Surprise development in landfill legend

Posted at 1:30 p.m. on March 13, 2021

The Brillion News

ASHWAUBENON - There is a new ingredient in the landfill stew.

Outagamie County runs a landfill between I-41 and County OO, between Little Chute and Appleton, called the Holland Road Landfill, and it has been described as being near the end of its life.

Three counties - Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago - have an agreement where all three take turns running landfills that service all three counties' solid waste needs.

Outagamie County's Holland Road Landfill was scheduled to be filled and closed off by 2022, and so it was Brown County;s turn to take all the waste from the three counties.

But now there's a new twist.

Outagamie County has applied to extend the life of its Holland Road Landfill by 15 years, by closing the county dog park at OO and French Road, and opening new waste cells there.

The state Department of Natural Resources is holding an April 5 public hearing on that plan, with the virtual meeting starting at 11 a.m.

How that will affect the flow of the waste stream from the three counties isn't known for sure yet, but may become clearer on Monday, March 15, when the Brown County Solid Waste Board meets in Ashwaubenon.

Brown County is building a new landfill in the Town of Holland, on the south side of Mill Road, a miles west of State 57/32, to open this fall. Waste from all three counties was expected to go there.

The extension of the Outagamie County landfill's life by 10 or more years could affect that. The question is "How?"

The Brillion News is covering the March 15 meeting, with a complete report in the March 18 print edition of the newspaper.