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Curious Iowa: How did a landfill become Mount Trashmore?
The ‘mountain’ built on 50 years of garbage now features native prairie plants and a view of Cedar Rapids
Jul. 10, 2023 5:00 am, Updated: Jun. 25, 2025 12:39 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS — The highest point someone can stand on in Cedar Rapids is Mount Trashmore, an overlook and trail system built on top of the former Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency landfill.
What’s the story behind Cedar Rapids’ most famous mountain?
Curious Iowa is a series from The Gazette that seeks to answer your questions about the state, its culture and the people who live here. One curious Iowan wondered about the history of Mount Trashmore and how it got its name.
In this edition of Curious Iowa, we look at why a landfill was built on the doorstep of Czech Village, how Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency developed a landfill into a hub of nature trails and what will happen when the county’s current landfill reaches capacity.
Before a landfill, Mount Trashmore was a quarry
In the 1800s, the site of Mount Trashmore was Otis Quarry. The quarry left a large hold in the ground, and in 1965, the city of Cedar Rapids took over the site to create a landfill. Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency Communications Director Joe Horaney said in 1994 Cedar Rapids and Linn County formed the solid waste agency, which oversaw the landfill going forward.
“We’re not part of the city, we’re not part of the county,” Horaney said. “We’re a stand-alone agency that works with both.”
The landfill site filled up, and in 2006 it was closed and underwent the capping process. Horaney explained that a four-foot clay cap was placed over the landfill before native prairie grasses and pollinator plants were seeded. Trees cannot be grown on the site because the roots could pierce the cap.
After the 2008 flood, the solid waste agency got permission from the Iowa Governor’s Office to reopen the top three acres of the closed landfill to dispose of flood debris. No residential garbage was accepted.
That added another 432,000 tons of material to the landfill. In 2012, the landfill reached capacity again and by 2013 it was capped. No garbage will ever be put into Mount Trashmore again.
Mount Trashmore’s gases are burned off
In Iowa, a landfill’s gas emissions must be monitored for at least 30 years after the site is closed, so Mount Trashmore has 47 gas collection levels.
“Landfills are basically like fingerprints — every landfill is unique,” Horaney said. “This landfill is a little bit older, it was created back before there was regulation. So the gases coming out of this one are dirtier than the gas on the one in County Home Road,” he said, referring to the solid waste agency’s active landfill.
As materials break down, they produce gases like methane. Gases are captured and sent to a different part of the Mount Trashmore property where they are burned off with a flare.
At the Marion landfill site, the agency captures gas and converts it into electricity. Because no new garbage is being added to Mount Trashmore, Horaney said, it’s not cost effective to put in a gas collection system there, and the flares work well.
“That’s way better for the environment than just letting it seep out.” Horaney said.
Additionally, Mount Trashmore has monitoring wells that collect and handle the leachate — a sort of garbage juice created when organic matter breaks down — in a sanitary manner.
From landfill, to recreation destination
"You’re limited in what you can do because landfills, you know, you come out here now and it looks like a park. It’s not a park,“ Horaney said. ”This is still a regulated site.“
Horaney said that even when the landfill reaches 29 years and 364 days after closure, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources — which monitors Iowa landfills — could determine the site is still producing a lot of gas and extend monitoring indefinitely. Horaney said gas reduction levels have dropped off since no new material is coming in, so such an extension of monitoring is unlikely, but still a possibility.
The solid waste agency was limited in what could be built on the site because construction cannot puncture the landfill’s cap. The agency realized the site’s best asset is the view of Cedar Rapids, so the former quarry-turned-landfill was given a makeover and turned into a recreation destination.
And no, it doesn’t smell like you’re walking on an old landfill.
“Literally everyone had a part in making this in Linn County into what is it and so that’s why it’s something that we’re really proud of,” Horaney said.
Horaney said landfills across the country have reached out to the Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency about the Mount Trashmore project. The solid waste agency is the only landfill in the state with a recreation coordinator on staff.
Embracing the mound
By the end of June, Horaney said 7,200 people had visited the trails at Mount Trashmore this year. That’s 3,000 more than the same time period last year. In all of 2022, Mount Trashmore had 22,000 visitors.
Some residents want Mount Trashmore to be more of a calling card for the city. Tom Kleopfer has been a Cedar Rapids resident since 1973. He would like signage there.
“I’d like to see them put letters up there. … You know they have ‘Hollywood’?” Kleopfer said. “I’d like to see ‘Mount Trashmore.’ But probably not that name, though. Something different, like ‘Welcome to Cedar Rapids’.”
Horaney said that’s unlikely to happen, although the mound has been used for signage in the past. Previously, the solid waste agency has worked with the Breast Cancer Foundation, painting a giant pink ribbon on the site.
“They stopped doing that because the equipment, they had to borrow it from the city school district that they used to spray the football fields with the different colors, and it was so big all the equipment broke because they couldn’t handle it,” Horaney said. “It was just too much. And then now we have the trails that are in the way and it’s been restructured a little bit, so that it wouldn’t fit.”
Holly Bruns, of Fairfax, and Heidi Berger, of Cedar Rapids, have taken on the Mount Trashmore challenge the past couple of years. It is an initiative started by the Czech Village-NewBo districts that challenges participants to climb the mound 140 times, which is a similar distance one would travel to the peak of Mount Everest in Nepal.
“It’s a tough climb,” Bruns said. “It’s a challenging workout and so we’re here probably four or five times a week”
“We’re trying to beat our miles from last year.” Berger added.
Since the 2020 derecho destroyed much of the tree canopy of Cedar Rapids, those who climb to the top of Mount Trashmore have a new view of the city below.
“I saw part of the city I’d never seen before just because they got all exposed,” Horaney said. “It’s just a reminder of how devastating the derecho was.”
What do you name a landfill?
The solid waste agency inherited the name “Mount Trashmore,” although Horaney said the name’s origins are lost. Cedar Rapids is not the only home to a Mount Trashmore. There’s another in Virginia City Beach, Va. and it’s larger than the one in Cedar Rapids.
Over the years, there has been talk of renaming the mound to “Mount Smeti” (Czech for garbage) or “Krasna Hora“ (Czech for beautiful mountain). Horaney said to residents, it will always be Mount Trashmore.
“It’s a great reminder that this is a collection of more than 50 years of garbage in Linn County,” Horaney said. “Everything that went in there was part of people’s lives and now we took something that, you know, was garbage and we turned it into something that people love and enjoy.”
A sinking mountain
The elevation of Mount Trashmore after the final capping was 948 feet above sea level, but that will change.
Horaney said that as the organics underneath the weight of the top of the mountain decompress into gases, Mount Trashmore will sink. Horaney said it will settle anywhere from 10 to 30 feet over the next 30 years. Everything placed on top of the mountain — the overlook pergola and benches — was designed to settle with the mountain.
What happens when the current landfill is full?
Currently, Linn County residents’ garbage is taken to the solid waste agency landfill on County Home Road outside of Marion. The County Home Road site is set to close June 30, 2044, but is on track to be full before then. There will not be a new landfill in Linn County due to zoning restrictions.
Horaney said the Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency takes in 700 tons of garbage daily. The agency’s environmental engineer can calculate remaining air space and compaction levels to determine how much garbage can fit into the landfill.
“Right now we’re looking at probably the landfill will be full by 2036,” Horaney said.
Horaney said they are looking at alternatives to landfills, like transfer stations. Garbage arrives at a location and is taken to another landfill that can accept the material. Other alternatives include mixed waste processing and pulling out recyclables.
According to Horaney, the bottom line is that it will cost more to get rid of garbage after the County Home Road site closes. It also could add challenges to disaster relief.
“Not having a local landfill when you have a disaster limits your responsiveness you then you really have to rely more on shipping and people need to haul materials.” Horaney said.
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Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com
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