Garbage business

By Staff
Landfill could reach capacity in five years
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
A limited amount of space left in Hartselle's construction and demolition landfill will soon force city officials to make some difficult decisions about the best way to dispose of inert waste in the future, according to Mayor Dwight Tankersley.
The landfill's status-percentage filled, remaining life and estimated total closure and post closure costs-is included in the 2004-05 audit report.
The report shows that the 35-acre landfill is 93 percent full and the remaining life as of Sept. 30, 2004 is estimated to be 61 months at the current level of use. Using those estimates, the landfill will be at capacity around September 2009.
The city would incur an initial cost of $350,000 to shut down the facility in accordance with regulations of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). The city also would be required to monitor and maintain the closed landfill for 30 years at an estimated additional cost of $75,000.
Tankersley said it was a recommendation of the auditor that the costs associated with the potential closing of the landfill should be recognized as a part of the audit over the period of its remaining life.
"The future of the landfill is something we'll have to deal with in this administration even though our term will end before it reaches its capacity," Tankersley stated. "There are several options that we'll look at carefully, and we'll conduct a public meeting at the civic center to identify them and take input from the citizens.
"I'm looking for ways to conserve the landfill space we have left," he added. "This could be done by limiting or eliminating waste coming from commercial haulers."
Landfill records show that the landfill accepted 15,058 tons of waste during the period May 1, 2004 to May 1. Of this amount, the city accounted for 4,723 tons, resident haulers, 2,681 tons and commercial haulers, 7,654 tons.
Other options include closure of the landfill with the city collecting and hauling garbage and non-garbage waste to the Decatur-Morgan County Landfill at Trinity, contracting out the collection and hauling of such waste, or buying more land and expanding the existing landfill.
Tankersley said ADEM doesn't require a permit for the disposal of yard waste such as tree limbs and grass clippings.
"We could dump it on the ground and still use the chipper to grind it up as long as it's not mixed with other waste and we have a place to put it," he said.