Waste Management of Illinois is proposing a major expansion of its landfill near Elwood in Will County, increasing its size by about 150 acres.
The landfill is now about 200 acres, and the company says the expansion will add 10 years of life to the dump, which is now expected to reach capacity in 2021.
The plan must be approved by the Will County Board, which has appointed a three-member pollution control facility committee to conduct a public hearing that must be held between 90 and 120 days from July 10, the date the application was filed with the county.
The committee consists of three county board members: Tom Weigel, R-New Lenox; Suzanne Hart, R-Naperville, and Don Moran, D-Romeoville.
The site, 21101 W. Laraway Road, will continue to accept the same types of materials — construction debris, industrial waste and contaminated soil — but will not take municipal trash or hazardous, liquid and medical waste, said Donald Moran, an attorney for Waste Management of Illinois and no relation to the board member.
Much of the expansion, more than 70 acres, will be north of Laraway Road, Donald Moran said, adding that the landfill will also expand vertically — giving it about 30 million additional tons of capacity.
The bigger dump will address an estimated shortfall of 33 million tons in the disposal capacity for such waste in the 12-county region from 2021 to 2030, according to the company’s application. It estimates the amount of that waste to be generated in those counties over that decade at about 56 million tons.
In September, the county board approved a new fee agreement with WMI that would also apply to the new area of the landfill. It provides that WMI will pay the county a graduated fee — from $1 per ton for up to 500,000 tons per year to as much as $2.75 per ton for more than 800,000 tons.
WMI also agreed to pay the county $100,000 annually for the first five years to be used at the county’s discretion and an extra $50,000 in each of the first five years to benefit community organizations in the landfill area as selected by the county board.
If county board members approve the expansion, WMI will apply for permits from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. If the IEPA grants the permits, the company hopes to begin operating in the landfill’s new area in 2018 and expects to take in about 3 million tons per year from Will, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle and McHenry counties and Lake County, Ind., according to WMI.
The county board’s pollution control facility committee will determine if WMI’s plan meets nine required criteria, including whether there’s a need for a larger landfill, its compatibility with the surrounding area, its impact on traffic in that area, and that its operations will not threaten the health, safety and welfare of the area.
