News : Landfill expected to run out of space in five years; supervisors begin planning

By the end of their first term in office, the next two people elected to the Benton County Board of Supervisors will have to decide what to do about the landfill that is expected to run out of room five years from now.

The current supervisors -- Dave Vermedahl, Ron Buch and Jason Sanders -- began discussing the long-term future of Benton County's solid waste disposal policy on Tuesday. They met with Jennifer Fencl, the environmental services director for the East Central Iowa Council of Governments.

There is room on county-owned land adjacent to the landfill southwest of Blairstown to add another cell to the current land fill. Keeping the landfill and expanding it is at the top of the list of options that Fencl presented to the supervisors.

However: With changing state and federal regulations, and the potential for future liability if leakage from a landfill causes water quality concerns or other environmental problems, many counties are opting to close their landfills and send their waste to other locations. Many Iowa counties already ship their garbage to other states.

Vermedahl and Buch have announced that they do not plan to seek re-election in November. The future of the landfill will be one of the first issues the two new supervisors face when they are sworn in next Jan. 1. Vermedahl said one of his goals before the end of his final term is to get a plan in place for the future of the landfill. So far, no candidates have formally announced their plans to run for that office, although some people have expressed interest in serving as a supervisor.

At the rate it now currently accepts waste, the landfill will run out of space in approximately five years.

County Engineer Myron Parizek summed up the opinions of many in the solid waste management field when the supervisors asked for his opinion.

"Does it make economic sense to keep operating our landfill? I don't know," he said.

The first step is for the county, with guidance from Fencl, to hire an engineering firm to study the county's solid waste options and predict the long-term economic feasibility of each.

Other options include keeping the landfill open, but contracting it out to a private operator; closing the landfill and finding another place to haul the county's trash; or selling the landfill to either a public or private entity.

Buch said that whatever option the county chooses, it is important to maintain some location where residents can bring their solid waste, including tires and appliances. Otherwise, he said, those things will "end up in the ditches."

Fencl agreed, saying disposing of waste needs to be both convenient and affordable for residents.

Most counties that have closed their landfill maintain some type of citizen convenience center, where residents can bring solid waste.

The county will soon begin discussing the study with engineering companies; the first step is to determine how much such a study would cost.

Recycling programs and the potential for turning trash into ethanol at the Fiberight plant, which is located southeast of Blairstown, may also impact the future needs and expenses of the county's solid waste management program.