Change is Coming
Lander's Landfill will be Full this Decade
The Lander Landfill will be filled to capacity by 2029. When it’s full it will close.
The closure affects every Fremont County resident. Currently, all municipal solid waste and most construction/demolition waste from around the county go into the landfill.
The landfill at Sand Draw, seven miles southeast of Riverton on Wyoming Highway 135, will become Fremont County’s singular municipal landfill.
Background
In 1978 the citizens of Fremont County voted to create the Fremont County Solid Waste Disposal District (the District). The county commissioners appointed a nine-member board to manage solid waste operations.
The Lander Landfill was slated to close in 2024. Thanks to implementation of improved compaction techniques and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality allowing the site to be filled to capacity, the site life should extend to 2028.
The District closed the Shoshoni Landfill in 2021. The District knows the process.
Regulatory requirements
During a landfill’s life the Environmental Protection Agency requires the District to show its ability to pay for closure costs, post-closure monitoring, and unforeseen future mitigation actions for 30 years after closure. Regulations allow the District to satisfy the obligation in a number of ways through guaranteed loans or other financial products, each of which would have added the expense of third-party oversight to ensure the landfill’s proper management prior to closure.
The District chose to build its own cash reserve account to prepare for expenses and liabilities associated with closing a landfill. While building this account, the District has not raised waste disposal fees at the landfill in over 13 years.
What’s next?
For several years the District has researched and considered options on how to proceed through the transition. Prime considerations are travel time and transportation costs to the District, to residents, and to commercial haulers.
The District is planning to make the following changes:
Dubois: the transfer station will continue to accept residents’ household waste.
- the District will continue to transport the waste to the landfill (Sand Draw).
- fees will increase to accommodate the additional 50-mile roundtrip haul distance.
- the construction/demolition landfill will continue to operate.
- recycling will still be available at the transfer station .
- new scale facilities are in the process of being constructed.
Lander: build a residents-use-only transfer station near the existing landfill.
- the District will transport the waste to Sand Draw.
- residents’ disposal fees will increase at the new transfer station.
- commercial haulers that serve Lander residents and businesses will transport that waste to Sand Draw.
- recycling will still be available at the new transfer station.
- new scale facilities are in the process of being constructed.
Riverton: close the transfer station due to its proximity to Sand Draw.
- residents and commercial haulers will transport waste to Sand Draw.
- recycling will still be available at the current site.
Sand Draw: will become the District’s primary waste receiving landfill.
- new scale facilities are in the process of being constructed.
- new maintenance and staff facilities will be constructed in the coming years.
Rural Transfer Stations near Atlantic City, Jeffrey City, Lysite, Missouri Valley, Pavillion, and Shoshoni will continue to operate as they do now. Disposal fees will increase.
Stay informed
Attend District meetings on the third Monday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at the Lander Landfill administrative office. Discuss the upcoming changes with your commercial hauler if you use one.
Please visit the District website: https://trashmatters.org/
Resources:
FCSWDD Strategic Plan Slides
Change is Coming - Lander's Landfill will be Full this Decade Fact Sheet
Video Presentation from FCSWDD to City Council - February 2023