No Recommendation on Tipping Fee from Waste Management Committee

The Effingham County Board's Waste Management Committee will recommend to the Board no action on setting a tipping fee until Landfill 33 is ready to apply for a permit to expand the landfill.

The County Board several years ago voted to institute a tipping fee, but never set what the fee would be. It was decided then that the maximum fee would be $1.27/ton, but no action has been taken since that time.

Waste Management Committee Chairman John Perry Monday told the County Board that the committee would be ready to make a recommendation on a fee at Tuesday's meeting, but that was not the case.

As of January 1, 2017, the current Landfill 33 capacity is to be filled in a little more than five years, according to numbers from the Illinois EPA, and the permitting process can be a lengthy one.

The committee Tuesday heard from Landfill 33 Operations Manager Brian Hayes that work on a new building at the landfill could be completed in January. Once the building is in place, Hayes plans to place more drop off spots for recyclables with more separated materials. That means if you have your items sorted, dropping them off could be a pretty quick process.

Meanwhile, Hayes reported that, since August 10, the landfill took 11 semi loads of recyclables to a disposal facility in Bloomington. He said all but four of the loads was cardboard, at 20 tons of material per load.

While the focus of the committee has been recycling, committee member Amber Wille of the Effingham County Health Department is still hoping for some focus on rural dumping and how it could be prevented, as well as proper disposal of hazardous materials in rural areas. Wille said there aren't funds available at the State level to provide drop off facilities, so she'd like another option to be developed.

After some discussion, the committee decided to continue to meet quarterly on the third Tuesday at 2pm.

Meanwhile, there are other initiatives active, including the recycling drop off facility for Teutopolis residents and the efforts overseen by Bill Elving and others at Centenary United Methodist Church in Effingham. Another effort, known as Effingham Recycles, is meeting as a volunteer group with Sarah Ruholl Sehy as it's chairman.