Transfer times talked

Adjustment to the changes at the landfill was the dominant topic at the Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) board meeting held 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Saratoga Town Hall.

Bills, correspondence and the minutes from the meeting on Sept 6, were approved, but Leroy Stephenson, board member, did comment on the expense of the bill from MeTech Recycling of Denver. That company took two-and-a-half loads of electronics for recycling. The cost was $5,100.

Sue Jones, board member, said MeTech Recycling was the only company that did electronics that came to Saratoga.

Steve Wilcoxson, Saratoga Town Council member, said he and the mayor had been getting requests to change the days of operation for the landfill. Wilcoxson requested two polls be asked of landfill users. Questions to determine whether the hours of operation should change.

Jones said no members of the board had heard any objections about the hours.

“We haven’t heard a word and people know who we are,” Jones said. “I have not heard one complaint except Hank.”

“You heard me not like Sunday closing, but it is not the end of the world that I have to go out Saturday afternoon as opposed to a Sunday morning which I have been doing forever,” board member Hank Jewell said. “I used to get the Casper Star every Sunday morning. Now I don’t, but I live with it.”

Munson said when the hours first took effect in July, he had heard some complaints, but it had been some time since any person had mentioned the hours to him.

The board opted out because the current schedule is what Ron Munson of MPM has been contracted to operate. Although board members did understand the changes were not to every user’s liking, it was noted change had come to the landfill in how it operates and the current hours of operation should stay in place.

Jewell said the time to change the hours would be when the contract was up and then the community could weigh in with the board about desired changes.

The board then discussed odors coming into the landfill. A sniffer was scheduled to come to the facility Thursday and check for methane and other possible harmful fumes.

Munson and Raymer discussed options for getting the odors under control, but a lot of the smell is the trash getting heated, which will not be as a big a problem as cold weather sets in. Flies were mentioned to be a problem, but again the situation was expected to remedy itself with the weather getting colder.

Jones, who owns a sanitation company, said there are products that can alleviate the problem. She was going to call a few transfer stations to find out what solutions they have for this problem.

The board wants to make any adjustment needed to help make the odor less noticeable.

Using the landfill in Hanna is still being considered. Munson said he would get in touch with Leonard Gonzales, the contact for the Hanna landfill.

Animal carcasses are still a concern for the board. The dead pit can still take whole animals, but only until Dec. 2018.

“We are working our butts off to figure this out,” Raymer said. “I would like to see the animals buried in the CD pit.”

Currently the CD pit can take animals with the exception of entrails. It was noted by Stephenson the stomach could be lanced and guts taken out, but roadkill presented a problem with the solution of lancing the stomach.

“I don’t know the answer to this,” said Raymer.

“We all know the answer to this,” Stephenson said. “DEQ hasn’t figured it out and I can’t believe we are the only ones having this problem.”

Raymer said it was a problem in the entire state. Craig Kopasz, from Engineering Associates said it was going to take the bigger towns to stand up and say the situation with carcasses was not working.

Munson said he would like to see more businesses break down their cardboard than are doing so now. The board encouraged him to charge for breakdown of cardboard he was doing free of charge.

The Saratoga entry fence bid was accepted.

The meeting ended with the board saying with the transfer station still fairly new, it was going to take time for adjustments to be implemented as the landfill continues to operate.

The next scheduled meeting of the UPRSWDD is at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Encampment library.