‘Good trash talk’: Safety fixes, modernization coming to Washington County landfill

Written by Chris Reed
March 1, 2024

WASHINGTON CITY — “Hey, good trash talk,” Washington County Commissioner Gil Almquist told Washington City Council member Craig Coats after he finished his speech at a groundbreaking.

Local officials shovel dirt at the groundbreaking of improvements to the Washington County Landfill, Washington City, Utah, Mar. 1, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

And Almquist was literally telling the truth.

Commissioners, council members and other dignitaries gathered at the Washington County landfill on Friday to mark the official start to the construction of new buildings and facilities they say will improve safety, keep the place up to code and make it easier for local residents to get rid of their trash. 

“We all could be golfing, playing pickleball, but we chose to hang out at the landfill,” Coats said to those gathered.

The event at the landfill was actually marking the first dug dirt for the second phase of the project, a new administration building. About 50 yards from the ceremonial shovels, actual shovels, bulldozers and dump trucks were already at work on the first phase.

Phase one consists of a new entry for vehicles with a more up-to-date truck scale, or weighbridge, designed to make sure vehicles entering the landfill aren’t overloaded and to help determine how much trash is entering the landfill and how much to charge those bringing it.

Officials noted that most people feel at ease dumping their wrappers, banana peels and used diapers into the trash without concern for what happens to it after. Other than blue bin recyclables that end up at a facility in North Las Vegas, all of it ends up at the landfill operated by the Washington County Solid Waste District nestled between hills that shield the rest of the community from the pungent scent. 

A rendering is seen of the new administration building planned for the Washington County Landfill, Washington City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of Galloway & Company, St. George News

For typical residents, Almquist said the improvements will mean less chance of that trash blowing out of the landfill boundaries on a windy day and help the operators of the landfill make sure there is enough space for the area’s trash for at least another 100 years.

“When you take (trash) to the landfill, you want it to stay there,” said Almquist, who serves on the 21-member Washington County Solid Waste District Board consisting mostly of local government leaders.  “There’s been a problem with the scales. It’s hard to make that hard right turn for some of the bigger trucks. There’s a lot of process that goes on to keep it safe from falling out of  trucks along roadsides.”

Almquist also noted that many homeowners might not realize each Washington County resident gets to dump up to a ton of material at the landfill for free each year.

The existing scale and administration buildings are 25 to 30 years old, according to officials. The scales are aging and potentially not up to federal code. And with the growing community, the landfill is out of space for landfill records, which under regulations must be permanently stored.

The old administration building, about half the size of what the new building will be, will not just be thrown out, but remain for storage and records.

The current scales and entry are seen at the Washington County Landfill, Washington City, Utah, Mar. 1, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

“The whole infrastructure change is really gonna help our ability to serve the community in a much more efficient and safe way,” Kevin Kunz, the manager of the Washington County Solid Waste District told St. George News. “We’ll have easier access, easier point of entries. Ultimately, when we’re done, we’ll actually have a better place for the community to actually put their waste.”

Friday’s groundbreaking was a long time in coming. The design process for the landfill improvements began before the pandemic in 2019.

“Then it kind of sat there and after I came to the district about three years ago, we started to pick up those plans again and get those going again,” Kunz said.

The last phase that hasn’t started construction is what Kunz called a Public Convenience Center.

“Currently, we have sea walls that people have to lift their stuff off their vehicles over into the dumpsters,” Kunz said. “At the new community center, people will be able to just put stuff right out onto the deck. And then we’ll have front-end loaders push it into the roll off. So it will be easier on people’s backs.”

Despite its trashy location, the buildings will have something in common with the sparkling, new City Hall under construction in St. George — the architect. 

Architect Chris Child shares a laugh with others at the groundbreaking of improvements to the Washington County Landfill, Washington City, Utah, Mar. 1, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Chris Child with architecture firm Galloway & Company said the firm isn’t the only thing the two projects have in common.

“The inspiration is kind of similar in nature with that it is just trying to tie it into the landscape down here. So it doesn’t stand out a ton,” Child said, noting that while the landfill project is much smaller in scale than the one in downtown St. George, the approach he had to it was the same. 

“It’s making sure that buildings working for the user groups and that’s really what we aim for – really user–oriented design.”

Childs’ design for the main building is in yellows, red rock and wooden browns with rectangular columns holding up the timber-covered roof of the entry. Drones were used to collect survey data for the site.

“There’s a lot more that goes into the scale house than most people understand,” Child said. “There’s a lot of interconnectivity and kind of the brains behind those scales to make everything work. It takes a little bit of coordination there.”

In the foreground, Kevin Kunz, the manager of the Washington County Solid Waste District, walks among construction workers, architects and officials at the groundbreaking of improvements to the Washington County Landfill, Washington City, Utah, Mar. 1, 2024 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

The construction firm handling the project — SIRQ Construction — is also at work on a larger project on the other side of the county: The massive Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

Another reason in the delay with coordinating and creating the landfill improvements was lack of funding. 

“The tough thing with this solid waste district is we just don’t have oodles of funds to do what we need,” said Coats, who chairs the waste management board.

Along with saving up a little bit in each year’s budget for the project, the waste district received a bond from the state’s Permanent Community Impact Board, which provides infrastructure loans and grants to counties, cities and towns in the state.

“They saw our need that we needed a new scale house and that, and we worked really hard with them to kind of work it. The good thing is we’re able to get enough funds to do the first two phases of this project. And we got it on a 2% interest loan, which is unheard of,” Coats said. “It’s super cheap money. That really is great.”

 

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Reed serves as a reporter for St. George News, where he has been honored with several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work, including first-place accolades. He started his journalism career as a sports reporter and editor in Southern California where he once compared shoe sizes with Shaquille O'Neal and exchanged mix tapes with members of the Los Angeles Kings. After growing up in the San Fernando Valley learning karate skills from Mr. Miyagi and spending a decade in Las Vegas mostly avoiding the casinos, he came to St. George for love and married his soulmate, a lifetime Southern Utah resident. He is the proud father of two boys, his youngest a champion against both autism and Type 1 diabetes.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

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