Published: November 13, 2007 09:19 am      

Changes at landfill upgrade facility; but more could be on the horizon

CLINTON — Nearly $1.2 million has been spent constructing a new state-of-the-art cell at the Clinton County Area Solid Waste Agency landfill west of Clinton.

According to the agency’s landfill permit, all waste disposal in ravines 5 and 6 had to cease by Oct. 1, 2007. At that time, all Iowa landfills had to meet strict requirements referred to as “Subtitle D.”

Here is how the new cell meets those requirements (from the bottom up):

n Two feet of compacted clay.

n A Flexible Membrane Liner (FML).

n A geocomposite drainage layer.

Six inches of sand was then placed on the floor area of the cell and 12 inches of tire chips were placed on the slopes of the cell for additional geocomposite and FML protection. The construction was designed to prevent leachate from seeping into the groundwater areas.

A leachate collection system directs the flow to a lagoon and from there it is pumped to the city of Clinton’s wastewater treatment system.

The $1.141,658.84 total cost, which includes the construction of a new haul road (3/4 mile), was below the engineer’s estimate of $1.175,992. Lifespan of the cell is estimated at 12 years at the present rate of approximately 75 tons per day (18,000 a year).

New challenge for landfill?

The landfill agency was formed in 1972 when an intergovernmental agreement was reached by the 14 municipalities in the county plus the board of supervisors representing the rural areas. To this day it is governed by a board consisting of one representative from each of those entities.

On Dec. 13, 1974, two landfills were opened, replacing the township dumps. The principal landfill was located at the present site, while a smaller one was north of Welton. The small one has since been closed. Along the way, a busy recycling program was offered to county residents and then, in 1995, a regional collection center for household hazardous waste was opened. Then medical waste and sharps were added to the program. In 2000, a large old cement kiln was purchased and turned into a bioreactor, which turns municipal and yard waste into compost and is used at the landfill for daily cover.

Now, Brad Seward, director of operations, has told his board of directors that a new challenge may be looming.

When he gave a presentation to the Clinton city council recently, he said, the council members were talking about “single source recycling.”

Now, householders are required to sort their recyclable materials — paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, etc. — into separate containers to be hauled to the landfill. With one source recycling, the city trucks would pick up everything mixed together. “If we receive it in that fashion, it will present some operational issues,” Seward said. “They bring in three to four trucks every day of recycling material.”

“So it is a significant amount” that would have to be sorted somehow at the landfill, he said. “We are not the only agency” facing the change. “I’ve been in touch with our neighbors in Scott County, sharing information. It is something we need to educate ourselves about.”