Community Relations - Fact Sheets

Chicago Heights Refuse Depot Landfill Site

Fact Sheet #2
June 2003

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Chicago Heights, Illinois

Purpose of this fact sheet

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide information to area citizens and businesses about the upcoming work at the Chicago Heights Refuse Depot landfill (Depot). Fact Sheet #1 (December 2002) provided the background, map, and information about the investigation and findings that have lead up to this phase of work. For a copy of Fact Sheet #1 or questions about this project, please contact one of the people listed at the end of this Fact Sheet.

Dates and Details

Construction activities at the Refuse Depot Landfill are scheduled to start July 7, 2003 and will continue until September 2003. The site will have equipment and workers present, similar to a typical construction site so it is requested that no one enter the site. Please do not allow anyone, especially children, to access the site at any time without proper authorization.

Refuse Depot has several areas that have become eroded and other areas have very thin cover, not allowing for proper vegetation growth. Therefore, approximately 20,000 cubic yards of the cover and waste materials will need to be removed and relocated to other areas of the site in order to stabilize and properly contour the landfill to ensure proper drainage of rain and snow. After this step is accomplished, additional cover material will be placed over the entire landfill. 75% of the cover material is already piled near the landfill after being obtained from other nearby construction sites in cooperation with local contractors. This coordination has provided a substantial cost savings that not only allows work to move ahead quickly at this site but may allow work to be accomplished at other similar sites. Generally, construction activities in a somewhat industrialized area like this have little or no noticeable affect on nearby locations, but the work may cause an increase in noise or dust in the immediate area during the most active construction.

After the cover is in place, approximately 8 to 10 acres of the landfill will be reseeded to further reduce erosion and water infiltration. Leachate formed by water traveling through the waste will also be greatly reduced by these steps. This work will allow the site to meet modern landfill regulations and will improve the entire landfill in a manner protective of human health and the environment. Money for this project is provided by State of Illinois Funding.

When completed, the site will have 30 solar powered gas flares installed on the surface of the landfill. The flares operate by allowing landfill gas, primarily methane, to travel past a solar powered igniter, burning the methane before being released into the air. Burning the landfill gas promotes better growth of the vegetation on the cover and lessens the potential for the landfill to effect groundwater in the area.

For more information, you may contact:

Other Fact Sheets by the Office of Community Relations are available by request .