Dip in trash cutting cash and 23 jobs

Trash is a hot commodity in Salt Lake County, and officials just can't seem to get enough.

With a projected loss of 65 percent of its waste stream this year, Public Works Director John Patterson is now cutting a third of the county landfill's 60 employees and facing a $6 million shortfall.

"At 35 percent, it's hard for us to operate our landfill," Patterson said. "You need base tonnage to remain efficient."

Patterson has met this week with the roughly 23 employees who will be let go, offering early retirement benefits to some and a possible job change within county ranks to others. But those cuts will only make up about $1 million of the projected $6 million lull the landfill is anticipating over the next year.

Much of that dip stems from a new privately owned landfill in Tooele with cut-rate prices that has pulled several clients away from the Salt Lake County dump. The Tooele site, owned by Allied and set to open in August, takes waste at about $19 per ton, while Salt Lake County can only dip as low as $22.

Waste Management, another area trash hauler, also is taking about $1.8 million in annual business to the Tooele dump.

"When you fall below 1,500 tons a day, it really hurts," Patterson said.

But a plan backed by Mayor Peter Corroon hopes to enable the dump to ride out the lag in revenues. The plan, approved Tuesday by County Council members, would reroute about 164,000 tons of Salt Lake County trash previously hauled to an East Carbon dump.

Initially, the waste was shipped out of the county to help preserve the life of the landfill.

But the good news, Patterson said, is that the county landfill has now more than doubled its expected life span.

Now with a projected 70 years of life left, county leaders can bring back their waste in the hopes of boosting revenues.

"Years ago they thought they needed to elongate the life of the landfill, but that's back in the days when this landfill was the only game in town," Patterson said.

But Councilman Randy Horiuchi said the dropping waste stream could be an opportunity to preserve the landfill instead of trying to recruit more revenue. The traditional notion of operating the landfill to capacity may be outdated, Horiuchi said, and trying to "manufacture tonnage" may be shortsighted.