Outlook improves on landfill as task force reviews key developments
St. Joseph's Landfill Task Force received promising news on the facility's critical capacity situation and plans to prevent a soft closure.
As of Sunday, Feb. 23, the landfill was at 46% — or roughly 8,300 to 8,500 tons — of its average monthly waste intake of 18,111 tons.
City officials implemented a voluntary 30% waste reduction plan — one layer of a fluid strategy — with the goal of capping waste around 12,678 tons a month, ensuring space remains until a new cell opens or temporary space is granted by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
"It looks like we're on pace right now," Public Works Director Abe Forney said. "We really appreciate all the trash haulers that are helping us with this 30% reduction."
At the same time, confidence is growing that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will grant the city's request for additional temporary waste storage by early March, a key development that would significantly reduce the chances of a soft closure as early as July and buy more time for the completion of the new cell.
The agency signaled early on it would be more willing to help the city's dire situation if it took significant steps to address it first; in this case, waste reduction programs and an expedited cell construction project for $1.1 million.
"We're confident that they're going to get us that vertical expansion request very soon so that will give us some some life in our landfill," Forney said. "We've had numerous conversations with the DNR and of course, the DNR is working with us to make sure that we get everything that we need in a timely manner."
The task moving forward now is maintaining waste reductions each month as contractors move furiously on a $1.1 million project to excavate the next cell, which could be complete by October or potentially sooner if construction goes smoothly.
Opening of Cell 8, which is now halfway through the excavation phase, would allow the landfill and haulers to largely return to normal operations. City crews have already begun preliminary work on Cell 9 to ensure long-term stability.
"We're doing everything that we possibly can to make sure that Cell 8 is opened on time before cell number seven is completely full," Forney said.
City officials have been working around the clock to address the ongoing capacity emergency that resulted from trash intake doubling beginning in 2019, from 110,000 tons per year to upwards of 220,000 tons. Simultaneous delays with getting previous cells open, strained staff resources and challenges implementing waste reduction plans have created an urgent situation with wide-ranging impacts on local trash haulers.
Forney credited new city manager Mike Schumacher as being instrumental part of helping improve the situation.
CITY TO HOLD OFF ON TIPPING FEE INCREASES ... FOR NOW
The city implemented a new three-tier tipping fee structure on Feb. 7, one that charges a flat rate of $20 for cars and SUVs with no open cargo, $40 per ton for commercial trash haulers (pickups, packing vehicles), including roll-off containers, dump trucks and $150 for large transfer haulers.
The tipping fee increase was the first since 2002, a long overdue raise that city officials have acknowledged will need to be re-adjusted on an annual basis -- with the help of rate studies -- to ensure landfill revenue can support increased operational expenses moving forward.
"Our number one objective is to make sure that Cell 8 is open. By the time that Cell 7 is open, then we can move down the road and talk about some rate studies," Forney said.
City manager Mike Schumacher said if tipping fee increases are implemented in the future, local haulers will receive 6-months of notice to ensure businesses can adjust and prepare for any changes before they occur.
