JACKSON COUNTY, MI — The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy said it needed a letter from the county to verify a landfill expansion met its guidelines.
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted to sign a letter endorsing a vertical expansion at the Waste Management landfill on McGill Road. EGLE must ensure that the project is consistent with the Jackson County Solid Waste Management Plan, which outlines how local communities plan to manage their waste, Director of Communications Dale George wrote in an email.
The McGill proposal had some ambiguity in the plan that led to the potential for the permit to be denied, he said. The landfill currently consists of three hills, and the plans would be filling in the service roads between them, creating one large hill.
At issue was whether the county plan allowed for filling of the areas between the existing hills, George said.
EGLE expects to receive the letter from the Jackson County Board of Commissioners clarifying the intent of the solid waste plan, he said. Once the letter is received, the permit can be issued within a couple of weeks, he said.
The construction of the expanded area will be on top of the existing landfills and site roads. It will include landfill liners, water collection systems and landfill gas management systems. Once filled, the landfill will be capped with soil, another liner, a drainage layer and grassy cover.
The expanded area will cover just under 18 acres and the final hill will be about 129 feet tall. This will give the landfill an additional 781,000 cubic yards of landfill space which is expected to extend its useful life by 11-12 years, George said.
Without this expansion, Jackson County residents would face increased costs, as unrecycled solid waste would need to be transported to facilities outside the county, resulting in additional gas and transportation expenses for residents, businesses and local government agencies, Drain Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder previously said.
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