HEARINGS TO ADDRESS SOLID-WASTE PLAN

JACKSON -- A series of public hearings will be held this week in the Region 8 Solid-Waste Management District of Southeast Missouri to explain details of a plan to meet state and federal requirements for reducing the amount of trash going into area landfills.

The plan was drafted by the Region 8 Solid-Waste Management Committee in response to a mandate of Missouri Senate Bill 530. The legislation requires each of the solid-waste management districts in the state to submit a plan to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources that will reduce by 40 percent the amount of solid waste placed in landfills by 1998.

Counties in Region 8 district are Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison, Perry, Ste. Genevieve, and St. Francois.

In Cape Girardeau County a hearing will begin at 10 a.m. today in the Cape Girardeau County Commission chambers, No. 1 Barton Square in Jackson.

A Bollinger County hearing will begin at 2 p.m. today in the Bollinger County Courthouse at Marble Hill.

In Perry County a hearing will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. in the Perry County Administration Building in Perryville.

A Ste. Genevieve County hearing will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Ste. Genevieve County Courthouse at Ste. Genevieve.

A hearing will be held in Madison County Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Madison County Courthouse at Fredericktown.

Tim Morgan, solid-waste management planner, said copies of the proposed waste management plan are now available for public review at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, Jackson Public Library, Riverside Regional Library in Jackson, and Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University.

"The public is urged to review and comment on any or all elements in the plan," said Morgan. "Comments may be submitted in writing to the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, 1 West St. Joseph St., Perryville, Mo. 63775, or presented at the public hearings."

In an executive summary that accompanied the proposed plan, Morgan said solid-waste management in the district is now accomplished through a combination of public and private solid-waste collectors and haulers.

Several municipalities, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, provide municipal collection of solid waste to their residents on a weekly basis. Other communities require citizens to make arrangements with private solid-waste collectors. The remaining municipalities and unincorporated areas are served largely by private collectors and haulers.

"There is only a limited amount of solid-waste material recovery and recycling taking place in the district at the present time," said Morgan. "However, the opportunities for residents to participate in material recovery and recycling activities are increasing."

Morgan said several public and non-profit organizations have received funds under state and district grant programs for waste-reduction and recycling projects that will help the district achieve its goal of reducing by 40 percent the amount of solid waste going to landfills by 1998.

"It is anticipated that these opportunities will continue to grow in number as increased funding is made available and the programs developed under the public education element of the plan are implemented," Morgan said.

There were six active landfills, including those at Jackson, Perryville and Ste. Genevieve, in operation when the Region 8 district was formed in 1992. All six landfills announced plans to close Oct. 9, due to stringent landfill design, construction and operation regulations. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a six-month extension to the Oct. 9 deadline to allow for the development and construction of transfer stations that will provide a partial solution to the short-term, intermediate and long-term solid-waste-management plan for the district. That deadline is April.

Morgan said the proposed Region 8 plan addresses both the short-term, intermediate and long-term alternatives for reducing the amount of solid waste going to landfills.

Said Morgan: "Short-term and intermediate alternatives center around the use of existing and proposed transfer stations throughout the district and the transfer of solid waste generated in the district to disposal areas located outside the district. This includes transfer of wastes to landfills located in other districts of the state as well as across the Mississippi River into Illinois landfills."

Morgan said long-term alternatives in the proposed plan include development and construction of a regional solid-waste-management plan that would include a material recovery facility and a final disposal or processing facility for the residual solid waste.

He said the District 8 membership has indicated it prefers a publicly-owned and operated regional solid-waste-management facility. "Alternatives include a regional landfill with an associated material recovery facility, a municipal solid-waste-composting facility with material recovery taking place at the front end of the process, and a facility that would produce solid-waste fuel supplements and municipal solid-waste incineration with energy recovery," said Morgan.

A study prepared earlier this year for the committee estimated it would cost $4 million to $6 million to develop and up to $2 million annually to operate a regional landfill in the district.

The study estimated the tipping fee for a regional landfill could range as low as $28.47 per ton to as high as $39.40 per ton.

The monthly cost of a publicly-owned landfill in the Region 8 district could range from a low of $2.87 to a high of $4.02. The figures do not include the cost of collecting and transporting solid waste from each municipality or county to the regional landfill.

According to the study, a regional landfill would require at least 200 acres of land excavated to a depth of 30 feet, plus another 100 acres to act as a buffer around the site.

The landfill would have an estimated lifespan of 20 to 40 years with an additional 30 years of post-closure monitoring. Post-closure costs, says the study, would total another $10 million to $15 million.

Morgan said it is vital that a long-term solution be secured that will provide a foundation for the district's solid-waste-management system.

"With the increasing cost of solid-waste disposal, it is of the utmost importance to consider an alternative which will minimize the cost of solid-waste management while providing a healthy and environmentally safe means of disposing of solid waste. Material recovery programs should be implemented that will maximize the recovery of recyclable items and minimize the amount of solid waste that must ultimately be landfilled in order to meet the required 40 percent reduction figure by 1998."