News : Landfill will not accept waste for several weeks; most will not notice change

For the rest of October – beginning Monday – no trash will be placed in the Benton County landfill.

The change comes because the current landfill cells are nearing their legal capacity, and the county is awaiting one more unexpected test before receiving final DNR approval to open its new cell.

Benton County Engineer Myron Parizek said that most county residents will not notice the change.

During a special meeting on Friday morning, the Benton County Supervisors met with Parizek to discuss the immediate future of the landfill and the county’s waste management policies.

Although trash will not be placed in the landfill, the facility still will be open. The county will provide large containers called roll-offs for private individuals who haul their garbage to the landfills themselves. The other areas of the facility will be open to accept scrap metal, white goods and clean wood waste (trees and brush). Shingles will also be accepted (for a fee) at the landfill, as long as the shingles have been separated from other metal or wooden roofing materials.

The people who will notice the change the most are the haulers who contract with cities, businesses or individuals to transport large amounts of trash to the landfill.

Those haulers will take their waste to the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency’s Landfill No. 2 on County Home Road north of Cedar Rapids. The county will pay $45 per ton for waste hauled there.

Approximately 50 tons of waste goes into the landfill each day, Parizek said. He estimated that the month of hauling the waste to Linn County could cost the county up to $30,000. If the reserve built into the solid waste budget is not enough to cover that, the supervisors will have to find another way to pay for it.

The other people who will feel the effect of the change the most are those who haul construction waste to the landfill. Those people will also have to haul it to Linn County, or other locations.

Parizek sent the following information to area media Friday morning:

The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in special session today and beginning Monday, October 5, 2010, Benton County will limit activities at the Benton County Landfill. The landfill will be unable to bury solid waste until the concerns with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) are solved. The landfill gates will remain open to accept white goods, electronics, tires, scrap metal, trees, limbs, and clean wood waste. Shingles can be accepted at the landfill if the shingles are separated from other construction waste. Roll-off containers will be available at the landfill for residents to use with small loads. All other construction waste and MSW will not be accepted at the Benton County Landfill. All haulers and contactors will need to take solid waste to the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency at 1954 County Home Road, Marion, IA. Benton County has made arrangements with Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency to accept the solid waste from Benton County.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has concerns with the tire derived aggregate used in the construction of the new cell so an additional lab test is being conducted. Once this test is completed, the results will be forwarded to the IDNR. Benton County will receive these results later this month and anticipates IDNR action shortly thereafter.

Bead wire concerns

The reason for the delay in the opening of the new cell is that recent testing indicates that there is some bead wire in the ground-up tires that line the bottom of the new landfill cell.

The DNR wants conduct some tests to make sure that the wires in those tire pieces will not puncture the lining of the landfill.

Parizek told the supervisors that he expects the landfill to pass the test, and for the testing to be completed within two weeks. Once that testing is finished, the county should be able to open the new cell within days.

However, said Parizek, there is no guarantee that the landfill will pass this test. He and his staff have been pondering how to remove the tire material if that becomes necessary. There is an 18-inch layer of that tire material covering a fabric-type barrier that lines the surface of the landfill. Under that is a four-foot thick layer of compacted clay that is virtually impermeable.

Iowa regulations allow new landfills to use only the compacted clay as a bottom surface. But federal landfill regulations require the other additional barriers.

The temporary closure of the landfill is not related to legal action between the DNR and Benton County because of violations at the landfill. The county continues negotiations with the DNR over the amount of a fine and other remedial action to resolve this issue.