Landfill operators continue to address dwindling landfill capacity through a series of permit expansion efforts. A plan in Minnesota to convert land already permitted for C&D waste to MSW waste is moving forward, but residents are protesting a scaled-down plan to expand a MSW landfill in Kentucky.
Here’s a look at some recent landfill news, plus updates from Hawai’i, Mississippi and Michigan.
Dem-Con, Minnesota state agency move forward with MSW landfill plans
Dem-Con plans to convert a portion of its existing C&D landfill near Shakopee, Minnesota, into a MSW landfill. The company is finalizing its environmental review process and expects to begin the permitting process soon.
The proposal would convert 81 acres of Dem-Con’s permitted C&D space to accept around 2.2 million cubic yards of MSW instead, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. If all necessary approvals and permits are finalized, the landfill could be accepting MSW as soon as next summer, state officials told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
MPCA said this would be the first MSW landfill built in the metro area since 1971. Dem-Con plans to accept waste from the Twin Cities metro area and Nicollet, Le Sueur and Sibley counties. MPCA says the region generates about 3.5 million tons of waste a year. The landfill’s draft EIS, which estimated the area’s 2021 waste generation rate was around 3.3 million tons, forecasts it could grow to 3.92 million tons by 2042.
Minnesota has enacted several waste diversion efforts in recent years. MPCA in 2024 launched a 20-year plan to limit Twin Cities waste through food waste reduction programs, curbside composting, recycling improvements and more.
But the Dem-Con landfill expansion project is also part of MPCA’s plan to consider expanding four area landfills to help address rising waste volumes, which the agency partly attributes to the 2019 closure of an incinerator in the Elk River region, as well as rising population growth. Other landfills on that expansion consideration list include Republic Services’ Pine Bend Landfill, Waste Connections’ Rich Valley Landfill and WM’s Burnsville Sanitary Landfill.
After Dem-Con’s environmental impact statement process is complete in “late 2026,” MPCA says the landfill operator will need to obtain a new solid waste permit and air permit.
Dem-Con is also working on a new anaerobic digester facility near the C&D landfill, which MPCA permitted in 2024. It broke ground in March.
Rumpke pursues scaled-down landfill expansion amid resident concerns
Rumpke Waste & Recycling continues to pursue plans to expand its Montgomery County landfill near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, almost a year after a previous request was denied.
Rumpke has owned the landfill since 1989. The current expansion proposal calls for expanding it by 48 acres, adding an estimated 18 years of capacity, said Kevin Hall, communications manager for Rumpke, in an interview with Fox 56. It currently has about seven-and-a-half years of capacity left and brings in about 1,200 tons of waste per day, he said.
The Montgomery County Fiscal Court denied a previous expansion request in November. That proposal called for a 184-acre expansion. The expansion plan would increase the landfill’s footprint within the borders of land it already owns, the company said.
Rumpke secured a five-year solid waste permit renewal for the site in April, but that renewal is not part of Rumpke’s proposal to expand the landfill, the Mt. Sterling Advocate reported.
Area residents, who spoke against the proposal at a permit hearing on Oct. 5, say that the site has been the cause of more frequent odors in recent years. Residents also worry about possible impacts to property values and other environmental concerns. Last year, Rumpke set up an odor complaint hotline and recently added a spray system on site to further neutralize odors, Fox 56 reported.
The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection recently issued a notice of violation about stormwater controls at the site. The company said in a written statement last month that it was “conducting a thorough investigation to ensure environmental compliance in the future.”
Other landfill news
- Mississippi officials will close and remediate a 15-acre landfill in theStarkville-Oktibbeha area after more than ten years of planning. An agreement between the Starkville Board of Aldermen and the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors will spend a total $2.1 million on the project. The remediation project will be overnseen by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. The landfill reached capacity in 2018. (The Dispatch)
- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a law that would allow Jackson County to purchase the site of the closed Dalton Road Landfill for $1 to build a leachate treatment facility. Yet county officials said the deal took too long to approve, and the county pivoted plans to another project. Officials told MLive that the county is still trucking thousands of gallons of leachate to a disposal facility near Detroit, costing about $92,000 a year. (MLive)
- Kaua’i County officials in Hawai’i have introduced a bill that would ban new landfills from opening within six miles of one that has accepted waste in the last 30 years. The island’s Kekaha Landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2030, and officials are looking for possible new landfill sites. (Hawai’i Public Radio)
