are scattered around, and someone regularly collects those and brings them to us. Our goal is to increase the amount of recyclable materials coming to us each month. They do a very good job of separating materials out, so our work in doing that is minimal. The nice thing is, we don’t charge for bringing those materials in. We believe that’s incentive and encouragement to recycle.”
The facility takes in corrugated cardboard, newsprint, magazines, tin cans, plastic containers and glass. Once on site, 14 fulland part-time workers do final sorting and processing. Brokers then pick up the materials and take them elsewhere for further processing.
Employees play a vital role
Watson noted that several of the workers at the recycling facility come from an area agency that works with special-needs individuals. She applauded their efforts and touted the work done by all employees. Landfill operations involve two shifts, one of which comes in early morning to get machinery fueled up and started before beginning work. The second comes in a couple hours later. “Between the recycling center and the landfill operations, we have about 22 employees who are highly efficient and very hardworking,” said Schmidt. “Several have been here a decade or more, and we believe that’s a big advantage to us. It helps us be more productive and keeps costs down as much as possible.”
The landfill staff performs numerous tasks at the landfill site, which is located just across the road from the agency’s office and recycling center. In addition to taking in and burying trash, the landfill staff is involved with earthmoving operations at the 300-acre site.
“There’s a lot more to running a landfill than just handling waste materials,” Schmidt pointed out. “As we run out of space in one cell, we have to be prepared to open another. That means getting a permit for expansion, and once that’s in place, we have to do the necessary excavation to open it up. It can be a lengthy process. We’re developing a cell about every other year, and to this point we’ve used or been approved for about 40 acres out of the total site.”
The North Central Iowa Regional Solid Waste Agency recently purchased several Komatsu
machines, including two HM350 articulated haul trucks that are paired with a PC400LC-6
excavator. “The combination of an excavator and trucks has increased our production by
about 125 percent compared to using scrapers alone,” said Director Gary Schmidt.
For moving large
quantities of dirt, the
agency uses this Komatsu
D155AX-6 Sigma Dozer
with the patented Sigma
Dozer blade. “Its shape
forces material to the
center of the blade so I
can easily push 50 percent
more than before with a
machine that size,” said
Director Gary Schmidt.
Preparing a new cell takes careful planning to ensure all state regulations and requirements are met. The regional landfill faces a special challenge because the site contains gypsum deposits that were undermined years ago. All the gypsum has to be removed before the landfill can begin cell construction. Operations start by removing overburden to within two feet of the gypsum deposits, which often are 25 feet or more deep.
“We move a tremendous amount of dirt every year just to get to within two feet of the deposit,” Schmidt said. “Once we’re there, an outside contractor comes in and takes the last two feet off and removes the gypsum. Our crew takes over again when they’re finished. We put in a fivefoot clay liner and tile to collect and recirculate leachate. Then we put 20 inches of shredded tires on top of that to act as a drainage layer. The trash goes in next, followed by dirt cover and seeding. As we’re opening one cell, the dirt from that is usually going to close another.”