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City Council hears plan to reduce landfill stress
By Mondell Keck | The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS — The problem of e-waste is a growing issue at the Brookings Regional Landfill, and steps are being taken to eliminate the stream of computers, TVs and other electronic devices into the landfill’s finite space.
The efforts are taking shape via the proposed establishment of an e-waste recycling program, which the Brookings City Council heard about at its Jan. 27 meeting from Public Works Director John Thompson.
He said the program, which was recommended in the city’s 2023 Solid Waste Master Plan, would offer recycling options at $1.25 per pound, while also banning e-waste from the landfill. Councilors are expected to act on the proposal at their Feb. 10 meeting.
If approved, the program will launch in April alongside the city’s annual Spring Bulky Item Pickup event.
Thompson noted that the landfill receives approximately 60,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year and, out of that total, roughly 1,620 tons is e-waste. That number is based on an information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which says, nationally, e-waste is the fastest-growing component in the municipal solid waste stream, comprising roughly 2.7% of all landfill waste.
“There’s better things to do with that,” he said. “If we recycle it, it saves on landfill airspace, (and) extends the life of our landfill.”
The landfill near Brookings serves the needs of not only the city and county, but surrounding communities and counties — Deuel, Hamlin, Kingsbury, Lake and Moody — as well.
Another factor to consider in e-waste is that it contains hazardous material — including cadmium, lead and arsenic — which poses a significant environmental and health risk.
“It’s important that we properly manage them and dispose of them properly,” Thompson said.
He further noted the landfill has experienced a couple of fires in the three years he’s been on the job. It’s a trend noted nationally as well, especially in the last five to 10 years.
“The majority of those fires are caused either by lithium batteries or electronics,” Thompson said. “Getting those out of the waste stream and disposed of saves us, too, on the fires.”
Thompson also said that, according to the EPA, about 98% of the components within e-waste are recyclable.
“We need to do our part and recycle those as best we can,” he said.
How it will work
The operations plan includes a designated site at the landfill for customers to use, and that site will be located on asphalt. American Recycling, based out of Lincoln, Neb., will handle the e-waste. The tipping fee of $1.25 per pound of e-waste will cover the program’s costs, with the following breakdown of the fee:
• Pickup charge: $1 per pound.
• Start-up recovery and replacement reserves: 10 cents per pound.
• Administration: 15 cents per pound.
• Total fee: $1.25 per pound.
“Ultimately, as this program evolves, we’re hoping there will be other companies that maybe would be able to reduce that cost, and we’ll just pass that along to our customers,” Thompson said.
He said staff estimates indicate that up to 70,000 pounds of e-waste would be collected during the program’s first year, generating an estimated revenue of $87,500.
Thompson said program promotion will begin in February, and that a one-week free period will also be offered during April’s bulky item pickup period.
Closing his presentation, Thompson said the ordinance, if approved, would bring some changes that he wants residents to be aware of, including:
• In previous years during spring cleanup, the city would collect TVs from curbsides. Going forward, TVs will be excluded from the Spring Bulky Item Pickup.
• If city staffers see e-waste in collection carts — even though existing city ordinance already ban its presence — the affected cart will be tagged and not picked up for that week’s service.
Councilors’ thoughts
The proposed program drew praise and questions from city leaders, including Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne.
“Thank you for bringing this forward. I think that this is going to be a really great program to try to get some of the e-waste out of our landfill,” she said.
Tilton Byrne then asked in the free, one-week e-waste disposal period during Spring Bulky Item Pickup would only apply to this year or also in the years ahead.
“We’re intending to do it the first year, to see where the costs go with us,” Thompson said. “If possible, I’d love to be able to do it every year … if we can find some money and it doesn’t cost that much, we’d love to be able to do that.”
For now, though, he said the free week would only apply this year, with the announcement of the e-waste program.
Tilton Byrne speculated that perhaps those cost savings could be achieved since, with e-waste no longer being allowed as part of the Spring Bulky Item Pickup, it might take staff less time to pick up materials overall. If so, those savings might allow a free week for e-waste disposal in the coming years.
Beyond that topic, she inquired if residents would face a fee or fine if e-waste is dropped off at the landfill at this time.
Thompson said, with regard to carts, the collection driver would actually have to see the e-waste. Also, once a truck goes out to the landfill with a mixture of waste from an entire neighborhood, “we really can’t do anything with that.”
That said, if a customer takes material to the landfill and the workers there see things such as tires, refrigerators or e-waste, the customer would be charged for those.
“There’s no fine or anything. It’s just that we’ll charge them for the fee they should be paying,” Thompson said.
Meanwhile, Councilor Lisa Hager was curious about companies that accept e-waste, noting that a lot of them do destroy hard drives, even after they’ve been scrubbed of data beforehand.
Thompson said American Recyclers does physically destroy hard drives, even going so far as to send a certificate of destruction.
“I would still recommend anybody who’s getting rid of their laptop or anything, pull your hard drive out,” he recommended. “It’s got a lot of data on it. Then you can destroy it — take some aggression out.”
What’s acceptable — and what’s not
The proposed e-waste recycling program means the following items would be accepted at the Brookings Regional Landfill:
• Laptops/desktops
• Tablets
• LCD monitors
• CRT monitors
• TVs
• Barcode scanners
• Circuit boards
• Copiers
• Printers
• DVD players
• DVD/CD drives
• Keyboards
• Routers
• Servers
• Scanners
Several types of items, however, will not be accepted:
• Medical equipment
• Thermometers
• Thermostats
• Equipment containing mercury
• Fluorescent bulbs (these would be taken in during the city’s Household Hazardous Waste event in August)
— Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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