City 'fortunate' to have landfill; changes are ahead

One man's trash is another man's treasure. However, sometimes that trash is still just trash and that means someone has to take care of it.

Kimball is fortunate to have a landfill a mile away from the city. The perks of having its own landfill mean that Kimball does not have to pay to send trash to a neighboring community with a landfill, such as Sidney or Scottsbluff, said City Administrator Daniel Ortiz.

"As a small community, we are very fortunate to have a landfill. It does away with trash transport costs and means that county and city residents have a closer place to dump things," Ortiz said.

The Kimball landfill sits on a large portion of land west of town. On that land there are several areas where the different kinds of waste are sorted and handled accordingly. There are areas portioned for recycling metals and appliances. There is also an area that allows for the repair of some of the dumpsters that might have rotted through from years of use.

"We try to repair as many of them as we can. Most of the ones we are fixing are the green dumpsters for the yard waste. The moisture from the grass that it holds causes the metal to rot faster than the other dumpsters," said Jim Schulte, waste management superintendent.

Schulte and his staff work to replace the bottoms on the green dumpsters. They are also adding drain holes so that the moisture does not accumulate unnecessarily. Hopefully the newly added drain holes will extend the life of the newly repaired dumpsters.

Something that is helping cut costs at the landfill is the pits that do not need a plastic lining, which is good because the lining can get very expensive. With pits such as the construction and demolition pit, wood pit and yard waste pit, a liner is not required by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ). Not needing to have that liner in all the pits cuts down costs quite a bit. In addition, having the separate pits for some of the larger garbage means that the waste cell does not fill as quickly as it would if it was where all the waste was dumped.

When individuals go to the landfill to dump they are escorted by landfill staff to the waste pits that fit their needs.

"One of the landfill personnel will escort the individual to whatever pit they need to go to and that way they can monitor what is being dumped. Some people see it as babysitting but it's what has to be done to keep up with NDEQ requirements," Ortiz said.

NDEQ will often conduct random inspections of the landfill, and as a result the landfill crew must be ever vigilant in making sure everything is in the best order possible, Ortiz said. NDEQ conducts quarterly inspections of the landfill as well as asks for water samples to be sure that the waste is not affecting the area's water supply.

In order to keep the waste cells safe a layer of dirt must be spread over the waste cell every day. This prevents trash from blowing around and prevents smells and gasses from entering the air.

The landfill was previously open until 4:30 p.m., but due to the strict regulations that must be adhered to, the closing time changed to 3:30 p.m.

"We close and use that hour to pick up loose trash the wind might have blown and just make sure the grounds are kept up to the standards set by NDEQ," Schulte said.

In order to maintain an efficient and effective landfill the trash that goes into the cell must be processed throughout the baler. The baler compacts the trash at roughly 800 pounds per square inch and is vital to the landfill's everyday routine.

"If that baler goes down we lose a lot of space. Our other machines are not able to compact it that well," Schulte said.

The current baler is getting older and it will need to be replaced. It currently is so old that parts for it are not readily available if repairs are needed. What this means is that to make repairs, it sometimes takes up to three weeks to receive the needed part. That is three weeks of not being able to use the baler and either work builds up or it is not compacted as efficiently.

The better compacted the garbage, the less space the garbage takes up and the longer it takes to fill a waste cell. The current waste cell, that has been in use since 1996, will need to be closed soon. Opening a new cell entails digging and possibly breaking up rock and stone, which means more money needing to be spent. However, spending money on a waste cell that will last roughly 18 years is clearly a worthy expense, according to Ortiz.

"It will be a ways down the road. We still have to make sure we get with NDEQ before we start anything, so it will be a process," Ortiz said.

NDEQ dictates many of the procedures and decisions that the Kimball landfill has to make. The green dumpsters that have been distributed through the city are strictly for yard waste, though more often than not people throw household waste into these green dumpsters.

"When people dump in these green dumpsters things other than yard waste it means more work for Schulte and his staff because they have to sort through it all and make sure they get all the waste out that isn't yard waste. NDEQ will fine us for having that household waste mixed in," Ortiz said.

In 2013, the landfill saw 3,799,300 pounds of house waste and 763,750 pounds of construction and demolition waste. In 2012, the landfill handled 2,478,250 pounds of construction and demolition. That same year 3,523,000 pounds of household waste was taken in by the landfill.

The landfill will be in need of updated equipment in the future, and this is necessary for it to be able to process and handle the 3 million pounds of house waste processed each year.

"We understand that it's an expense but it's also a convenience for the City of Kimball and the county. It provides a service that many small communities such as ours are not privileged to have," Ortiz said.