Our Landfill
Dry Creek Landfill was opened in 1972. It was expanded to a regional facility in 1999, with a projected operational life exceeding 100 years. In addition, Dry Creek is also permitted to accept special wastes, such as contaminated soil and materials with asbestos.
A new generation of landfill management
In 1998, the unlined portion of the landfill was closed and covered. At the same time, construction began on Cell #2, a fully-lined facility with an engineering design that exceeds U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.
The liner system includes layers of 60-mil-thick textured HDPE (high density polyethylene plastic) materials, low permeability soil, and a leachate collection and removal system that removes the rainwater that filters through the trash. Each lined cell has approximately four years of capacity and costs $380,000 per acre to construct. Once a cell reaches capacity, it is covered with a system similar to the liner.
Converting gas from trash to renewable energy
Dry Creek Landfill has an active methane gas collection and control system in place that collects the gas from decomposing trash. That gas, in turn, goes to a facility that produces electricity for 3,000 area homes. This amount of electricity should continue to be produced for the next century.
