Peoria Solid Waste/Landfill Committee Meeting June 19th

By Joyce Blumenshine

Comments at the most recent Solid Waste Committee meeting made progress on a new landfill sound possible. The existing City/County landfill is expected to reach capacity by the end of 2024 or early 2025. GFL Environmental, the waste management company that purchased PDC several years ago, is responsible for completing the PDC contract to build a new landfill and indicated at the June 19th meeting that they intend to proceed to do so. What is not known is when they will do that and how soon the new landfill might be completed.

Additional concerns are how funding can be maintained for the Landfill Committee. Fees from waste going into the landfill are needed for payment of ongoing bills required for older landfills at the site, maintenance of the landfill gas collection system, leachate treatment, required reporting and other costs. The Community Word newspaper has a recent blog about GFL with details about the company and CEO that raise additional questions.