Preface

Since its establishment in 1970, the Illinois EPA has overseen the development and operation of a productive system of modern sanitary landfills. The Agency ensures that these facilities meet the strictest disposal standards in history, and that they are engineered to be fully protective of human health and the environment, especially where it concerns any possibility of groundwater contamination.

This is the Agency's 15th annual report on landfill disposal and available landfill capacity in Illinois.  The number of active landfills in Illinois accepting waste in 2001 was 52.  The state's landfills have 14 years of capacity remaining.

Regional capacity may be a different matter.  The Chicago Metropolitan and East Central Illinois areas only have six and seven years remaining.

New capacity is being developed in Region 7 (Southern Illinois) by Perry Ridge Landfill and West End Disposal Facility.  The state's newest landfill is Cottonwood Hills RDF near East St. Louis opened for the last two months of 2000. No new landfills opened in 2001.  Knox County Landfill #3 expanded on Nov. 11, 2001.  Some remaining landfills have constructed expansions in 2002 as there was sufficient acreage already having local siting approval.

The State of Illinois, seeking to avoid potential crises, has asked all Illinois counties to adopt and update every five years well-conceived plans to accommodate their future disposal needs.   Eighty-seven five year plan updates and 16 ten year plan updates have been received from counties.

Additionally, the Agency's seven regional offices and 19 counties, the Ambraw Valley Solid Waste Agency and the City of Chicago have been delegated the authority to inspect landfills, transfer stations and compost sites in their jurisdictions, providing a needed service to the citizens of Illinois.  We welcome Saline County as our newest delegated partner.

The Illinois EPA hopes you will find this information useful and instructive, and welcomes your comments and suggestions as to how it may be improved.

Renee Cipriano
Director

Executive Summary

This is the Illinois EPA's 15th annual report describing the management of nonhazardous municipal solid waste by the state's solid waste landfills and transfer stations. The report is divided into sections representing Illinois EPA administrative regions.

Each regional section includes specification pages describing the chief physical characteristics of each landfill.  Provided are: its location and hours of operation, tipping fee, quantities of wastes received for the last three years (in gate cubic yards and gate tons), the landfill's certified remaining capacity for the last two reporting dates (in gate cubic yards), solid waste management fees paid in 2001,  the Agency regional field office or delegated local authority that inspects the facility, and the name, address and phone number of the landfill's owner and operator.

Similar but scaled-down specification pages are included for each transfer station. In all, this report includes details of 57 landfills, 94 transfer stations, and 56 compost facilities.

Illinois municipal solid waste landfills are required to report to the Illinois EPA the quantities of solid waste they receive each year, and to calculate and report the amount of remaining capacity existing on the first day of the following year.

During 2001, 52 landfills reported receiving 52.6 million gate cubic yards (16 million gate tons) of waste. This volume was 2.7 million gate cubic yards more than the total received during 2000, a 5.4 percent increase.

As of Jan. 1, 2002, 52 landfills reported having a combined remaining capacity of  717.3 million gate cubic yards, (217.4 million tons) or 26 million gate cubic yard less than on Jan. 1, 2001, a decline of 3.5 percent.

Dividing wastes disposed during 2001 by capacity remaining on Jan. 1, 2002, indicates a landfill life expectancy in Illinois of 14 years, at 2001 disposal rates, barring capacity adjustments, until capacity is depleted state-wide.  

These are Adobe Acrobat PDF files. You will need the free Acrobat Reader software, available from Adobe's web site, to view them.

You can download the full report or individual sections.

Full Report (337 pages, 2.27 MB)

Introduction (34 pages, 512 KB)

Regions

• Region One: Northwestern Illinois (27 pages, 165 KB)
• Region Two: Chicago Metropolitan (106 pages, 422 KB)
• Region Three: Peoria/Quad Cities (23 pages, 154 KB)
• Region Four: East Central Illinois (27 pages, 160 KB)
• Region Five: West Central Illinois (16 pages, 161 KB)
• Region Six: Metropolitan East St. Louis (26 pages, 160 KB)
• Region Seven: Southern Illinois (16 pages, 128 KB)
  

Appendices

• Solid Waste Landfills:  Appendices A,B,C & D (16 pages, 62 KB)
• Solid Waste Transfer Stations:  Appendices E, F & G (17 pages, 74 KB)
• Landscape Waste Compost Facilities: Appendices H, I, & J (13 pages, 53 KB)
• Solid Waste Planning and Recycling:  Appendices K, L & M (14 pages, 69 KB)

Form 272: Report Documentation Page
(1 page, 10 KB)