Dubuque County landfill board votes to bid on Cedar Rapids trash contract

The Dubuque County landfill could soon take in trash from Cedar Rapids. According to the Cascade Pioneer, the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency board voted 2-1 to approve a request from administrator Kenneth Miller to bid to receive between 50,000 and 100,000 tons of trash from Cedar Rapids annually for five years. Cedar Rapids is looking to divert household waste and extend the life of the Linn County landfill. The Dubuque board's vote only authorizes the bid. "We are not committing to anything with this proposal," said board member Harley Pothoff, a Dubuque County supervisor who supported placing a bid. "It doesn't guarantee us anything, and it doesn't lock us into anything, either." A contract could increase the annual volume of trash at the Dubuque landfill by 50 percent and shorten the timeline for developing new dumping cells by several years. Board member Katy Wethal, who also sits on the Dubuque City Council, objected because it could force the agency to hire additional sanitation workers. "I don't feel I can support this now because of changing demands on staff that we already have," she said. The Dubuque landfill's trash tonnage has grown from about 85,000 tons in 2012 to 200,000 tons in 2025, after Dubuque started accepting large volumes of trash from commercial haulers in southwest Wisconsin. About a third of the landfill's trash now comes from Wisconsin. Even as volume more than doubled, staffing stayed about the same, and Miller said workers are now near the limit of what they can do. He said the agency was already working on a proposal to hire more people, both at the existing landfill and to staff a new customer service center. Miller said he does not support giving Cedar Rapids a discount rate to attract the business. "We're not offering a rate we don't offer any other hauler," he said. The proposed contract would allow up to 100,000 tons a year while guaranteeing Dubuque gets paid for 50,000 tons, regardless of how much is brought. Miller said a five-year contract could provide steady revenue as the landfill replaces equipment and adds a second compactor. The current Dubuque site is expected to run out of space by 2040, while expansion land to the south could last until 2238. Taking the Cedar Rapids waste could shorten those timelines to 2035 and 2161, respectively. Linn County expects to exhaust its space sometime in the 2030s, but diverting municipal trash could extend its life by a couple of decades. Cedar Rapids officials want to keep the Linn County landfill for industrial users as long as they can. Board member David Resnick, also a Dubuque City Council member, said the added volume should help existing customers. "My concern is we don't get used to the additional increase," he said. "This needs to be something that could help our existing customers and residents." REAL DUBUQUE NEWS (RDN)