With landfill near capacity, Peoria needs a solution for trash. Here's where things stand

A plan the Peoria City Council was to consider on Tuesday, which would have spent $100,000 in an effort to find solutions to the landfill conundrum facing the region, may be temporarily on hold.

Peoria County and the city of Peoria were considering a plan to pay Foth Engineering $100,000 to explore options for where the county and city's trash can go when Landfill No. 2 reaches its capacity at some point this year.

However, positive talks with GFL Environmental — the company at the heart of the landfill predicament — have city and county officials holding off on taking any action, for now.

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Talks with GFL Environmental progressing well

All of this extends from what city and county officials believe to be a "stalling tactic" by GFL Environmental Services, which purchased Peoria Disposal Company in 2021, in the construction of the ill-fated and non-existent Landfill No. 3 that was supposed to relieve Landfill No. 2 of its duties.

GFL Environmental never built Landfill No. 3, claiming the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency halted the project over concerns a mine was located under the site where the landfill was to be built.

Peoria County and city officials believe GFL Environmental halted the project on its own and have solicited the state's attorney's office to serve GFL with a breach of contract notice.

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However, Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich said city and county officials had a meeting with GFL last week to discuss resolutions to the issue that he said was "very productive" and was possibly the most productive meeting they've had with GFL in the last two years.

Peoria County Administrator Scott Sorel said that in the meeting, which included Sorrel, Urich, landfill committee chair Stephen Morris and GFL's CEO Patrick Dovigi, that Dovigi told them his company "honors their contracts, full stop."

The positive takeaways from the meeting and Dovigi's words are why the County Board voted to defer the item and the City Council is likely to do the same Tuesday night. Sorrel said talks with GFL are in a "trust but verify" stage.

"I would say it was a positive dialogue and conversation with the CEO of GFL Environmental, and I think we look forward to resolving some of the issues we've had over the last couple of years," Sorrel said.

Urich said hypothetically if GFL began building Landfill No. 3 today "with all due speed" it would still be about two years until it would be ready to accept waste. That has made finding a solution to the issue all the more urgent.

Sorrel said the most recent data indicates Landfill No. 2, which opened in 1998, will be full in the fall. However, if the action the city landfill committee took goes through, that could be extended to May 2025 or June 2025, but said it is far too early to tell what is going to happen.

"As a show of good faith effort on our part, we chose not to adopt that resolution last Thursday but chose to defer it so we could continue the dialogue," Sorrel said.

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What was the landfill plan on the table?

The city landfill committees approved these plans last month. However, the Peoria County landfill committee deferred voting on the matter at its meeting, and Urich said it is likely that the city council will do the same Tuesday night.

Foth Engineering would be paid $50,000 to investigate the transition from Landfill No. 2 to Landfill No. 3, which is considered extra work not in Foth's original contract.

Foth would also be paid $25,000 to explore what it would take for a waste transfer station to be constructed somewhere in Peoria County. Foth Engineering has identified 10 tasks that would be necessary for a transfer station to be built and will deliver costs estimates to officials on what it would take to complete such a project.

Peoria would also pay Foth $25,000 to explore what it would take for the shutdown Landfill No. 1 to possibly be reopened for trash dumping. Foth has identified six steps that would be necessary in order to get Landfill No. 1 in a state where it could once again accept trash.

The plan to pay Foth Engineering $100,000 was not the only option on the table for the Peoria City Council to consider Tuesday night.

There is also a consideration to waive the $200,000 minimum payment Waste Management is supposed to make to the Landfill Committee for dumping trash in Landfill No. 2. This payment would be waived if Waste Management agrees to divert all non-city and non-county trash to somewhere other than Landfill No. 2 in an effort to extend its lifespan.

Waste Management is supposed to pay the Landfill Committee $1.50 for each ton of waste deposited into Landfill No. 2 or a minimum $200,000 early payment. Instead of the early payment, Waste Management would continue to pay the $1.50 per ton of waste dumped into Landfill No. 2.

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria looks for solution to landfill nearing capacity