Existing Landfill Disposal

The majority of MSW generated in Marion County and slated for disposal is received at the WTEF, on the order of 74% in 2007. However, with any system that uses an alternative technology to traditional landfilling, there are certain limitations that must be planned to make sure all waste is properly disposed. This includes three types of waste or events: 1) waste that cannot be combusted (non-combustible); 2) diverted

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waste during times that the WTEF is shut down for maintenance; and 3) waste generated in excess of the WTEF capacity. Marion County generated over 64,000 tons of waste in these categories for landfill disposal in 2007. Figure 6-1 shows locations of out-of-County regional landfills potentially available to receive these excess tonnages.

Marion County is fortunate to have two regional MSW landfills located in reasonable proximity to its jurisdictions. Coffin Butte Landfill is located in adjacent Benton County, about 30 miles from the city center of Salem. It receives waste directly from collection companies that is generated in excess of the WTEF capacity. It also handles waste when the facility is down. The County has an informal agreement with these companies to deliver MSW to Coffin Butte when the WTEF is operating at capacity or is offline. Coffin Butte also receives residual waste from the MRRF. Coffin Butte has sufficient capacity to support the disposal needs of Marion County. The other disposal site is the Riverbend Landfill, located in Yamhill County, 30 miles from the center of the City of Salem.

Historically, each of these landfills has received MSW from Marion County, although Riverbend in much lower amounts. These landfills receive waste in excess of the WTEF capacity and waste when the WTEF is shutdown.

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Figure 6-1 - Regional Out-of-County Landfills

During these events, the County has worked in a cooperative arrangement with local collection companies to deliver waste to the landfill directly from collection routes. However, with population growth, the number of trips directly to the landfills has increased, and with higher fuel prices, it is becoming more costly for collection trucks to transport waste to the landfills, and this is beginning to put pressure on rates. To accommodate more efficient transportation, it will be necessary to use larger transfer trailers to transport waste to landfills. This will require new investments in the County transfer station system. The cost to transport waste by larger trailers is

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about $0.05 to $0.08 per ton – mile, while the cost to transport waste by collection trucks is approximately $0.13 to $0.15 per ton-mile.

As discussed in Chapter 5, Waste Collection and Transfer, in order to transport waste to landfills more economically, additional transfer capacity is required. This capacity may be achieved by expansion of or modifications to existing facilities. Another option is to possibly site and build a new transfer station.

Coffin Butte Landfill

Coffin Butte Landfill, located south of Marion County, near Corvallis in Benton County, has served as backup to the WTEF since 1987. Located about 30 miles from the center of Salem, this landfill receives waste in excess of the WTEF capacity. It also serves as backup to the WTEF when there is scheduled maintenance or downtime.

Coffin Butte Landfill is owned by Allied Waste, which was recently acquired by Republic Services and is the second largest waste management company in the United States. The County has no formal agreement with Coffin Butte to accept waste originating from Marion County. Coffin Butte charges a “public gate rate” of $44 per ton for disposal. The landfill, formerly regulated by Benton County for disposal rates, now has the ability to negotiate a contract rate based on volume. The landfill owners have reported there is sufficient capacity within the approved landfill footprint for many years of service at current disposal quantities. If the County’s use of the WTEF is discontinued, the amount of County waste that may have to be disposed in a landfill increases by 185,000 tpy. This amount of waste will have an impact on the site life of the current Coffin Butte Landfill. Based on preliminary findings from information provided by the landfill owner, the landfill would accommodate disposal of Marion County’s waste for at least 25 years. This assumes no new alternative disposal technology is implemented and the County’s recycling rate stays the same.

Riverbend Landfill

Located in Yamhill County, this MSW landfill is operated by Waste Management Northwest. In addition to providing disposal options for Yamhill County wastes, the facility serves as a regional disposal site for several communities in northwest Oregon, including counties on the coast and Columbia County. The landfill is approximately 30 miles west of Marion County. The landfill has a limited capacity under its current approved footprint. Waste Management Northwest has proposed an expansion of the landfill and is now working with local officials and ODEQ to consider this expansion. However, the approval of this expansion is uncertain and Yamhill County has recently issued an RFP for consulting services to evaluate waste disposal options should the expansion not be approved. If this expansion is not implemented, it is likely that tonnages currently directed to Riverbend Landfill by area jurisdictions will be rerouted to Coffin Butte Landfill, which may have an impact on the service life of this landfill. Transportation costs to the Riverbend Landfill from Marion County are similar to those for Coffin Butte.

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Use of Area Landfills for Residue/Overage/Bypass Tonnages

There are important advantages to using one or both of these MSW landfills as a disposal site for waste in excess of, and as backup to, the WTEF. First, each facility has sufficient capacity to dispose of the County’s excess waste in the near term (5- 10 years), although Riverbend Landfill’s expansion is uncertain. Second, they are near the County, which minimizes the cost to transport waste versus more distant landfills located in eastern Oregon. Third, each landfill is willing to discuss a service agreement with Marion County to guarantee available capacity. To date, almost all waste in excess of the WTEF has been disposed of at Coffin Butte because it is closer to where waste is generated in the County.

The disadvantage may be that the landfills are too convenient to self-haulers. Many self-haulers, including contractors with construction debris, transport their own waste to the Coffin Butte Landfill. By hauling directly to the landfill, these customers avoid paying for general services provided by the County, such as waste reduction and recycling services, or debt service for existing infrastructure that is available to them. Users of the Marion County system are then forced to pay more on a unit cost basis to fund these programs.

These customers also avoid using the collection system that provides a fairly high level of service and is more cost-effective to collect and deliver waste to the appropriate facility. Also, if their direct-haul material contains high amounts of recyclables, as C/D waste often does, there is no potential to recover and recycle certain materials, and the County loses out on capturing additional recycling tonnages.

In order to address these issues and ensure there will be sufficient capacity available, the County should consider contracting with one or both of these landfills. The County could use its flow control authority to require that all the waste is processed for recovery and that sufficient waste is delivered to the WTEF. In return, the out-of-County landfill could provide a set fee and also collect appropriate fees to pay for the County services.

Construction and Demolition (C/D) Debris

Typical C&D waste materials may include: ashes, asphalt shingles, concrete, fiberglass, bricks, dirt, plaster, rock, tile, vinyl flooring, plastic sheeting, window glass, asbestos, and polystyrene (Styrofoam) insulation. Select drop-box loads of C/D waste are taken to the MRRF for separation and processing. Once the material is processed, the residual waste is taken to Coffin Butte or BI for disposal. Other construction debris materials, which may include items such as wood waste, metal scraps and some plastics, are recycled through the processing at MRRF.

Brown’s Island Landfill (BI)

The BI is permitted to accept only inert demolition waste that cannot be handled at the WTEF. The landfill primarily receives gypsum wallboard from private haulers in Marion County. The facility also receives roofing tiles, ceramics, bricks, concrete or other inert materials. Since there are no liner systems installed at BI, the landfill is restricted from accepting all other types of waste.

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In 2007, BI accepted an estimated 8,659 tons. The number of tons is converted from volume because there are no scales at the landfill. In 2000, the ODEQ granted the County an extension to the (landfill/operating) permit. This extension allowed the County to expand vertically by adding lifts on top of the current landfill, thus providing more capacity.

BI also serves as a backup for disposal of disaster debris materials in case of catastrophic events. Incidents of floods, severe wind storms or ice in winter can result in larger than normal amounts of waste that must be disposed. BI provides a backup for such events. Based on current waste flows, the landfill has an estimated site capacity for 15 years of service. Once this landfill is full, the County would not have benefit of a local disposal site for these waste streams. Either a new landfill must be sited and permitted or this waste will need to be transported to Coffin Butte or other local regional sites if available.