Brown Co. considering options to create landfill income

• Haen%2C county exec Streckenbach have said county needs to explore options for keeping costs down
• Oneida Tribe says no decision has been made about whether to try to build a GB trash plant

Options are being considered to generate income from for a landfill long planned for southern Brown County.

The plan under review by county officials suggests the site in rural Hollandtown could support some type of waste-reduction facility to generate revenue, reduce costs and extend the life of the landfill.

The idea is in its infancy, and Port and Resource Recovery Director Dean Haen said no decision has been made about other ways to process waste other than burying them in the landfill. But he and County Executive Troy Streckenbach have said the county needs to explore options for keeping waste-management costs down.

"I don't want the perception to be that we're charging down this path," Haen said. "But our role as a public agency is to provide low-cost services. Something could happen with that site that could be better than landfilling."

The landfill, known as Brown County South, would serve Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties when it opens in 2021 or 2022.

County officials will look to meet with the Holland Town Board in the coming months to discuss plans for the site, which encompasses 368 acres at Old 57 and Mill roads, Haen said.

Options suggested as potential ways to offset landfill-operation costs include a facility to reclaim certain construction and demolition debris, and/or a digester that would turn organic materials into biofuels.

And though a report by an engineering consultant discusses potential advantages and disadvantages of burning trash to produce electricity, Haen said that option is not a priority.

Bill Clancy, a county supervisor, Holland town clerk and neighbor of the landfill site, said he is not anxious for the site to go into use.

"The further it gets backed up, the happier I am," said Clancy, who lives on Old 57 Road, the site's eastern border. "We tried like heck to stop (the landfill). But I guess if they operate it according to the rules, I guess there'd be nothing we can do about it."

Foth Companies, the De Pere engineering firm hired by the county to prepare a master plan for the site, presented multiple options for what could be done with waste. Besides trash to energy, Foth examined:

Converting waste to gases and liquids,

Producing gas via a process called pyrolysis,

Using electricity to convert waste to metals and gas in a process called plasma arc,

Using decomposition to produce methane and carbon dioxide, and

Converting plastics to oil.

Though it doesn't list a preferred alternative, the report says pyrolysis and plasma arc are "not technically and economically viable," and indicates that plastics-to-oil is too new to have a track record.

"Each of these alternatives has their own ... feasibility for Brown County, economic return on investment and maturity in handling (municipal solid waste) over long periods," the report says.

Wisconsin has two trash-to-energy plants, one serving LaCrosse and one in Barron County, said Ann Coakley, director of the Waste and Management Program for the Department of Natural Resources. She said a trash-burning plant would require a license and an air permit from the DNR to operate, and might also require a water-management permit.

Brown County partners with Outagamie and Winnebago counties to process recyclable materials as well as household and commercial trash. Recyclables are sold to companies that reuse them. Waste currently is collected locally and trucked to Outagamie County's landfill just off Interstate 41 in Little Chute; Winnebago County's landfill was filled several years ago.

When the Outagamie County facility is filled, each county will begin shipping its municipal waste to Hollandtown. At current rates, a 68-acre portion of the Hollandtown site would be full after 13 years. Haen said the county could then open a second site, which would likely last about 15 years.

The idea of a landfill in southern Brown County received initial approval from the Department of Natural Resources in 1996. The state approved a conditional operation plan for the landfill in 1999.

Meanwhile, Phil Wisneski, a spokesman for the Oneida Tribe of Indians, said Wednesday no decision has been made about whether to again try to build a trash-to-energy plant like the one the tribe proposed for Green Bay's west side several years ago.

The proposed Oneida Seven Generations Corp. pyrolysis facility prompted concerns about pollution and environmental hazards, leading the city to revoke the plant's permit in 2012. A court ruled last month that the city had overstepped its bounds in revoking the permit.

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter@PGDougSchneider