MUSCATINE, Iowa — Muscatine’s landfill is days away from being full but months away from seeing a new cell constructed to hold more trash.

During Thursday’s City Council meeting, environmental engineer Doug Luzbetak of FOX Engineering Associates Inc. of Ames, said the landfill would be full in “a matter of days.”

“We were down there this afternoon before the meeting and it’s almost full,” Luzbetak said.

Solid Waste Manager Laura Liegois said Muscatine will begin hauling trash from the transfer station on Houser Street to Scott County once the landfill reaches capacity.

“They have accepted our waste in the past when these sort of things have come up,” she said. “Unfortunately, we pay a higher tonnage fee than what we would be dealing with on our own.“

A new landfill cell is scheduled for completion in mid-November. The City Council unanimously (Scott Day absent) approved plans and specifications for the horizontal expansion despite questions over cost and reliability of protective liner to be used.

Councilman Bob Howard raised questions over plans to use a composite liner — two feet of clay with a flexible plastic membrane on top made from the same material as an outdoor trash bag, except thicker and stronger.

“I’m very concerned about the integrity of the liner being pierced by something,” Howard said.

The landfill previously utilized a four-foot clay liner that is about $50,000 less expensive than the composite.

However, Luzbetak said, “What we’ve done out there in the past would not meet the new DNR rules.”

He said the Department of Natural Resources has not yet formalized new liner regulations, but there are indications it will soon require landfills to use the composite liner. The composite has been used in landfills since the early 1990s and is currently the default liner accepted by DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency, Luzbetak said.

He said Muscatine could apply to the DNR to use the four-foot clay liner, but the process would push back the date for opening bids from late-August to late-September.

“If we chose the alternative liner, we’d have to go through the whole process of having it approved by DNR,” Luzbetak said. “It would probably eliminate this construction season, which is getting pretty late anyway. It would probably eliminate us doing anything in this year.”

Liegois said the city set aside an area this spring that was anticipated to hold 8-12 extra weeks of garbage. However, she said, we have received more tonnage in the last month to six weeks than what is normally brought in the transfer station, which filled up that area quicker.”

The tornado that struck Muscatine and Fruitland on June 1 created about 2,000 extra tons of garbage, Liegois said. The landfill accepts an average of about 44,000 tons of trash each year, she said.

Liegois said the new four-acre landfill cell will have an estimated three-year life span. She said another cell was planned for development in 2009, “so we’re not in this circumstance again.“

Other business

In other action, the City Council:

* Tabled action on a 75-year lease agreement with the Iowa National Guard for 19 acres of land located at the Muscatine Municipal Airport, where the Guard plans to build a joint forces readiness center. In exchange, the city will receive title to the Guard’s current property on Park Avenue. Action was tabled due to receipt of incorrect paperwork.

* Approved a request from the Cultural Celebrations Committee for use of the riverfront on Saturday, Sept. 15 for “Fiesta 2007.” Approval is pending negotiations between organizers and city staff over placement of the event.

Reporter contact information

Jennifer Meyer: 563-262-0525

jennifer.meyer@muscatinejournal.com