Can We Do A Better Job Managing Our
Trash?
We know where we are
… and need to decide where to go next!
Operators of existing solid waste systems in Wyoming are facing many environmental,
regulatory, and financial challenges. Monitoring data suggest that some landfills
are leaking and polluting groundwater. Most landfills are unlined, and will soon
be required to install expensive engineered containment systems (i.e., liners) if
they continue to accept municipal solid waste. Wyoming cities, towns, and counties
already spend a lot of money to manage garbage, and even more money will be needed
to address existing problems and future regulatory requirements.
Your elected officials and the solid waste professionals in your local community
have been working with the other members of the Western Wyoming Planning Area to
prepare comprehensive inventories of existing solid waste systems. The inventories
document the capacity, regulatory, and financial issues facing existing facilities,
and provide a detailed economic analysis of the current life-cycle cost of managing
wastes and recyclable commodities at each facility. The inventories also provide
forecasts of the size and characteristics of the solid waste and recyclable commodity
streams that are expected to be generated in next 20 years.
After completing the inventory of existing facilities, the members of the Western
Wyoming Planning Area focused their efforts on identifying alternative systems that
have the potential to provide solutions to the various issues they are facing. They
used their years of local experience managing solid waste and recyclable commodities,
reviewed current state, regional, and national trends, and considered the unique
needs of their communities. After discussing a variety of ideas they narrowed their
list of potential alternatives down to those that were most likely to provide reasonable,
cost-effective solutions for at least the next 20 years.
What Does The Existing
System Look Like?
The Western Wyoming Planning Area includes Lincoln, Sublette, Teton, and Uinta
Counties. Currently, there are six unlined landfills and four solid waste transfer
stations operating in the Western Wyoming Planning Area, some of which provide waste
diversion and/or recycling opportunities. There are also four stand-alone recycling
centers currently operating in the Western Wyoming Planning Area. The current life-cycle
costs of operating these existing facilities are highly variable. In general, the
larger facilities are managing solid wastes and recyclable commodities at a lower
cost per ton than the smaller facilities.
What Alternatives Are
Being Considered?
The members of the Western Wyoming Planning Area are committed to managing solid
wastes and recyclable commodities in an environmentally responsible manner. They
know that the facilities they provide need to be safe and convenient. Just as importantly,
they know that local residents and businesses expect their system to be efficient
and cost-effective.
The cost of a landfill, transfer station, composting facility, or a recycling
center is usually a function of the size of the facility and the amount of wastes
or commodities that it manages. This concept, known as “the economies of scale,”
means that the bigger a facility is and the more wastes and commodities it manages,
the cheaper it will be to manage each ton of wastes or commodities. To take advantage
of this concept, it is necessary to consider regionalizing facilities and services
instead of replicating them on a smaller scale in multiple areas. Regionalization
of solid waste facilities and services has already been successfully implemented
in rural western states like Wyoming, and has helped communities offset the economic
impact associated with rising disposal costs. A regionalization project involving
six counties in southern Idaho actually resulted in an overall net decrease in disposal
costs.
After carefully considering the wide variety of issues associated with existing
facilities and integrated solid waste management, the members of the Western Wyoming
Planning Area identified the following alternatives for further analysis and consideration:
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Alternative #1 “Three Lined Regional Landfills” – Under this alternative, each
of the three counties that currently operate unlined landfills (i.e., Lincoln, Sublette,
and Uinta Counties) would begin using lined disposal cells at one of their existing
landfills for the disposal of municipal solid waste. Kemmerer, Marbleton, and Evanston
were tentatively identified as potential locations for the three lined regional
landfills. Transfer stations would be used to collect and transport municipal solid
waste to the regional landfills, and unlined disposal cells at existing landfills
would continue to be used for the disposal of wastes that pose less of a threat
to the environment, such as those generated by construction/demolition activities. |
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Alternative #2 “Two Lined Regional Landfills” - Under this alternative, two of
the three counties that currently operate unlined landfills would begin using lined
disposal cells at one of their existing landfills for the disposal of municipal
solid waste. Marbleton and Evanston have been tentatively identified as potential
locations for the two lined regional landfills. Transfer stations would be used
to collect and transport municipal solid waste to the two regional landfills, and
unlined disposal cells at existing landfills would continue to be used for the disposal
of wastes that pose less of a threat to the environment. |
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Alternative #3 “No Lined Regional Landfills” - Under this alternative, transfer
stations would be used to collect and transport municipal solid wastes to large
regional landfills outside the Western Wyoming Planning Area. The Circular Butte
Landfill near Mud Lake, Idaho, and the Rock Springs Landfill in Sweetwater County,
Wyoming have been tentatively identified as potential regional landfills. Unlined
disposal cells at existing landfills would continue to be used for the disposal
of wastes that pose less of a threat to the environment. |
For each of the alternatives identified above, the members of the Western Wyoming
Planning Area agreed that additional waste diversion and recycling/composting programs
should be provided at each facility to reduce the amount of wastes that are transported
and disposed. It should also be noted that the proposed use of unlined disposal
cells for wastes that pose less of threat to the environment than municipal solid
wastes will be subject to approval by the WDEQ based on site-specific conditions.
How Can You Get Involved?
Local and regional members of the Western Wyoming Planning Area have held a number
of open meetings to work on this project. Interim reports which summarize the status
of existing facilities have been prepared for each of the counties and are available
for review. A second report which will estimate the costs of the various alternatives
identified is being prepared and will be submitted to the Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality (WDEQ) in October of 2009. Once the estimated costs of the
various alternatives are known, the Western Wyoming Planning Group will be meeting,
soliciting more input, and then recommending a preferred alternative for final consideration.
Please keep your eyes and ears open for more information about this important project,
and feel free to attend any of our meetings because they are all open to the public.
If you have any questions, would like more information, or just want to offer
your thoughts on this matter, please visit our web page (www.WesternWyomingISWM.com)
or write to us at:
Western Wyoming ISWM
c/o Trihydro Corporation
350 Garfield Street, Solar Suite
Lander, WY 82520