TRASH: REGULATIONS MAY SOON BAN AREA LANDFILLS

New federal solid waste regulations could effectively shut down landfills in Southeast Missouri and more than double trash fees after next year.

Rickie L. Roberts, project manager for Burns and McDonnell Waste Consultants Inc. in Kansas City, told city officials and members of the city's Solid Waste Task Force Thursday that the new regulations are less stringent for states that apply for federal approval as meeting the requirements of the new standards.

But, he said, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has been unwilling to apply for federal approval, which would make Missouri subject to rigid regulations and dramatically increase landfill costs.

The new Environmental Protection Agency regulations were approved a year ago but won't affect Missouri landfills directly until Oct. 9, 1993. The guidelines prohibit new landfills and expansion of existing sites that are situated in seismic zones, Karst topography and other "unstable" areas.

Roberts said more than half the state is comprised of restricted areas, which would prohibit new landfills once existing sites are filled.

"Missouri DNR has decided they will wait and see what the federal compliance regulations statement due later this year looks like before they decide whether to apply for approval," he said. "One of the reasons they give is there's not federal funds to implement the program.

"It doesn't make sense, but they may be looking at it as a reason to supplement recycling programs by removing landfills in the state."

Roberts said that if Missouri doesn't become an "approved" state, as many as half the state's 77 permitted landfills would be forced to shut down after Oct. 9, 1993 including most, if not all, in Southeast Missouri.

He also said landfill tipping fees in the area, now about $20-$25 per ton, would increase to at least $30-$35 a ton or more. Most cities in Southeast Missouri would be forced to haul their trash to approved sites out of the area.

Doug Leslie, Cape Girardeau's Public Works Director, said that even if Missouri applies for EPA approval, which Roberts said the state is qualified to receive, solid waste fees still are likely to increase.

But if the state isn't approved, he predicted local monthly trash fees would at least double.

The EPA standards allow approved states to site if they meet certain conditions new landfills or expand existing sites in wetlands, "seismic impact" and earthquake fault zones, and other unstable areas.

But non-approved states would be prohibited from expansion or siting of new landfills in those areas.

Roberts said all of Southeast Missouri and 25 percent of the state is in a "seismic impact zone," and most large tracts of land include some "wetlands."

"Practically any large piece of property you buy for a landfill will have some portion that meets the federal definition of wetlands," he said.

Approved states also are allowed to use alternative types of daily landfill covers, while landfill operators in non-approved states would be required to apply six inches of dirt as cover daily.

Another key provision of the new regulations is in ground water monitoring and waste containment which Roberts said is quite costly. Monitoring requirements for approved states are less stringent than those for non-approved states.

Roberts said that to become "approved" by the EPA, a state's solid waste and landfill regulations must be similar federal guidelines, which Missouri's are.

He has joined the Missouri Municipal League in traveling throughout the state to educate city officials on the issue and to urge them to lobby the DNR to seek EPA approval for the program.

He said there are few alternatives to "landfilling" solid waste, thanks to the federal Clean Air Act, which adds so much regulatory cost to incineration systems that they aren't cost effective.

City Councilman Al Spradling III said: "If we can't dispose of it in landfills, and if we can't burn it, what do they want us to do with it?"

"Recycle," Roberts said.

"But you can't recycle all of it," responded Spradling.

Roberts said much of the solid waste problems on the horizon for Missouri already are being endured by states such as New York, where monthly trash fees typically run $30-$50 per month.