PEORIA -- The stand alone design for Landfill No. 3 received unanimous approval by the Peoria City/County Landfill Committee at its April 20 meeting.
Peoria environmental activists praised the decision for expansion of the municipal landfill. They had feared approval of an alternative design, a 60-year contract for a lay-over design, built on Landfill No. 2, but it was ultimately rejected.
The approval includes a $1 million Citizens Convenience Center, where citizens can deposit recyclables including tires and electronic goods, and a materials exchange store where items like paint can be deposited and taken away free by others who need the items.
It will include a household hazardous waste center where people can drop off those unwanted supplies once monthly. The facility will encourge recycling and proper disposal of potentially hazardous items that otherwise might go into the landfill. It will be the first of its type in downstate Illinois.
Unfortunately it may not open until 2020, but could open sooner, Peoria Disposal Co. vice president Chris Coulter said after the meeting. PDC will be the operator of Landfill No. 3.
The landfill expansion process will continue, to include approval by the Peoria City Council and County Board and ultimately by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Committee engineer Pat Sloan commented that the stand alone design "makes more sense for strategic and risk management reasons." It has community support, he said.
He also noted that if one of the old landfills ever leaks into the groundwater, it might have to be relocated, more easily done without the layover design.
Committee chairman Les Bergsten commented that Peoria County contains two old landfills, along Kickapoo Creek, that have no liners and perhaps should be dug up and relocated, though that would be very expensive.
Committee member Steve Van Winkle said the landfill must serve the region to be economically viable. "We're happy when people come here to shop or work," he said. "Their waste stream" provides needed funds to operate the landfill, he said.
Committee member Ryan Spain mentioned a situation he said is costing the city a lot of money that should be resolved with the operator of Landfill No. 2, Waste Management. Reportedly he meant the fact that WM is charging lower tipping fees for waste disposal to other municipalities than Peoria itself pays But his comment was not made clear to the audience.
A citizen in the audience, Patricia Melaik, then spoke of encouraging recycling, and said a subcommittee should be set up to encourage it. She volunteered to help. PDC, which has the city garbage hauling contract, provides curbside recycling, but participation remains low, perhaps because of the $50 deposit required for the bins.
That's a one-time refundable deposit, but people may not understand that, Coulter said afterward.
My take: This is democracy in action, an open process, with thoughtful decision making and the input of citizens.
PDC officials have done a very classy job of presenting their proposal, which has won over their former foes. This group includes Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste, a powerful grass roots group formed a few years ago to stop the expansion of PDC's hazardous waste landfill.
The Families group won that battle, and the hazardous waste landfill is slated to close soon. Instead of being resentful, PDC, a local company with top notch, long term employees, to its credit went ahead to develop a proposal for the municipal landfill that should serve the community for years to come.
It was praise all around at the meeting, well deserved.
In addition, the municipal landfill presents an invisible but important advantage to area business and industry, which can count on affordable fees for disposal, ultimately regulated by local government. Catrpillar, Inc., engineers have been out to look at the site and the design, Bergsten said at the meeting.
Smart. Checks and balances at work, resulting in a good proposal.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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