MSB solid-waste manager outlines landfill upgrades after Veterans Day fire; glass pulverizer purchase approved

Jeff Smith, Solid Waste Division manager for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, told the assembly on Dec. 3 that the borough’s Central Landfill collected 96,450 tons of material in the last year and outlined a multi-year plan to expand operations and reduce future costs.

Smith said the landfill is seeing modest year-over-year growth and described a Veterans Day blaze at the site that he said was likely sparked by organic material and improper disposals that reached the C&D (construction and demolition) cell. "We probably have 1 to 2, perhaps sometimes 3 fires a month on a regular basis," Smith said, noting that the recent large fire required foam that he said cost on the order of $6,000 and prompted coordination with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and air-quality agencies.

The presentation focused on infrastructure changes intended to reduce such risks and operating costs. Smith described a planned new 20-acre campus at Central Landfill that will include a tipping floor, an operations building and a scale house with two inbound and two outbound scales (including an automated lane). The tipping floor will allow staff to separate C&D and residential trash…