LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday got an update on the status of the county’s landfill and the work ahead to either expand it or find an alternative.

Public Services Director Lars Ewing gave the board the Tuesday morning update on the Eastlake Landfill, a 35-acre site located on the east side of Clearlake.

“We do have space to expand into,” said Ewing.

He explained that the remaining capacity, calculated as of January, is 680,000 cubic yards of air space, or 410,000 tons.

With the landfill currently taking in 40,000 tons of materials a year, the landfill’s capacity is expected to be exhausted within eight to 10 years, he said.

The lifespan has been impacted by the recent flood as well as the large wildland fires in recent years, which have taken up space, said Ewing.

He said a new alternative needs to be in place by 2025. If the county doesn’t expand the landfill, it must be closed. That would require a $5.8 million capital improvement project, plus $6.4 million in monitoring and maintenance over 30 years.

If the county pursues a landfill expansion, that process typically takes seven to 10 years, Ewing said.

Ewing said his department already has completed a facilities siting and screening or site suitability
analysis, which explored a total of six alternatives.

Those six included a transfer station at the Eastlake Landfill site, with a resource recovery facility, which would further sort incoming waste to remove recyclables before shipping the waste out-of-county, Ewing said.

Ewing reported that a resource recovery facility at a county-owned property had the following two options: 15.23 acres, 804,000-ton capacity over 16 to 20 years, at a cost of $15.5 million; or a 21-acre site, with a capacity of  1,137,000 tons over 23 to 28 years, at a cost of $20.6 million.

The two options for an expansion at the county-owned property without a resource recovery facility pencil out as follows: 13.6 acres, 863,000 tons over 17 to 22 years, $13 million in total cost; or 15.2 acres, 977,000 tons over 19 to 24 years, at a cost of $14.2 million, he said.

South Lake Refuse and Recycling also has offered to allow an expansion on its property to the north of the Eastlake Landfill, according to Ewing. The two options if South Lake Refuse’s property is used are as follows: seven acres, 840,000 tons, 17 to 21 years at a cost of $9.8 million; 10 acres, one million tons over 22 to 27 years, $12.5 million cost.

Under the plans for a resource recovery facility at the current landfill property, the per-ton cost to handle waste would be $78, $75 a ton without a resource recovery facility and $73 per ton if using the South Lake Refuse property, Ewing told the board.

A transfer station alternative, which assumes a 25-percent reduction in waste, has a preliminary construction cost estimate of $5.5 million, and a per-ton cost of $100 for waste. Ewing said there would be a concurrent landfill closure expense ranging between $4 million to $5.5 million.

Ewing said the next steps are to move forward with a field investigation, preliminary design, environmental review and gate fee analysis.

That overall analysis is expected to take two to three years to complete, with costs ranging between $2 million to $3 million, Ewing said.

Supervisor Jim Steele asked if the proposed gate fees include money to cover illegal dumping, which he said would result from gate fees increasing. Ewing said the numbers he presented didn’t included that, and that it would need to be factored into the numbers.

Board Chair Jeff Smith said he was leaning toward the proposal to expand onto South Lake Refuse’s property. He said it was inexpensive and allows the county to still look at expanding on its own land.

Bob Pestoni, South Lake Refuse and Recycling’s owner, said he appreciated the chance to present his company’s option to the county.

“It’s an opportunity for us to participate in the benefit and the needs here of Lake County,” Pestoni said.

Bryce Howard of South Lake Refuse also suggested the county consider different funding sources, explaining that if the project is funded through a gate fee, it would hit the entire community – incorporated and unincorporated – whereas if it is specific to franchise haulers, it would impact the incorporated communities that generate the refuse.

Pestoni’s daughter, Christy Abreu, reported to the board that South Lake Refuse is applying to CalRecycle for a $960,000 grant to expand its organic recycling program for food waste at its Quackenbush property in Clearlake. She said they have a good chance of getting the funds.

“We have a real commitment to this community,” Abreu said, explaining the business has been in operation there since 1982.

Ewing’s presentation was just a report, and the board did not make a decision on next steps.

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