Trending
MARSHALL -- Lyon County's landfill site for construction and demolition waste will need to close in the future - but there are still plenty of questions that need to be answered first, Lyon County commissioners said.
This week, commissioners heard a presentation on different options for filling up or closing the construction and demolition landfill near Russell. Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder said there were different courses of action the county could take, including trying to fill up the C&D landfill as quickly as possible, or continuing to divert some of its construction waste to a landfill in Rock County.
"We really think that closing this site as soon as possible is the best option, and 'as soon as possible' is still three or four years," Schroeder said.
Commissioners directed Schroeder talk to Rock County about possible options for a phased closure of the landfill. In a separate action, they also voted to accept a roughly $89,000 bid from Action Company LLC to haul clay from the main Lyon County landfill to the C&D site to use as landfill cover.
"The engineers feel very favorable that this is material that could be used for the covering of the unlined demo landfill," Schroeder told commissioners.
This fall, county officials have been discussing the future of the C&D landfill. The C&D landfill does not have a liner to protect against soil and groundwater contamination, and the state of Minnesota is looking at setting new rules that could incentivize unlined construction landfills to close down.
"We've explored a couple of options for closing our existing unlined demo landfill," as well as options for continuing to backhaul some construction and demolition waste to a landfill in Rock County, Schroeder said.
The Lyon County and Rock County landfills have an arrangement to backhaul some of the construction and demolition materials brought to a transfer station in Lyon County, Schroeder said. Lyon County diverts about 95% of the materials it receives to the Rock County demolition landfill, and Rock County brings municipal solid waste to the Lyon County landfill.
Over the past seven years, the transfer site has diverted an average of about 3,132 tons of construction waste per year, Schroeder said.
The C&D landfill in Lyon County has space for "just shy of 9,000 tons of material," Schroeder said. If the rate of construction waste put in the landfill stays the same, he said, "That's about three years' time that we would have before we would run out of capacity and need to close."
Timing was an important consideration for the county. If Lyon County closes its C&D landfill after new state rules are put in place, it could mean higher costs because of the additional soil cover that they would need to put in, Schroeder said.
Schroeder said some of the possible actions Lyon County could take regarding the C&D landfill closure could include continuing to backhaul construction waste to Rock County, until its C&D landfill closes in a couple of years. Lyon County could also stop diverting its construction waste to Rock County and try to fill up its own C&D landfill as soon as possible.
"We tried some expedited filling this year," Schroeder said. By diverting most of the incoming C&D waste to the Lyon County site, the landfill did save money. However, managing the county C&D landfill site would require an employee working there three-quarters of full time, he said.
Commissioners said they liked the idea of a phased closure for the C&D landfill, but there was still more that Schroeder needed to find out - including whether Rock County would be willing to accept changes in the amount of C&D waste from Lyon County.
"Talk it out with them. Be upfront and honest with them about what we're up to," Commissioner Todd Draper said.