PEORIA, Ill. – With Peoria’s city and county landfill in Edwards getting closer to capacity, and no alternative location available, Peoria County Board members want to keep searching for an Environmental Protection Agency-approved site for a new landfill.
Thursday night’s monthly board meeting began with a policy discussion, with staff asking the board to share their thoughts. Board Chairman James Dillon wanted to know if a three-party agreement should continue with the original contract with GFL Inc., or if they should negotiate and build a transfer station.
Peoria County’s waste facility sits in Edwards, off Rt. 8. It has two designated yards that have collected Peoria’s trash for nearly 50 years, and it’s time for a third, officials tell 25 News.
Landfill 2 is expected to reach its capacity by the end of this year. Per contract, GFL was supposed to have Landfill 3 built before that happened, but the company has not done that, after discovering the proposed location sits on top of a mine.
The citing process of Landfill 3 happened in 2010, and the maps were updated in 2012, according to Josh Gabehart. Gabehart is with Foth Infrastructure, LLC, an engineering firm used by Peoria for landfills.
There are two options the city and the county can choose from when it comes to quickly determining the next steps of finding a landfill location.
The first option is to amend the existing contract with GFL and allow the firm to build a transfer station in Pottstown, about seven miles from the original landfill sites.
Garbage trucks would drop solid waste at the transfer station. The garbage would then be compacted and reloaded into different trucks and transferred to a final disposal site.
GFL’s proposed transfer station would not be up and running until January 2026, but it would be the city and county’s drop-off location for the next 15 years. It would also have a capacity of 650 tons per day.
The 15-year delay would give GFL time to regain the money it would have to spend on building the transfer station.
With that option, some Peoria County Board members were concerned about the change in cost and EPA requirements over that time period. Gabehart clarified that it would be GFL’s responsibility to deal with that issue.
“The current contract states that [GFL] should build the landfill, I understand that, and that’s an emotional decision maybe, but from a business decision, I would still be willing to pursue a transfer station concept for 15 years as long as the due diligence was done and all of our concerns were answered,” said Board member Steve Rieker.
A second option would be to move forward with the original contract with GFL and build Landfill 3, even though it would not be ready when Landfill 2 reaches its capacity.
“I don’t think contracts are emotional,” said Board member Linda Daley. “I think you sign them, you agree to do this, and we need to proceed with it.”
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so I would vote to forge ahead with building Landfill 3,” Board member Nathan Hoerr said.
The majority of the County Board favors continuing the original contract. The City of Peoria and the landfill committee are also involved, so Thursday’s decision was not binding.
Either conclusion would leave the city and the county without an immediate location to drop off solid waste for about two years. The landfill committee says garbage will still be picked up during that time and will be taken to Landfill 1 or another county. More space would be needed temporarily at Landfill 1.
GFL’s representative did not comment at the meeting.
