City Moves Forward with Landfill Project

The city has plans for managing more than a decade's worth of central South Dakota's trash.

At their Jan. 7 meeting, the Pierre City Commission approved a request to bid the construction of another cell at the Pierre Regional Landfill. Construction of that cell, cell #4, includes the excavation of 220,000 cubic yards of dirt.

"We do accept material from communities and rural areas in seven different counties," said Val Keller, Solid Waste Superintendent. "That means we need quite a bit of space to dispose of all that waste."

The city bales trash to help optimize landfill space. It also has a recycling program and rubble debris pit to help minimize disposal needs. Using those techniques and with the additional capacity of the new cell, the landfill will have enough storage capacity for about 14 years.

Keller says there is space for another ten cells to be developed once cell #4 reaches capacity.

Construction bids are due back to the city by Feb. 6. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring.