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By BRETT D. JOHNSON



Garbage dilemma: running out of landfills



Illinois is faced with a serious problem. Business and residents throw away garbage in large quanitities — 52 million cubic yards in 1981 — but places to put it are becoming scarce. Landfill space will be gone by 1990 — sooner in the Chicago area — and no new landfill has opened since 1983. Environmental groups caution against burning garbage, and citizens are reluctant to separate it for recycling. The legislative response to the impending crisis, the Illinois Solid Waste Management Act, has been held up in a legal battle.



Three percent of the garbage
generated in Illinois last year
was incinerated, 2 percent
was recycled and 95
percent was buried in one
of the 146 landfills in Illinois


Three percent of the garbage generated in Illinois last year was incinerated, 2 percent was recycled and 95 percent was buried in one of the 146 landfills in Illinois. Nationally 87 percent of all garbage is buried in landfills. There is only one incinerator in the state, located on the south side of Chicago. Illinois also imports garbage from neighboring states, according to reports by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). This impending crisis prompted the General Assembly to approve the Illinois Solid Waste Management Act in 1986. This gubernatorial initiative was designed to reduce the state's reliance on landfills. The act created a $10 million solid waste management fund, with the money coming from a surcharge on garbage dumped into landfills. This money was for grants to local governments interested in studying, planning and implementing waste reduction plans, recycling programs and other alternatives to landfills. Additional funds were to go to the University of Illinois for studies on solid waste management. The U of I would research cost effective solutions to the Illinois solid waste problem and advise local governments. Recycling centers in Illinois also got a portion of the money for implementing any innovative ideas that would further relieve the situation. Finally the IEPA was to receive additional funds in order to expand some landfills.

Before any grants were awarded a group of landfill operators, led by the Houston-based waste disposal company, Browning-Ferris Industries, charged that since landfill operators with binding contracts did not have to pay the fee while haulers with contracts did, and since certain wastes, such as coal ash, were exempt from the surcharge, the tax was unconstitutional. A Cook County judge agreed. The Illinois Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case in June, but a decision might not come until August. Meanwhile the entire act has been held up and no progress has been made.

Although competing interest groups, from the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce to the Illinois Environmental Council, agreed on passage of the waste management act in 1986, there has been little agreement on other solutions such as mandatory recycling and incineration. Interest groups and state officials continue to pass the buck on who should solve the problem.

But while officials attempt to work out other solutions, landfill space is becoming scarce, and siting new ones is difficult. One reason for this is legislation passed in 1982. The 82nd General Assembly passed S.B. 172 (Public Act 82-682), establishing local siting procedures for landfills, known as the 172 process. This turned over to local authorities the right to reject a landfill on technical grounds. Under this system local governments, acting in response to local residents who do not want landfills nearby, have consistently denied landfill applications. There has not been a landfill sited in Illinois since 1983, despite 69 applications.


June 1988 | Illinois Issues | 28


ii880628-1.jpg
Photo courtesy the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

"We have screwed up the system," says Bernard H. Sieracki of Waste Mangement Inc. "We are doing everything in our power to make sure we never have a solution on the legislative level." David S. Buckner, director of the office of solid waste and renewable resources for the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, agrees. "At some point people have to realize it's their waste," he says. Even if Illinois implements recycling and waste reduction programs, Buckner says landfills will still be needed at some point. Sieracki says there is a cottage industry of protesters that go into towns and rally people against landfills. He insists local approval laws must be eased, but many groups, including the Illinois Municipal League and the Illinois Environmental Council, fight any attempts to diminish local authority.

In the past landfills could easily be expanded, but the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in mid-May that expansion of current landfills in height constitutes a new landfill and must receive local approval. "Adjusting the dimensions of a landfill facility to increase the amount of waste stored will surely have an impact on the danger to the surrounding area from fire, spills or other operational accidents and the character of the surrounding area," Justice Daniel P. Ward said for the court. Atty. Gen. Neil F. Hartigan, who argued the case before the court, hailed the decision. "This is a major victory because it makes it clear that local communities are entitled to a strong voice in protecting and enhancing the quality of their environment," he said.

Elected officials continually echo Hartigan's statement, going out of their way to show opposition to landfills in their communities. Sen. Jerome J. Joyce (D-43, Reddick) says the siting of landfills should never be political. But in a press release responding to charges that he was encouraging a landfill in his district, he threatened to sue the printer of the pamplets for libel. "I am proud to have played a part in virtually every effort undertaken in Springfield in recent years to provide the necessary safeguards aimed at protecting citizens from unwanted dumping of garbage and other toxic wastes," he said.

Recycling has been considered the most viable option, but few local governments have made any serious efforts on their own to start recycling programs. Rep. Peg McDonnell Breslin (D-75, Ottawa) introduced legislation this session that would require counties with populations of more than 100,000 and the city of Chicago to adopt reduction and recycling programs. "The county planning is the key," Breslin says. She says municipalities and the state have known this crisis was coming since the early 1980s, but no one has taken any action. "That's why mandatory recycling is needed," she says. "If we get started on source reduction and recycling, we will have extended the life of our landfills."

But Ken Alderson of the Illinois Municipal League is firmly opposed to any mandatory efforts. "It's a ridiculous idea," he says. "The state is trying to find an easy way out by forcing local government to come up with a solution." He says downstate communities should not be forced to recycle because the problem is not as severe: "We have plenty of room for landfills downstate." He also says a law needs to be passed requiring use of recycled materials before recycling is mandated. Opponents of mandatory recycling say the lack of markets for the recycled products is a major roadblock and insist efforts be made to expand markets before any laws are implemented. But proponents of recycling say a demand for recycled goods will form once a supply is available.

Markets for glass and aluminum are already available — the major problem is with recycled newsprint, says Steve Apotheker, former president of the Illinois Association of Recycling Centers. He notes newsprint makes up over 6 percent of the garbage dumped into landfills, yet the state's largest paper mill, in Alsip, can increase recycling by 25 percent. But most newspapers do not use the recycled newsprint. "Our local newspapers will write nice editorials saying 'we shouldn't bury it,' but they won't buy the recycled newsprint," he says. He notes


June 1988 | Illinois Issues | 29


the Chicago Tribune uses recycled newspaper, but is opening its own mill in Ontario, Canada, where there is curbside pickup for recycling.

Many Illinois communities will not be able to afford curb-side pick-up unless the funding mechanism of the waste management act is back in place. Breslin has introduced legislation to clear the constitutional problems with the surcharge that were cited by the Cook County judge and are currently before the Illinois Supreme Court. Breslin's bill would extend the sunset provision of the 1986 act and clearly define what solid waste can be taxed. Originally her bill also allowed counties to impose a surcharge of up to 60 cents per cubic yard, with the money going into a local fund for future waste management plans. But her bill sparked controversy when she amended it, lowering the county tax option to 45 cents and eliminating a 70-cent surcharge allowed for other units of government, such as the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. DuPage County has a sanitary landfill, and the forest preserve district imposes the 70-cent tax on garbage coming from Chicago, which it is required to take. This controversy led to a feisty debate on the House floor during second reading, when Rep. Thomas J. McCracken Jr. (R-81, Downers Grove) unsuccessfully tried to keep the local surcharge option in the legislation. The bill passed the House in Breslin's form, but negotiations are in progress between DuPage County and Chicago officials on a suitable surcharge. If Breslin's mandatory recycling program is to be implemented, this funding mechanism must be back in place.



Many Illinois
communities will not
be able to afford
curbside pick-up unless
the funding mechanism
of the waste management
act is back in place


Another recycling program relying on state money is being sponsored by Rep. James M. Kirkland (R-66, Elgin). His bill would create the Municipal Recycling Pilot Project Act. It would require the Department of Energy and Natural Resources to give grants and other assistance to municipalities interested in recycling projects. Local governments would have to pay 50 percent of the cost of their programs. A similar bill passed the General Assembly last year but was vetoed by Gov. James R. Thompson because of the state's financial crunch. Without increased revenues, the bill will likely face the same fate this year.

Most current recycling plans require homeowners to separate their own garbage, but a technology currently in use offers recycling without presorting. Several suburban Chicago communities are considering this process. Reuter Resource Recovery of Eden Prairie, Minn., separates garbage by hand at their plant and then recycles the trash.

This process has been used in Europe for about 30 years, says Roger Davis, a company executive. After this plant receives the garbage, untreatable items such as appliances are removed. The remaining garbage is sent onto a conveyer belt where larger pieces are pulled out, shredded and reentered into the system. All but 10 percent of the garbage is recycled in some form: 25-30 percent is made into compost material that is sold to nurseries as a plant fertilizer and 45-55 percent is changed to energy pellets that are burned in place of coal.

The Illinois Coal Association has doubts about the effectiveness of the energy pellets. The association's president, Joseph Spivey, says the pellets are still in a testing stage, but already some results are negative. He says the pellets do not burn at temperatures as high as coal and may not work in or may even damage some boilers. The pellets also leave ashes that must be removed. While Spivey concedes the pellets are not in the interests of the coal industry, he says they currently pose no threat to the industry.

Recovery operations of this sort are not done at all by Waste Management Inc., the largest handler of solid waste in Illinois. Efforts at recycling are limited to homeowner separation, says Bill Moore of Waste Management. Moore said separation at plants has been tried in the past and proven economically unfeasible. Steve Apotheker of the recycling centers association also has doubts about this technology. He says the process has a mixed track record and is more expensive than home separation, but is worth looking into.

Incineration is another alternative to landfills given much attention. Currently incinerators must go through the same siting process as landfills and have the same problems receiving local approval. The biggest problem with incineration in the past has been concern over the emissions into the air. But Kevin Greene of Citizens for a Better Environment says legislation in recent years has cleared up the air pollution problem. His main concern now is the ash from incineration. About 90 percent of the garbage is burned, but the remaining 10 percent in ash form is considered toxic. Sieracki of Waste Management says the ash can be safely buried in new landfills. He says modern landfills do not pose a threat to the environment because of liners and testing wells to protect groundwater. But Greene still encourages local governments to look for other alternatives until safe disposal of the ash is assured.

With landfill space running out within the next five years, some attempt by the General Assembly to avert a crisis is likely. Mandatory recycling legislation has been moving through the process, despite the objections of the Illinois Municipal League and the city of Chicago. Some developers are attempting to build new landfills in the state. Although siting laws may not be changed, Greene does not believe it is impossible to site a landfill under current law. "I think you will generally find people will accept a landfill if it's for their own garbage," Greene says. "They just don't want other people's garbage." With the possibility of some new landfills, some recycling efforts and renewed interest in incineration, the state may stumble onto a solution that meets the challenge of finding a place to dispose of its trash. Otherwise Illinois may be forced to pay to haul garbage to states that have planned for future waste disposal. □


June 1988 | Illinois Issues | 30



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