Balefill Explained

A balefill is a type of landfill (municipal solid waste disposal) where solid waste is compacted and baled, typically held together with steel strapping or wrapped in plastic.

This substantially reduces the volume of trash and hauling volume, allowing a better use of landfill space. It's especially advantageous in humid or wet areas as it produces a low volume of leachate.^[1]

Balefill locations

United States

• Dickson County, Tennessee, balefill section opened 1990, partially closed 1996^[2]
• Tooele County, Utah balefill at Tekoi, Skull Valley Indian Reservation, operated by Waste Management of Utah; balefill section operated until 2010; bales were approximately x x and weighed . 40.3583°N -112.7244°W^[3]
• St. Paul, Minnesota's American Systems Incorporated high-density baling facility, a division of the American Hoist & Derrick Company. It was located in downtown St. Paul, just west of the St. Paul Downtown Airport. In a 1972-1974 study, the bales were measured as averaging wide, long, and high, and tended to expand in width and length by approximately 10% over the first week (the height only expanded by 4%). Bales weighed an average, and transported to the balefill with 14 bales on a truck. They were then stacked three bales high. Over of waste were baled into almost 76,000 bales during a one-year study period, The baling plant was sold and closed in June 1974.^[4]
• San Diego, California's shredder and low-pressure baler, started in approximately 1968^[4]
• Pasco, Washington balefill, operated 1976–1989. It was a Superfund site due to hazardous substance disposal in a zone immediately next to the balefill, with cleanup beginning in 1996. The balefill then smoldered in a subsurface fire starting in late 2013. After failed attempts at quenching (covering) and injecting liquid carbon dioxide (to remove heat), the fire was extinguished two years later. Another fire was detected in 2017. 46.2523°N -119.0544°W^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}
• Cook County, Illinois - a balefill operated by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County was planned in the mid-1980s. An initial 1990 application was rejected by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1991 over "unmitigatable impacts to the aquatic environment" of wetlands on the site. A second application was filed in 1992 and rejected by the Corps in 1994. After a district court ruling against the balefill in 1998, followed by a Seventh Circuit appeal also against the balefill in 1994, it was heard by the US Supreme Court as Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Army Corps of Engineers and a decision was ruled in January 2001 in favor of the balefill, stating the Corps had overreached on their migratory bird rule authority. A $12 million baling facility with three balers opened in 1999, with bales going to Waste Management's Pheasant Run landfill in Bristol, Wisconsin.^{[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]}
• Tinton Falls, Monmouth County, New Jersey, baling began in 1976, the balefill section opened in 1997^{[15] [16]}
• North Arlington, New Jersey - the Bergen County Baler Facility and Balefill Landfill, both closed, and the HMDC Solid Waste Baler Facility, which now only handles standard waste transfer, not baling^{[17] [18] [19] [20] [21]}
• Casper, Wyoming operates a balefill facility with two balers and balefill. Baling began in the 1980s.^{[22] [23] [24]}
• St. Lucie County, Florida operates a baling facility and balefill, converted from a standard landfill^[10]
• Bristol, Virginia formerly operated a baling facility and balefill for the plastic-wrapped bales^[10]
• Omaha, Nebraska operated a balefill facility in the 1970s, closing it in 1982. The Lauritzen Botanical Gardens were placed atop the site beginning in 1993.^{[25] [26]}
• Small balers (producing bales) are used in rural Alaska villages, including Kotzebue, Alaska, Naknek, Alaska, Unalakleet, Alaska^[27]

Canada

• Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada operates a baling facility^[28]
• Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory, Canada converted their landfill to a balefill with baler in 2019–2020.^[29]

External links

• American Hoist & Derrick Co. (Solid Waste Systems Division) image at Classic Refuse Trucks

Notes and References

1. Web site: Environmental Impacts of Special Types of Landfills . Deborah Grant Lord . William W. Beck, Jr. . nepis.epa.gov . August 1982 . 2 August 2020 .
2. Web site: Closure/Post Closure Plan, Dickson County Landfill/Balefill, Dickson County, Tennessee Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) US EPA . 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov . February 1997 . 2 August 2020 .
3. Web site: Air Pollution Control Title V Permit to Operate Statement of Basis for Title V Permit, No. V-SV-00001-2010.00 . 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov . 2 August 2020 .
4. Web site: Evaluation of Solid Waste Baling and Balefills: Volumes I and II . nepis.epa.gov . 1975 . 2 August 2020 .
5. Web site: Underground Fire Returns To A One-Time Landfill In Eastern Washington . Courtney Flatt . . 27 October 2017 . 2 August 2020 .
6. Web site: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/gsp/DocViewer.ashx?did=63998. 2017. 2 August 2020. Washington State Department of Ecology.
7. Web site: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/gsp/DocViewer.ashx?did=56973. 2 August 2020. Washington State Department of Ecology.
8. Web site: Site Information . apps.ecology.wa.gov . 2 August 2020 .
9. Web site: PASCO SANITARY LANDFILL Superfund Site Profile Superfund Site Information US EPA . cumulis.epa.gov . 2 August 2020 .
10. Web site: RI DEM/RIRRC, Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Planning Working Group- Solid Waste Balefills Information . dem.ri.gov . 2 August 2020 .
11. Web site: RULING DOESN'T BURY DEBATE OVER BALEFILL . Higgins . Michael . chicagotribune.com . 14 January 2001 . 2 August 2020 .
12. Web site: AGENCY WILL CONTINUE THE BATTLE TO BUILD A BALEFILL NEAR BARTLETT . Gregory . Ted . chicagotribune.com . 26 July 1994 . 2 August 2020 .
13. Web site: BALEFILL CLOSE TO BECOMING A REALITY AFTER COUNTY BOARD'S OK . Swanson . Stevenson . chicagotribune.com . 17 January 1990 . 2 August 2020 .
14. Web site: Northwest Cook County Balefill Miscellaneous Documents Archive Uncategorised . swancc.org . 2 August 2020 .
15. Web site: Reclamation Center Lost Belongings . visitmonmouth.com . 2 August 2020 .
16. Web site: County of Monmouth New Jersey Series 2015 bonds . co.monmouth.nj.us . 2 August 2020 . 8.
17. Web site: Methane gas collection to begin again at 1-E Landfill . North Jersey Media Group . 29 September 2016 . 2 August 2020 .
18. Web site: BERGEN COUNTY BALER FACILITY . clui.org . 2 August 2020 .
19. Web site: HMDC SOLID WASTE BALER FACILITY . clui.org . 2 August 2020 .
20. Web site: Department of Envirnmental Protection: Certification of Approval . Robert E. Hughey . nj.gov . 4 May 1983 . 2 August 2020 .
21. Web site: What a Dump!; Landfills Yield Riches As Fields of Natural Gas . Iver Peterson . . 5 May 1995 . 2 August 2020 .
22. Web site: Landfill . casperwy.gov . 2 August 2020 .
23. Web site: Reconstructed Casper Balefill Building Opens Monday . K2 Radio . 16 November 2019 . 2 August 2020 .
24. Web site: Solution finally emerges in landfill saga . Arno Rosenfeld . Casper Star-Tribune Online . 7 May 2017 . 2 August 2020 .
25. Web site: The Lauritzen Gardens Project: Preserving a Sensitive Area with a 585-Foot Single Drive at Depths Reaching 50 Feet . no-digpipe.com . 2014 . 2 August 2020 .
26. Web site: Kelly: Lauritzen Gardens' $20M conservatory another 'amazing icon' for Omaha . Michael Kelly . Omaha.com . 8 October 2014 . 2 August 2020 .
27. Web site: Zender Environmental . zendergroup.org . 2003 . 2 August 2020 .
28. Web site: Solid Waste Residents . colchester.ca . 2 August 2020 .
29. Web site: The low-down on Iqaluit's new $35M landfill Nunatsiaq News . Courtney Edgar . Nunatsiaq News . 24 July 2018 . 2 August 2020 .