PEORIA -- Environmental activist Tracy Meints Fox has analysed the proposals made by Waste Management and Peoria Disposal Co. to expand and operate the current Peoria City/County Landfill.
A meeting on these proposals takes place at 8 a.m. June 4 at the Peoria County Board room in the courthouse. (8 a.m. Yikes!)
Here are her insights on the proposals:
The contract with Waste Management runs out in 2014 (and the current active area is expected to fill by 2018) so things are underway to get the next expansion through the planning stage.
The City/County joint committee is running the bid process and has received proposals from both PDC and Waste Management. There will be a public meeting where both companies present their proposals followed by questions from city/county officials and public comments.
It will be Thursday morning at the County Board room starting at 8AM and include one-hour presentations by PDC and Waste Management. There, disappointingly, has been little public notice about the meeting.
There are also a number of interesting things in the proposals. After reviewing the proposal solicitation, the comments prepared by staff and Foth (an outside consultant) and the proposal binders prepared by PDC and Waste Management, here are some things (of) interest:
- PDC includes a permanent household hazardous waste collection depot at the landfill, but WM does not.
- PDC offers to manage four recycling drop-offs as part of the contract, but WM only offers to manage one at the landfill.
- Both companies plan to eliminate free dumping ... raising the question of how this will impact illegal dumping especially on rural county roads.
- Neither company's proposal is clear as whether delisted wastes from PDC's hazardous waste processing plant will be landfilled in the new cell.
- WM has resurrected the idea of a bioreactor and its proposal is unclear on whether the intent is to pursue the mixing of yard waste into the landfill again.
- WM's proposal includes a liquid waste solidification process ... but no details on what this will be used for and what types of waste it will accept.
- PDC is offering a $1.8 million cash payment to be split between the city and county following a "non-appealable" (in PDC's words) siting decision; WM's proposal does not include any outright cash.
- Last year PDC hired away WM's head of landfill operations. Now he is listed as the proposed head of PDC's city/county landfill management team.
- The proposed expansion will sit over an old mine site in an area which may or may not have wetlands. Both proposals acknowledge these facts but neither discusses specific safeguards related to the proximity of the landfill to the San Koty aquifer.
- PDC's proposal includes a plan to extend West Forrest Hill Drive through PDC property (which appears to me to be adjacent or through the hazardous waste landfill) but no details on how routing garbage trucks through the center of the city will impact traffic, neighborhoods, etc.
Additionally, I found it frustrating that the entire expansion is predicated on an assumption that landfill volumes will continue to increase 1% per year.
It does not appear that the committee or any other planning group did a study to assess ways the city and county could reduce its landfill requirements (for example, curbside recycling as a mandatory part of trash pickup). Instead, they are forging ahead with a contract that could end up undermining any future push for recycling.
What a public service to slog through these proposals! (Where is the local news media on this?)
why is it always up to the environmental advocates to raise such vital issues as recycling, which likely could save millions in extending the landfill life?
Oh well -- see you at the hearing!
-- Elaine Hopkins
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