Mount Trashmore will remain open to collect flood debris

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Site 1 "Mount Trashmore" landfill will continue to climb, taking in flood debris for the foreseeable future.

The Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency had closed the landfill just down river from the Czech Village before the 2008 flood and then reopened it to take in debris leftover by the flood. Most recently, the agency thought it would close the landfill again in the spring of 2012, but that time has now been pushed back.

Karmin McShane, the agency's director, told the agency's board of directors on Tuesday that the city's demolition of flood-damaged properties will continue into 2012 and so the agency will keep the Site 1 landfill open to take the demolition debris. All flood debris has gone into the Site 1 landfill, and McShane said the agency wants to see the rest go there and not to the agency's Site 2 landfill at County Home Road and Highway 13 on the edge of Marion.

McShane said Site 1 has taken in 359,000 tons of debris from the flood and has "airspace" for another 100,000 tons before it reaches what she said was its capacity.

The agency's permit from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources allows the agency to keep Site 1 open until it is full, though McShane told the agency board that she will contact the DNR to report that the Solid Waste Agency intends to keep Site 1 open for the foreseeable future.