Will County Land Use Department - Waste Services Division

The solid waste management plan presented in this section is a reflection of the information and technology available as of 2001. The solid waste management field has evolved considerably since 1991 as a result of political, social, economic and technological change. The Solid Waste Planning and Recycling Act (415 ILCS 15/1 et seq.) recognizes this fact and requires that each County’s Plan be updated at least every five years.

The Will County Solid Waste Management Plan must achieve two goals. First, it must provide sufficient detail and direction to facilitate the efficient and effective implementation of the waste reduction and final disposal components called for in this Plan. Second, the Plan must at the same time be flexible enough to accommodate new, expanded or modified programs and facilities. This Plan update for Will County will accomplish both goals.

The Will County Land Use Department, Waste Services Division (Waste Services) is the governmental entity responsible for implementing this Plan on behalf of the County. Since 1988, Waste Services has been the entity that enforces Illinois solid waste regulations through a delegation agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). Waste Services is also responsible for coordinating the review of applications for local siting in unincorporated areas of Will County, pursuant to the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/39.2).

The updated solid waste management Plan for Will County conforms to the waste management hierarchy established in the Illinois Solid Waste Management Act [415 ILCS 20/2(b)]. All recommendations listed in this Plan are contingent upon adequate funding and staffing levels. This updated Plan includes the following sections:

Maintain Information Clearinghouse - The Will County Waste Services Division (Staff) will gather existing reference materials and information handouts concerning source reduction and reuse, household hazardous waste, recycling and composting, as well as various disposal technologies developed by various private and public agencies.

Staff has developed educational materials on a variety of waste reduction and environmental topics, including proper disposal of tires, household hazardous waste, composting and the use of alternatives for certain hazardous household items. These materials will be updated and new materials will be prepared on an as needed basis. Future topics will likely include “buy recycled,” commercial waste reduction and pollution prevention. All materials will be made available to the public through an information clearinghouse, will be mentioned in the Waste and Recycling Pages and on the website.

Education Center – Staff will maintain an Education Center that will be housed at the Prairie View RDF that will have interactive exhibits on a variety of environment-related topics. The education center will be a place where school- and community groups can visit to learn about waste reduction, processing and disposal issues.

School Waste Reduction Programs - Staff will prepare environment-related programs specifically for school-aged children (K-12). The programs will be updated as needed, will be tailored to the specific needs of area schools and will meet the goals of the Illinois Learning Standards for elementary and secondary students. Teacher workshops will also be conducted to fulfill their continuing education requirements. Staff will continue to periodically publish ENVIRONEWS for teachers, administrators and students. Staff will assist area schools participate in the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs’ “Illinois Earth Flag Program.” This program will be tailored to meet the needs of area schools as well.

Book Recycling Events – Staff will conduct an annual book collection event enabling residents, schools and others to drop-off outdated curriculum materials or old books for reuse or recycling.

Consumer Electronics Recycling Events – Staff will conduct at least one electronics collection event annually enabling residents, schools and others to drop-off outdated consumer electronic devices (item such as CPUs, keyboards, hard drives, compact disc devices, typewriters, adding machines, telephones, stereo components, speakers, and other similar devices) for recycling or proper disposal. These events are NOT intended for the recycling or disposal of any item deemed a “white good” according to Illinois law.

Public Education Programs - Staff will continue to develop and conduct educational programs for park districts as well as adult and community groups regarding waste reduction and other similar environment-related issues. Presentations by Waste Services shall be available to all public and private community groups on a first come, first served basis. These programs may include:

In addition, Staff will continue to publish an annual waste and recycling guide as well as a periodic newsletter to inform county residents and businesses about timely topics and upcoming events. Both the waste and recycling guide and periodic newsletter will be sent to all residents and businesses via mail as budgets allow. Staff will also maintain a website containing links to the various publications, upcoming events and other local solid waste agencies. Web site content will be added as it becomes available. Lastly, staff will prepare an annual report detailing the activities of the Division, the recycling rate of the County and highlighting possible future endeavors.

Commercial Waste Reduction - Staff will provide personalized, on-site technical assistance to commercial, institutional and industrial establishments wishing to characterize waste, expand source reduction, reuse and recycling opportunities and implement waste reduction programs. Staff will also conduct waste reduction workshops for interested businesses and/or area chambers of commerce and distribute waste reduction-related information for businesses. Commercial waste reduction will be the major focus of the Division during the next few years. Staff intends to work closely with area chambers to establish community-wide programs encouraging recycling and waste reduction. Such programs may include commercial waste franchising or contracts for waste and recycling collection. Lastly, a Commercial Recycling Guide will be developed specifically for Will County businesses.

Procurement Policies - Staff will work with various County departments to amend the County’s Procurement Ordinance to favor the purchase and use of items manufactured with post-consumer recycled-content materials when performance standards, product availability and price are comparable to similar items made with virgin materials. Staff will keep up-to-date with federally-established procurement standards and various items made with post-consumer recycled content. Any formally-adopted procurement standards/ordinances will be shared with other units of local government within the County for their consideration.

In addition, as new county buildings are constructed/renovated, staff will encourage the consideration of energy efficiency and use of recycled-content building products.

Variable Rate Collection - Quantity-based waste collection programs provide economic incentives to reduce waste generation and disposal. In addition, these programs tend to provide rate equity in that waste generators pay for service based on the quantity of waste requiring disposal, rather than a flat rate for unlimited quantities. Staff will provide technical assistance to interested Will County municipalities in order to encourage the implementation of variable rate collection systems (i.e., volume- and/or weight-based collection systems).

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Management - Waste Services will provide HHW collection events as budgets allow and will maintain applications with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to hold IEPA-funded collection events, as appropriate. If necessary, the County may provide financial assistance to hold HHW collection events at other times throughout the year. Listings of local businesses that accept HHW from the public will be maintained and listed in annual editions of the Waste and Recycling Pages. Staff will maintain a list of dates of other HHW collection programs scheduled in the Chicago area in the event that Will County residents choose to attend.

The need for permanent HHW collection centers to serve the needs of all County residents will be evaluated. In addition, staff will endeavor to keep the City of Naperville’s permanent HHW facility open and accept as many different types of HHW as possible. Financial contributions from local governments in Will County will be solicited to support the operation of Naperville’s facility.

Staff will investigate the possibility of implementing permanent used oil collection programs with municipalities and/or townships throughout the County.

Finally, staff will work with units of local government to establish curbside collection of HHW for those residents unable to attend one-day collection events or bring materials to a permanent collection facility.

Pollution Prevention – Staff will work with interested conditionally exempt small quantity generators (CESQG’s) in the County to determine the quantity and composition of the CESQG waste stream. Depending on the need, Staff will distribute waste audit and other pollution prevention information to these businesses. In addition, staff will work with selected industries to target pollution prevention opportunities. The County will recognize and award businesses that successfully implement pollution prevention programs.

Used Tire Management - Waste Services will periodically provide tire collection programs for County residents either independently of or in conjunction with the IEPA’s Tire Cleanup Program. These events will be open to all county residents as well as municipal public works and township highway departments. Will County will assist businesses locate disposal options for tires, but will not pay for the disposal of tires from businesses.

Permanent solutions to the tire disposal problem will be sought in conjunction with state agencies and local tire retailers.

Lastly, Waste Services will work with state agencies and local businesses to develop end markets for used tires.

Household Battery Collection - Staff will maintain a current list of local retailers that accept household batteries from the public for recycling and/or proper disposal. Notice of the collection programs will be mentioned in annual editions of the Waste and Recycling Pages.

Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris Management – Will County recognizes that anticipated growth in population over the next 20 years will result in increased generation of construction and demolition (C&D) debris. Staff will maintain current waste reduction programs for C&D debris and establish new programs as the need arises. Staff will:

Staff will maintain and/or expand the existing Builders Permit Reimbursement Program designed to recycle C&D materials at the job site and rebate a portion of the builders permit fee as funding allows.

In-House Recycling Program - Staff will work with all County departments to maintain and/or expand the in-house recycling program. Emphasis will be placed on diverting the maximum number of waste stream components while ensuring ease of use. Waste generation and recycling quantity record keeping will be a required component of all future county waste/recycling collection contracts.

Long Term Disposal – Since adoption of its Solid Waste Management Plan in 1991, Will County has consistently pursued development of a County-owned, privately-operated landfill. Following an extensive site selection process that evaluated potential sites throughout the County, a preferred site was identified on the property of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant.

Pursuant to the Illinois Land Conservation Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-106), the federal government will convey a portion of the Arsenal property to the County for use as a long-term disposal facility. Will County will continue to support the legislative transfer of ownership of the selected site to the County. On March 4, 1999, the parcel was granted site location approval by the Will County Board (Ordinance #99-72) pursuant to section 39.2 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/39.2).

The siting of this landfill, now named the Prairie View Recycling and Disposal Facility (RDF), culminated nearly 10 years of proactive, cooperative solid waste planning by the County, municipalities, elected officials, citizens, businesses, and the solid waste industry. The landfill will meet the waste disposal needs of the Will County Service Area (Will County and municipalities located at least partly in the County) for a period of 20 years. Development of the Prairie View RDF over the next 20 years will coincide with a period of rapid growth within the service area. The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission projects the service area population will grow by 44 percent over Year 2000 Census figures if the Peotone airport is constructed, and 34 percent if the airport is not built. The landfill is a crucial component of the public infrastructure that will be needed to address such growth.

Having sited a long-term disposal facility in accordance with the policies contained in the Will County Solid Waste Management Plan, the County has determined that there is no need for any new or expanded landfill facilities within Will County, nor for any new or expanded transfer stations except as contemplated within the Host Agreement for the Prairie View RDF. This policy determination shall remain effective until such time as the Prairie View RDF has depleted its capacity or the County amends the Solid Waste Management Plan to indicate otherwise.

New and/or Expansions of Existing Pollution Control Facilities – The goal of the County’s Solid Waste Management Plan is to develop a comprehensive, integrated solid waste management system to accommodate the needs of the County for at least 20 years. Among the objectives of the plan is to comply with the statutes governing the siting of pollution control facilities, specifically section 39.2 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/39.2), states that siting approval may only be granted if “sufficient details” demonstrating compliance with the nine criteria of Section 39.2 are included in siting applications. Therefore, in order to comply with this statute, and in order to ensure that sufficient information is presented on proposed pollution control facilities, applications for local siting approval to be located anywhere in Will County shall contain at a minimum the information detailed in Section 39.2 of the Act. It is the opinion of the County Board (based on a recommendation by Staff) that unless an application contains all the required information, the application is incomplete and does not contain the necessary information for the siting authority to adequately review and objectively rule on the proposed facility. Any siting application filed within Will County that does not contain all of the required information is inconsistent with the County’s Solid Waste Management Plan, and therefore inconsistent with Criteria 9 of Section 39.2 of the Act.

Any new or expanded pollution control facility seeking local siting approval anywhere in Will County (in order to be consistent with Criteria 9 of Section 39.2 of the Act) must negotiate a host agreement with the County prior to any determination of Plan consistency being made by the County. Host agreements with the County shall be for the purpose of:

The County may, at its option, waive any of the above requirements or suggest further requirements if it is determined to be in the best interest of the County.

Open Door Policy – Any new and/or expanded pollution control facility located in Will County shall not exclude any participant in the local solid waste management marketplace from using the facility.

Transfer Stations – The County will not pursue the development of a County-owned transfer station, rather the County will allow the private-sector to develop a transfer station network as it deems appropriate and pursuant to the terms of the Host and Operating Agreement for the Prairie View RDF.

Incineration for Volume Reduction and/or Energy Recovery - Incineration facilities of any kind are not recommended components of the Will County Solid Waste Management Plan because the County’s and service area’s long-term disposal option is the Prairie View RDF, as well as the relatively high capital costs of constructing and operating such facilities (resulting in tip fees that are more expensive than landfilling or transferring waste for proper disposal).

Delegation Agreement with the IEPA - Will County will maintain a delegation agreement with the IEPA to conduct inspections and enforce provisions of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/1 et seq.) at over 20 IEPA-permitted facilities and numerous open dump sites. During 2000, Waste Services conducted a total of 547 inspections of non-hazardous waste sites in the county, including 125 inspections of IEPA-permitted sites, 412 inspections of illegal dumps and ten on-farm compost or land application facilities. Through these efforts, Waste Services enforced the cleanup of 91 illegal dump sites, while attempting to keep the IEPA-permitted facilities in compliance.

In addition, Will County will apply for enforcement grants from the IEPA, seeking the highest level of reimbursement possible, as long as the grants are available.

Brownfields Programs – In addition to the inspection and enforcement program, the County is dedicated to remediating contaminated sites. A county-wide database of private- and public-sector brownfields sites will be developed and maintained. Phase I site assessments will be performed on selected sites and Phase II clean-up will take place as warranted.

The County will seek grant funding through the USEPA’s Brownfield Assessment Demonstration Pilot Grant. Up to $200,000 is available to inventory and assess abandoned and underutilized properties that are hampered by real or perceived contamination problems.

The County will also seek grants from state and private sources to assess contamination and/or remediate brownfields in the county. Lastly, the County will assist units of local governments applying for similar grants.

Groundwater Monitoring - Waste Services will continue to conduct “split sampling” of groundwater samples at each of Will County's eleven permitted landfill sites in accordance with IEPA sampling protocol (see table 4-1 below). The samples are sent to an IEPA-certified laboratory for analysis. The County verifies the results obtained by the individual landfills that are then reported to the IEPA. This process maintains the integrity of the sampling program for each facility. Quarterly and annual groundwater monitoring results are reviewed for each site to identify any exceedances of Applicable Groundwater Quality Standards, determine if statistically significant trends are present and report statistically significant changes in groundwater quality to the IEPA. Constituents to be sampled are those found in that facility’s permit. In addition, Waste Services will continue to comment on groundwater components in a facility’s IEPA permit application.

TABLE 4-1. LIST OF WILL COUNTY PERMITTED LANDFILLS AT WHICH SPLIT SAMPLING IS CONDUCTED
FACILITY	PERMIT STATUS
Mineral Solutions¹	Operating
Beecher Landfill, Units I and II	Closed
Beecher Landfill, Unit III	Closed
CDT Landfill, 005	Closed
CDT Landfill, 006	Closed
Prairie View Recycling & Disposal Facility	under development
Laraway Recycling and Disposal Facility	Operating
Lincoln Stone Quarry/Midwest Generation²	Operating
Wheatland Prairie Landfill	Operating
Willow Ranch Landfill	Closed
Wilmington Municipal Landfill	Closed
Notes: 1. This landfill accepts only fly ash from coal combustion facilities. 2. This landfill accepts on-site generated fly ash from coal combustion facilities.

Aerial Photography and Altitude Comparison. It is the intent of the Waste Services Division to conduct aerial surveys, determine final cover elevations and compare IEPA permitted elevations and/or waste volumes with actual elevations and/or waste volumes of landfills in Will County. Waste Services will use this data to determine whether a facility is in compliance with its permitted height contours, waste boundaries and/or volumes.

Sources of Funding. As indicated in the landfill operating agreement with Waste Management of Illinois, Waste Services will collect the maximum allowable fee for every ton of “commercial solid waste” received for final disposal at the Prairie View Recycling and Disposal Facility in the form of a permanent disposal surcharge fee. Pursuant to the Illinois Environmental Protection Act [415 ILCS 22.15(j)], Will County has also enacted an ordinance to collect a tip fee surcharge on waste permanently disposed of within the County. In the future, Will County intends to collect the maximum tip fee surcharge allowed by State of Illinois for all pollution control facilities as well as any applicable host fees.

Other possible sources of funding include surcharges at various collection events, cost-share programs with other units of local government to provide various services and collection of franchise fees for waste collected in the unincorporated areas of the county

Use of Funds. Will County will use all permanent disposal fees, host fees, tip fee surcharges collected from pollution control facilities in the County and other sources to fund all programmatic and administrative costs of the Land Use Department, Waste Services Division, including implementation of this Plan.

Disposal Capacity Monitoring. Waste Services will continually monitor available disposal capacity at pollution control facilities in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana.

Legislative Tracking. Staff will continually monitor legislation concerning solid waste-related issues. In addition, Waste Services will continue to prepare summaries of legislation and recommendations for action to the Will County Board's Legislative Committee. Lastly, Staff will work with the Legislative Committee to propose state legislation as deemed necessary by the Committee.

Contracts/Franchises for Waste Collection and Disposal. Staff will provide technical assistance to units of local government and commercial/institutional establishments in Will County wishing to implement and/or renew contracts for waste management services with private-sector service providers. Waste Services will endeavor to maintain current copies of all municipal contracts as well as lists of service providers and a database of the services they provide.

Waste Hauler Reporting. Will County will maintain its Waste Hauler Reporting Ordinance (#00-398) affecting all haulers collecting waste and recyclables in Will County. The purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that Waste Services maintains accurate and timely waste generation, collection, and disposal records from Will County service providers and track the County's progress towards the waste reduction goals found in this Plan and the Solid Waste Planning and Recycling Act (415 ILCS 15/1 et seq.).

Franchise Collection of Waste in the Unincorporated Areas. If recycling opportunities for residents in unincorporated areas do not increase and township governments are not willing to create solid waste collection districts, Will County will consider franchising the collection of residential waste in the unincorporated areas of Will County. If the County elects to proceed with these plans, Waste Services may hold informational meetings for the public and elected officials across the County, designate waste collection districts, prepare bid specifications, hold pre-bid meetings with County service providers, request bids for and award franchises for the collection of all residential waste generated in the unincorporated areas of Will County.