On second thoughts...

When the Sundance City Council discussed options for dead animal waste with Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) representatives last week, the conversation was based around the idea that the pilot composting program had been a flop.

A tour of the site, however, appears to have proved the opposite, says Council Member Joe Wilson – and may have led to an even more positive solution than the one that was agreed to in the meeting.

DEQ representatives later visited the landfill accompanied by Wilson, Representative Tyler Lindholm and members of city staff to see for themselves the results of the pilot program. The city had felt it was not working due to a lack of available staff to properly take care of it and a lack of space to properly spread it out to dry.

“We didn’t necessarily have the manpower to babysit this thing,” Wilson says.

New solutions

According to Wilson, the conclusion offered by the DEQ reps, was that the compost is not failing to break down as expected, but is doing exactly what it should be.

Offal has become an issue for Sundance because there is no longer a municipal landfill available for burial and, with garbage pickups now privatized, the city’s own haul trucks are making too few trips per month to accommodate a type of waste that quickly starts to smell.

However, the council – and Wilson in particular – expressed concern that scrapping that program would damage business for local meat processing plant C&A Meats, as well as for veterinarians in the area. DEQ representatives were asked to attend a special meeting on June 23 to discuss options.

At that meeting, the council came to the conclusion that the best way to manage dead animal waste would be to purchase dedicated trailers that can be lined with sawdust to absorb odor until they are filled and hauled away at a cost to the customer of $700 per trailer.

“We’ve all got to work together to come up with a solution that’s affordable for all of us,” Mayor Paul Brooks said as the meeting concluded.

While everyone present appeared happy with the solution, better was soon to come. During a later visit to the landfill, says Wilson, the DEQ reps approved of the composting site, commented that it was breaking down as it should and directed the city to send samples to a Laramie lab for nitrogen testing.

Meanwhile, it will be included in the permit for the city’s new construction and debris pit that composting may continue, Wilson said.

“I believe this is definitely the best solution,” he enthuses, explaining that the composted material can then be stockpiled to use as a cover at the construction and debris pit when a cell is closed.

Meanwhile, C&A Meats has offered to bring a piece of equipment to the landfill and assist with maintaining the compost, he says. Wilson will be working to get a memorandum of understanding together to allow this to happen.

Wilson is thrilled with the new solution, which he believes will be less harmful to C&A Meats and other businesses that need to dispose of offal, as well as to businesses such as restaurants and gas stations that benefit from the presence of their customers in town.

“It’s definitely a big win,” he says, attributing some of the success to Lindholm’s support for the city.

Wilson and Lindholm intend to approach the University of Wyoming to see if a testing program can be set up to ensure acceptable nitrogen levels at the compost site. Sundance can’t be the only city in this position, he says, and “we might be able to help other areas in the state” by gathering as much empirical data as possible.

With this new solution on the table, Wilson suspects that the city will no longer pursue the idea for dedicated trailers that was agreed on at the special meeting.