Some cities find creative uses for dumps

One man's garbage is another man's … golf course?

Before 1984, garbage trucks and tractors — not golf carts and lawn mowers — were the necessary equipment to maintain what is now a large portion of The Reserve at East Bay, the Provo-owned golf course on the city's south end.

Much of the course's green space was once a garbage dump. The golf course is one of several uses Utah cities have found for landfills after they've reached their capacity.

In the early years of the Provo golf course, golfers sometimes would be confronted by large methane bubbles in the fairways. Some of the fairways also sank considerably. But the course has not seen problems like those for many years, said Merril Bingham, director of public works.

Another section of the former landfill is now utilized as part of the South Utah Valley Solid Waste District's yard-waste program. Residents can bring trees and branches and other yard waste to the site to be ground up and then hauled to Elberta for composting. The compost later is returned to the Provo site for sale.

A year ago, Provo announced a new shopping center called Southgate would be built on a part of the old landfill, with some holes of the golf course to be relocated to make room. The project, set for 59 acres and expected to cost $70 million, is now on hold.

The last portion of the landfill closed in 1991. Those 28 acres remain unused green space.

Other Utah cities involved in landfill-reuse projects include:

Ogden: A landfill that was closed in 1966 is now covered by on- and off-ramps for I-15 at Hinckley Drive. The landfill near 24th Street that closed in 1996 is now part of Ogden's Kayak Rodeo Park.

Ogden officials also are exploring reuse ideas such as a golf course or a BMX track for the former Weber County landfill.

Gary Laird, Weber County's solid waste manager, said he would caution against building anything directly on top of the landfill, which is 120 feet high. Garbage under the ground continues to settle and that occasionally causes the ground to crack. Introducing irrigation water likely would cause chemicals to leach out of the soil, Laird said.

The county also continues to pump methane gas out of the former landfill to power a 24-hour generator that creates electricity on site. The county sells the electricity to Rocky Mountain Power for $18,000 to $25,000 a month.

Spanish Fork: A large commercial center now occupies the site of a former landfill in this Utah County city. In 2003, the Spanish Fork City Council approved plans for the Expressway Business Park, located at 1100 E. Expressway Lane — just a few blocks from U.S. 6 near 800 North.