As the Larimer County Landfill reaches its final days, Northern Colorado leaders have announced a path for trash that includes perhaps our last county-run landfill ever.
The plan includes composting facilities for yard waste and food scraps, a processing facility for construction and demolition waste, and a central transfer station so haulers and residents can tip trash at the current landfill site.
Also in their plans: a county-wide landfill ban on yard waste. The new facilities will trigger a 6 percent trash pick-up cost increase for residents, the group estimates. That means a family paying $13 a month for a 65-gallon trash cart would pay $13.80 under the proposal. The county will eat much of the construction cost because it’s been saving money in a landfill replacement fund.
Together, the multimillion-dollar plan is expected to divert an estimated 40 percent of trash from the landfill in addition to what’s already being diverted.
Here’s a rundown of plans introduced by the North Front Range Regional Wasteshed Coalition. Leaders hope to have these facilities in place by the time the county landfill closes in 2025, pending sign-off from Larimer County commissioners.
There Will Still Be a Landfill, in a Different Location
- Type of facility: Sanitary landfill
- What: The new landfill is slated for a 640-acre plot north of Wellington.
“It could be the last landfill we ever build,” Fort Collins environmental program manager Susie Gordon said, as recycling and composting options are expected to quash the flow of garbage to the landfill over time.
It’s not as centrally located as the current landfill, so officials suggest that trash be tipped at a transfer station at the current landfill site and then trucked to the new landfill. - Why: Larimer County already owns the land. And even as landfill diversion increases, residential and commercial trash makes up about half of what’s tipped at the landfill.
- Cost: $11.7 million
You Might Have to Compost Your Yard Waste
- Type of facility: Yard waste organics composting facility
- What: Located at the current landfill site, this facility would include aerobic composting of yard waste to produce compost for parks and recreation facilities, gardens and landscaping. A landfill ban on yard waste and countywide yard waste pick-up for single-family homes would ensure the facility has enough waste to work with.
- Why: Yard waste is low-hanging fruit in the world of landfill diversion because it can be easily composted, Fort Collins environmental planner Honore Depew said. Fort Collins haulers have already rolled out yard waste pick-up as an opt-in measure for single-family homes.
- Cost: $11.8 million
Food Waste Would Get a Compost Site
- Type of facility: Food waste composting
- What: This facility would use large aerated bins to mitigate funky odors and nix the need for turning over piles. Officials suggest a mandate that grocers send all food scraps to the compost facility, and additional requirements could come up for residents down the road.
- Why: Food scraps produce a lot of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when they’re land-filled. Sending them to a compost facility instead is an environmentally friendly move, leaders say.
- Cost: Unspecified
To read the full story, visit https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/05/08/new-landfill-mandatory-yard-waste-composting-among-larimer-trash-plans/588540002/.