The City of Ames plans to send its solid waste to Carroll County within two years, with the intention of having a new waste disposal and recycling facility built by then.
The new Resource Recovery and Recycling (R3) Campus will handle solid waste, recyclables and yard waste, and is expected to be operational by July 1, 2027. It will replace the 50-year-old Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant, located at 110 Center Avenue, which was the “first municipally owned and operated waste-to-energy facility in the nation,” according to the City of Ames website.
The new facility will consolidate solid waste for transportation to the Carroll County Landfill. The Ames City Council approved the disposal agreement with Carroll County during its regular meeting on Tuesday, July 8.
The agreement lasts until June 30, 2047. It will go into effect once Ames’ contract with the Boone County Landfill ends in June 2027.
The Carroll County Solid Waste Management Commission is planning a special meeting on July 15 to approve the agreement, before Ames closes on a purchase agreement for 9.5 acres along Feel Drive by July 18. The contract is a critical piece to securing land for the new Resource Recovery Facility, Public Works Director Justin Clausen said.
“We’ve had continuous conversation with Carroll County,” Clausen said. “We feel confident that their approval on the July 15 is all that’s required from them.”
Why is Ames shipping its trash to Carroll?
Ames currently transports leftover solid waste to the Boone County Landfill, which is nearing capacity.
Story County annually disposes of an average of 20,000 pounds of solid waste in Boone, though the landfill has about 30 years before it reaches capacity. In 2024, the Boone County Landfill administrator estimated that the landfill would reach capacity in 13 years if it continued to accept Story County’s waste.
Ames’ solid waste agreement with the Boone County Landfill was set to expire in June but was extended for an additional two years while the new resource recovery plant is being built.
The Carroll County Landfill in Carroll is roughly 70 miles from the new Resource Recovery Center in Ames.
Carroll County Landfill has room for future expansion, is within a “reasonable driving distance” and shares Ames’ interest in mutual partnerships, waste reduction and landfill diversion, according to city documents.
How much will it cost to ship trash to Carroll County?
Tipping fees at the Carroll County Landfill for solid waste are $32 per ton through June 30, 2028, with a 2% annual escalation. Carroll County will bill Ames on a monthly basis, according to city documents.
Carroll County can start accepting solid waste from the R3 Campus before July 1, 2027, if the new landfill cell is ready to receive waste by then. Regardless, the agreement will last at least 20 years, Assistant City Manager Brian Phillips said.
“It is the length of time that we believe would be at the longest equal to the term of debt we would take out to finance (the R3 Campus),” Phillips said.
New Resource Recovery Campus will cater to Ames’ growing trash needs
The new 9.5-acre Resource Recovery facility is expected to handle more than 58,000 tons of waste annually. That amount is expected to increase with the city’s population, increasing to over 78,000 tons by 2045.
The city plans to discontinue using the waste-to-energy method employed by the current Resource Recovery Center, focusing instead on recycling.
While solid waste will be transported to Carroll County, recyclable materials will be sent to recyclers. Yard waste will be either composted on-site or hauled away for disposal.
Preliminary designs for the new plant include a tipping floor that can temporarily store several hundred tons of solid waste, as well as a designated area for yard waste.
The anticipated tipping fee will be $95.11 per ton. The current tipping fee at the Resource Recovery Plant is $75 per ton, representing a 27% increase. The proposed new financial model applies an annual escalation rate of 2.75% to the tipping fee over 20 years.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames will start shipping solid waste to Carroll County. Here’s what you need to know:
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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