Utah Landfill Making Efforts to Extend Life via Expansion, Sorting

The lone landfill in Summit County, Utah is planning to expand, hoping the expansion and better recycling will extend the life of the site.

Summit County’s landfill, near Rockport State Park, processes roughly 42,000 and 52,000 tons of waste yearly and, according to officials, the site may only have about 80,000 tons of capacity left.

“Right now, we have somewhere around 80,000 tons capacity left,” Solid Waste Superintendent Tim Loveday said. “So, if we really push it, we can go probably 18 months.”

According to Loveday, the county is planning to expand the landfill next year which would extend its life by another 17 years. After that, there is room at the site for two more expansions.

Along with typical waste, it’s estimated that as much as 80% of the waste going to the landfill could be recycled or composted.

“If the diversion programs work, and we can divert 40%, then we essentially added 40% of life into the landfill,” he said.

Of those recyclable materials, cardboard is the heavy focus for the landfill as it’s more valuable than other recyclables. The Three Mile Landfill collects cardboard out of the trash and ships to elsewhere to be recycled for profit.

“With each load of cardboard that goes out, we save about $5,000 worth of air space in the landfill,” he said.

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