So what happens when the dump is full?

1 comment July 24th, 2009

That’s what I wondered when I saw this week’s story about Winnebago County and William Charles considering a deal to import trash to Winnebago Landfill for about $700,000 a year in host fees.

Sue Grans, spokeswoman for William Charles, would not disclose the amount of waste Groot Industries plans to bring into the county, but several county officials who are familiar with the negotiations said a 1,200-tons-per-day average is what they’ve been told.

Grans would not comment on the current average daily intake at the landfill. Still, reports filed with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency showed the average daily intake of the landfill in 2007 — the most recent year available — was 3,902 tons of waste.

In 2006, the average daily intake was 3,066 tons per day and the intake in 2005 was 1,583 tons per day, according to the report.

“What the engineers tell me is we have an 18-year life on the landfill today,” Grans said. “This deal, if it goes through, would cut that by about 20 percent, so we’d be looking at a life of 14 to 15 years.”

In a Decemeber 2008 story, that capacity was greater. Or at least there was a higher end on the range.

“Garbage, in its nature, is a very long-term business,” said Gary Marzorati, president of William Charles Waste Co., which runs the Winnebago Landfill. “We are always preparing for the future. Right now, we’ve got 19 to 21 years of capacity, probably a couple more.”