Dillingham’s Landfill overflows: city addressing staffing, equipment issues

A scene from the Dillingham landfill. July 11, 2023. (Christina McDermott / KDLG)

Garbage is piled high at Dillingham’s landfill - cans and plastic bottles, furniture, bicycles, mattresses and snow machine parts.

The city’s new acting manager, Kimberly Johnson, said Dillingham recognizes the sprawling trash as a problem.

“We have huge needs here at the city. And I’m not just going to disagree with that. Everybody can see it,” she said.

Johnson said one of the city’s short-term goals is to fix the landfill’s trash compactor so that they can stop the advancing trash from spilling onto the road.

“So the plan is to assess our equipment, get those fixed, especially the compactor,” she said. “And so we can push the existing garbage waste that’s in the road and push that back. So that’s what we’re working on.”

Right now, landfill staff are awaiting a part for the necessary repair to the compactor.

Compactors work by spreading layers evenly across landfill cells - holes in the ground that contain the garbage. They also reduce trash’s volume. Then, the trash is covered in dirt. When solid waste is uncovered, the potential for exposure to harmful materials increases.

Incinerators can reduce waste in landfills by burning trash at high temperatures and removing harmful chemicals in the resulting gas. Dillingham began operating an incinerator in the spring of 2015, after the city’s permit to burn trash expired. While operating, the incinerator required more than twice as much fuel as originally planned, making its use expensive.

In early 2021, a fire burned down the building housing the incinerator’s water supply, according to Johnson and Mayor Alice Ruby, and it stopped operating. Johnson said the burned building needs to be replaced.

Johnson said the city wants to install a centrifuge to process waste oil from boats for the incinerator.

Mayor Alice Ruby said that along with the compactor, the incinerator will help reduce the amount of waste at the landfill.

“The more we can incinerate, the less we have to bury and compact. So there’s those dual efforts,” she said.

Ruby cited high turnover and staff shortages as affecting the city’s ability to keep the landfill up-to-date.

Last weekend, acting manager Johnson said the city hired a landfill supervisor. The city is performing a controlled burn in the wood and cardboard area, reducing the overflow in this portion of the landfill. Johnson said the fire department supervised the burn this past weekend.

In addition to fixing the compactor and incinerator, Johnson said they aim to remove the metal scrap pile at the landfill. Delta Backhaul Company, a solid waste consulting company, reported that wells detected hits of heavy metal contamination near the pile in January. The company is working with the city and the community to remove the pile. Dillingham has applied for $4.7 million in government funds to assist with the backhaul, but the money is not yet secured.

The city has put approximately $1.3 million toward the landfill next year from its own budget. For the next several years, they will also work with Green Star, a conservation program headquartered in Anchorage that helps communities address solid waste issues.

Paul Liedberg is the chair for Friends of the Landfill, a volunteer group in Dillingham. The Friends of the Landfill worked with the city, spearheading the effort to get them enrolled in Green Star.

“It might be anything from purchasing and repair of equipment to backhauling things to training and other opportunities. So there is no cost for participating,” he said. “And it’s just a real opportunity for us to again, nibble around the edges of some of the things that we need help with related to our solid waste issues.”

The landfill remains open in the busy summer season. Johnson said she welcomes community comments at any time.

Stephan Price is the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s manager for the landfill. He did not respond to request for comment in time for this story.

Get in touch with the author at [email protected] or 907-842-2200.