The deadline to find a new place for trash is coming quickly, perhaps even more quickly than expected.
Linn County Solid Waste Agency is looking for future plans to host a landfill or other facility in the county ahead of 2044. That’s when the current landfills agreement for the current landfill will sunset.
However, the current landfill may be out of room even sooner than that, according to Joe Horaney of Linn County Solid Waste Agency.
“Since the derecho, we’ve seen quadruple the amount of waste in several months, as people get around to cleaning up properties and items damaged from the storm,” Horaney said. “We’re now finally seeing a slowdown, but that’s reduced the number of years that we can use this landfill.”
The agency is currently investigating what is to come next for the agencies, and will be looking into all sorts of alternative technologies or future sites for a new landfill in the community Horaney said.
There is a lot of “not in my backyard” sentiment about a landfill that the group is working to deal with, and a landfill may not be the only option moving forward, Horaney said.
The agency is looking into expanding their waste diversion options, including recycling and education to keep more of the solid waste from the landfill.
Waste from residences amount to roughly 23 percent of the waste agency’s collection, Horney said. The remaining 77 percent comes from commercial or industrial waste.
The agency will be looking at ideas including incineration, biological technologies that would include aerobic composting and aneorobic digestion.
Horaney said that before the pandemic hit, the recycling market had nosedived, but following the pandemic, items including fibers and plastics are seeing a market once again.
“Cardboard value has gone way up, as has plastics and paper,” Horaney said.
Anything recycled needs to be dry, clean and not contaminated. If material is contaminated, it stands the risk of running the value of some of the recycled items.
Stump grinding occurringMount Vernon public works director Eldon Downs is asking for patience from citizens as he and his crews gear up to assist with filling the hundreds of stumps being ground as part of the derecho.
Downs said he thought Total Tree Care was responsible for cleaning up and backfilling the stumps that were ground, but the contract specifies that is the city’s responsibility. Downs said he and his crew have shifted that to be a priority and will be cleaning up and backfilling stumps before the ground freezes this winter to have the tree removal project finished.
Linn County waste agency investigating future plans for landfill
October 7, 2021
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.