PLANS MADE TO CLOSE JACKSON, PERRY CO. LANDFILLS SATURDAY

Jackson's solid waste collection trucks will start making the 100-mile round-trip to the Dexter area Monday to unload their solid waste at the Allied Waste Management Sanitary Landfill. That's because Jackson's sanitary landfill will close at 3 p.m. on Friday.

The landfill is being closed by Allied Waste Management one day before more strict Environmental Protection Administration landfill regulations go into effect. If the landfill remained open after Friday, the closure and post-closure costs would be more expensive.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the Dexter trips are only temporary, until Allied constructs a permanent solid waste transfer station on the site of the soon-to-be closed landfill.

The mayor said, "We hope there will be no major problems with our trash collection routes and schedule. But it will be an inconvenience for the solid waste department until the transfer station is opened."

Sander said two to three truckloads of solid waste a day will be transported to the Dexter landfill each week, Monday through Friday.

Allied Waste Management signed a 20-year lease with the city early last month to take over operation of the landfill and convert it into an EPA-approved regional landfill. But tests conducted by Allied after the contract was signed indicated the landfill may not be suitable at this time for a regional landfill.

Instead, the company said it will build a solid waste transfer station at the landfill site and transfer solid waste to its EPA-approved landfill near Dexter.

Tom Duncan, who manages Allied's waste management operations in Southeast Missouri, told city officials Monday the company will close the landfill Friday afternoon.

Duncan said, "I'm going to try to put up a temporary (transfer) facility that will basically accommodate (loads in) pickup trucks and people in cars who bring stuff out there. The big stuff (business waste) will have to go directly to Dexter until we can open our transfer station at Jackson."

Jackson City Administrator Carl Talley said he understood the temporary transfer station will open Monday.

Duncan said he has several potential sites in mind for the transfer station. He plans to meet with city officials to review those sites.

The waste company manager said it will take about 6-10 weeks after the Missouri Department of Natural Resources issues the permit until the transfer station is in operation. He urged city officials to get into contact with the DNR in Jefferson City to expedite the processing of the transfer station permit.

Duncan asked the city to renegotiate the portion of the contact dealing with the improvements of County Road 341, from Highway 34 to the landfill access road. The contract called for Allied and the city of Jackson to share the cost of improving the road to handle the extra traffic the regional landfill was expected to generate.

Duncan said the closure of the landfill will eliminate the need for the county road improvement. Sander said the city is willing to discuss Allied's request, but added, "We want to wait and see how much traffic the transfer station will generate before we make any decision."

The waste company manager also asked the city to allow Allied to withdraw its $495,000 financial security document that would have covered the closure and post-closure costs of the landfill. In its place, Duncan said Allied would put up a performance bond, which will accomplish the same thing as the financial security instrument, but at a lower cost to Allied.

City Attorney David Beeson told the mayor there would be no problem with that arrangement, if the board of aldermen agreed.

Meanwhile, Duncan said he hopes to sell the city's landfill equipment later this month.

Jackson's landfill isn't the only one that will close Friday. The Perry County landfill will close permanently at 3 p.m., Friday, because of the stricter EPA landfill regulations that go into effect on Saturday. The Perry County landfill is located on Highway 51, near Sereno.

Perry County Commissioner Karl Klaus said a temporary solid waste transfer station will open at the landfill site on Saturday. Klaus said the transfer station's Tuesday-Friday operating hours will be from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and 8 a.m.-noon on Monday and Saturday.

He said the temporary transfer station will not accept anything over a pickup load of solid waste. "Any larger amount of waste must be taken directly to the landfill in Ste. Genevieve," he said. "The temporary transfer station can only accept household waste -- no lumber, no shingles. We will still take yard waste and white goods like stoves and refrigerators, but the Freon has to be removed."

Klaus said the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is currently processing the county's application for a permit to operate a permanent transfer station. As soon as the permit is received, work on the station will begin, he added.