Search is on for solid waste site

In a few short years, Carlton County will have to find a new place to take its solid waste as Superior’s Moccasin Mike landfill is expected to reach capacity sometime between 2026 and 2028.

On Aug. 11 the Carlton County board of commissioners took the first step toward figuring out the future of Carlton County waste by supporting the creation of a regional plan for solid waste management.

The Northeast Minnesota Waste Advisory Committee — made up of solid waste officers from Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Lake, Itasca, Koochiching and St. Louis counties, along with the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District — would work to devise a joint plan. It already has taken proposals from five consultants and has tentatively chosen a firm. It is waiting to hear from county boards on whether they will share costs for the plan.

Heather Cunningham, Carlton County’s zoning and environmental services administrator, said counties must submit a solid waste plan to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency every 10 years, and Carlton County’s plan is due this year. The MPCA granted the county and the other counties an extension.

“That makes it easier for them to review, and it encourages us to make a plan together,” she told the Pine Knot News. She said the estimated cost to the county toward the plan would be about $22,000, which is likely less than it would have cost to just do a Carlton County plan.

The study is expected to cost $185,000. The seven counties and WLSSD would evenly share half of the total study cost, about $12,000 each. The remaining half would be paid by the eight bodies based on population. Carlton County has 11 percent of the population that would be covered by the solid waste plan, resulting in a $10,000 share.

Cunningham compared the plan to “homework” the counties are required to do, saying that it will show what the counties will recycle, reuse, compost, and put into a landfill.

“The end goal (of the plan) isn’t a landfill, the end goal is what can we divert from landfills,” she said. “But as a group, we need to figure out where our garbage is going to go.”

In order for the MPCA to site a new municipal landfill, there must be a certificate of need. “This homework will support that there is a need for the region,” Cunningham said.

Carlton County generates approximately 17,000 tons of solid waste a year, including 12,000 tons of mixed municipal solid waste (household garbage) and 5,000 tons of construction and demolition debris. Most of the waste is brought to the county transfer station and taken to the Superior landfill from there.

Cunningham guessed that the solution to a new landfill will likely lie in St. Louis County, which is also running out of landfill space. If a new landfill for municipal solid waste isn’t created, the next closest landfill for Carlton County and the region would be a landfill in Sarona, Wisconsin — south of Spooner and about a two-hour drive from the county.

The board allocated $10,000 from the 2020 budget with remaining costs covered by revenue generated by the transfer station. Future costs for operation within a new solid waste plan have not been addressed.

The MPCA is working with the group of solid waste officers on a grant opportunity that could cover as much as half of the cost for the project study.