With visions of higher trash collection fees on the not-too-distant horizon, Johnson County commissioners will look at ways this year to squeeze as much use as possible out of the county landfill in Shawnee before it runs out of space. That could happen as early as 2037 — only 13 years off, according to projections from a January regional landfill study by the Mid-America Regional Council. “It’s a big hole in the ground and it will eventually fill up,” said Trent Thompson, the county’s solid waste program manager. Commissioners heard the sobering presentation on landfill capacity last week. Although the study estimated 19 to 37 years of capacity left in landfills throughout the region, the Johnson County landfill’s worst-case scenario has it possibly closing much earlier.
Source: Johnson County Post
