RAVENNA, Mich. — Some in Muskegon County are asking questions after a Facebook post from the City of Norton Shores said the County's landfill is having capacity issues. Muskegon County Public Works says that is true, but there is a plan to fix it.
"The landfills been here, started in the late 70s," says Greg Leverence, Solid Waste Supervisor for the county.
Since then, it's only expanded twice. This year, it will grow again.
The landfill has four new cells approved to expand into. Combined, all four are expected to last the landfill 20 years.
The expansion, however, means multiple County clean-up programs will be delayed until the fall.
"We just thought it was prudent to to delay that free program until our new cell was constructed," says Leverence.
Those clean-ups happen in each of the county's municipalities.
"The county Board of Public Works waives the tipping fees for municipalities to host a spring free dump day," says Leverence.
That, of course, means a large intake of waste over several weekends.
"Three hundred to 550 tons of material are generated," says Leverence.
Despite the current lack of space, the County's Public Works Department says weekly trash pick-ups won't see an impact.
"We've got over a year's worth of capacity based on our survey information from the last fiscal year," says Leverence. "We don't anticipate a problem based on the numbers, we shouldn't have any issue. But we were trying to be prudent and just delay things that made sense."
The expansion is set to be finished this fall. Public Works encourages recycling to help keep unnecessary things out of the landfill.
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