MARSHALL — The cost for waste haulers to bring trash to the Lyon County landfill will be going up next year. At Monday’s annual meeting of the Landfill Advisory Board, board members voted to recommend the approval of a budget and tipping fees for 2024.

The board recommended that tipping fees increase by $3 a ton next year, bringing the cost for waste haulers to a total of $45 per ton.

While action items at the landfill meeting focused on the 2024 preliminary budget and fees, board members also discussed issues facing rural Minnesota landfills in the future. Area county commissioners were especially concerned about the possibility of construction and demolition landfills in the area having to close under new regulations from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Commissioners asked state Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, for his thoughts on how best to make their concerns known to Minnesota legislators.

Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder started out the meeting by going over information on the tonnage of waste being brought to the landfill. In 2022, the landfill received a total of 55,746 tons of solid waste and industrial solid waste. As of the end of September 2023, the landfill had received a total of 45,364 tons of waste. Currently, tonnage is up about 8% over the previous year, Schroeder said.

That tonnage was “very much a surprise to us,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder went over proposed tip fee rates for waste haulers. Last year, the county had approved a total $6 per ton tip fee increase, split over two years. This year, the tip fee rate went up to $42 per ton, and the recommended 2024 fee would also go up $3, to $45 a ton.

Board members also looked at a proposed 2024 landfill budget that included about $3.3 million in revenue and $5.2 million in expenses. In separate motions, Landfill Advisory Board voted to recommend approval of both the new tipping fees and the proposed 2024 budget. The issues would go before the Lyon County Board for approval.

The disposal of construction and demolition waste was a topic that sparked a lot of discussion at Monday’s meeting. Melanie Niday, of engineering firm SEH, talked about the advisory panel formed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to look at potential new regulations for disposing of construction and demolition waste.

The MPCA is going through a rule-making process to require construction and demolition landfills to be lined, in order to protect groundwater, Niday said. Unlined landfills would need to close down. That would mainly affect the 80 or so construction and demolition landfills in greater Minnesota, she said.

“We have to start thinking about this now,” Niday said.

At the end of the meeting, landfill board members voiced their concern to Swedzinski, and asked for guidance on how to proceed.

“We’re very concerned about the impact on our facilities,” said Lyon County Commissioner Rick Anderson.

Swedzinski suggested sharing information like the cost impact that the rule changes would have on area landfills.