Of the three landfills in Santa Cruz County, Sonoita’s is the most costly. Its balance sheet over the past few years indicates an annual average of $120,000 in operational expenses and $80,000 in revenue from recycling. Do the math. Sonoita’s landfill has been over budget by about $40,000 a year.
Karl Moyers, the county’s solid waste manager, doesn’t like to look at negatives on a balance sheet, and his department has come up with some cost-effective ideas for cutting back on transportation and labor costs. New construction, new equipment, and a more streamlined operation are making a big difference in the bottom line.
Sonoita residents have no doubt noticed the two new unloading docks and the roll-off containers, each of which can hold 25 tons of waste destined for the landfill. Before the containers, the landfill materials were moved around each day by a backhoe driver who was paid to compact, spread and cover the trash. Now the containers are emptied out into the landfill area once a week. According to Moyers, this takes about an hour. The four containers have reduced the cost of landfill operations by 43 percent.
Residents may also have seen the solar-powered Ramjet compactors that were donated by the Tohono O’odham Nation as part of a grant that Moyers says was the simplest and smartest grant he’s ever written and received. “The U.S. Government could learn a lot from those guys,” he added. He put the compactors at the Sonoita landfill because, as he says, “Their transport costs are the highest.” The compactors reduce the cubic footage of plastic and paper waste by 60 percent, which means that they can be transported to Nogales once a month as opposed to once a week.
Then there is the matter of how often the dump is open. In an effort to further cut costs, the county wanted to cut down to one day a week. There was a strong negative reaction from voters, so the board of supervisors relented and the facility is now open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed for lunch from noon to 1p.m. The minimum use fee is $8—the same as Tubac and Rio Rico.
Recycling has proved to be the most controversial aspect of the solid waste facility. Last year residents learned that glass in the site’s recycle containers had been put into the Rio Rico landfill, and that the county was considering a fee for recycling. Some angered residents threatened to stop sorting their recyclables, asking why they should go to the trouble. These concerns are being addressed, and the new compactors have made the recycling process more efficient. Cardboard goes to Rio Rico where the county sells it for $55 a ton. Compacted plastic and paper go to two facilities in Nogales.
However, glass is an ongoing problem. According to Moyers, recycling glass costs the county money because by the time a truck gets to Phoenix from Nogales, transportation costs are $400, and the glass is worth only $200. Moyers understands the public’s attachment to recycling but says that at this time the county would save money if glass went into the landfills. He points out the carbon footprint incurred by transporting glass 200 miles so that it can be reconstituted.
There was some county discussion earlier this year about buying a crusher and keeping crushed glass on hand here in the county to use in building roads. Moyers explains that this sounds feasible until you talk to engineers, who say that glass is not an adequate substitute for any construction material.
Right now the Sonoita landfill is stockpiling the glass until it reaches 25 tons, at which time it can be collected and sold for a very small profit. Estimates are that this will take a year.
This fall the county expects to begin construction of a water retention basin at the landfill, for which county taxpayers will be footing the bill. Moyers explains that in conformance with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the county has to continually test the groundwater surrounding the landfill for contamination to assure that groundwater is not being polluted and leaching into the aquifer. The basin will insure that this doesn’t happen.
Sonoita’s landfill is experiencing a challenge being faced everywhere. As population increases, so does the problem of waste management. Recycling, although it helps, is still a developing industry. Until technology comes up with a better solution, the rising cost of waste disposal is the price we pay for what we throw away.