ADA COUNTY, Idaho — A new landfill is in the works in Elmore County. Republic Services says they've entered into a purchase agreement for Elmore County's former landfill that closed after multiple violations.
Republic Services plans to submit the land use permit application to reopen the landfill to Elmore County in the coming weeks.
If that goes through, that means trash from Ada County could be sent there instead of the Ada County Landfill.
"So, there is the potential for flow to be diverted from our landfill, it's not for certain," said Ada County Landfill Director Herb Cantu.
According to Cantu, it is too early to know how much of their trash flow would be diverted, but it could have an impact on their operations if a lot of Ada County trash ends up in Elmore County.
"If it's 10%, we may be able to absorb that. If it grows to a higher percentage, we would have to obviously look at making changes to the operations, operational hours, looking at how we can further reduce costs," added Cantu.
Cities like Boise, Meridian, and others in the county control where their flow of trash goes, but the Ada County Landfill is required by the state to maintain their operations — no matter how much trash they get.
"As flow goes down, like any other business, you lose some of that economies of scale, and that's where it can be impactful because we're still required to monitor the closed portion of the site whether we get one ton per day or 2,500 tons per day, so there's a lot of fixed costs involved," explained Cantu.
Republic Services told Idaho News 6 in a statement:
"We are excited for the opportunity to provide a long-term waste disposal option that is safe, environmentally responsible, and meets the needs of the community."
Cantu also says sustainability is at the core of their future plans.
"Our goal is how do we make this the last landfill that we need to build in Ada County, and by doing that, how can we reduce in the future what goes into the landfill, but look at ways how we can have sustainable solutions to manage that waste in the future rather than just disposing it," said Cantu.
Idaho News 6 asked Republic Services when the new landfill would open and how it would impact customers, but we have yet to receive a response.
