing a needed resource to our current landfill operations, and with the second assuring our company of future long-term disposal capacity (i.e., more than 50 years) that is necessary for the continued success of our family business that competes with the large national public waste companies."
Pioneer Crossing started the DEP permitting process with an application submittal for the Western Borrow Area in January 2018. After holding the required municipality involvement meeting in May 2018, DEP undertook its extensive technical review of the Borrow Area application, which the township supported in a July 2019 letter to the Department. Thereafter, in September 2019, Pioneer Crossing and the township amended the October 2000 Host Community Agreement between them relating to the existing landfill and entered into the new Joint Cooperation Agreement that, among other things, specifies where and when future disposal can occur on the Western Borrow Area property in compliance with all governing DEP rules and regulations. DEP amended Pioneer Crossing's existing landfill permit on December 31, 2020 to include the Western Borrow Area.
The construction of the Western Borrow Area was just recently completed. Commenting on that construction, local neighbor, Jennifer Bosco, said, "With its stone wall entrance, its grass screening berms, its extensive plantings, and its white split-rail fencing, the newly constructed Borrow Area looks more like an aesthetically pleasing horse farm than a landfill soil recovery facility. The manner in which this project was constructed shows Mascaro's dedication to both its business and the community. The Mascaro companies have demonstrated their commitment to our community in many ways in the past, and this is just another example."
Speaking generally about the landfill, Pat Mascaro said, "I would like to extend a special thank you to Landfill Citizen Advisory Board Chairman, Glenn Hoover, a long-time neighbor to the landfill, who has been instrumental for the last 20 years in providing advice and guidance and in keeping our key landfill managerial personnel 'on their toes' as it relates to operating Pioneer Crossing in a positive and nonimpacting manner."