PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. – A deal to eventually replace the Peoria area’s landfill, and avoid a court battle, cleared its first governmental hurdle on Tuesday.
The Peoria County Board, meeting in special session, voted 15-1 in favor of an agreement with GFL Environmental Services to build a transfer station in Pottstown and holding off on building a third landfill for another ten years.
Peoria’s City Council and the Peoria City/County Landfill Committee still have to approved the contract for it to become final.
According to 25 News, trash would go to the transfer station until it’s picked up by other trucks to go elsewhere.
District 10 representative Rob Reneau was the only no vote.
“No deal is perfect, but this is as close as we’re going to get to that,” County Board Chair James Dillon said. “It is, I think, a good deal for Peoria County, the City of Peoria for the time being.”
The contract’s provisions include GFL paying the county and the landfill committee $300,000 each to help fund operations until the transfer center opens, now scheduled for March 31, 2026.
GFL would also pay Peoria and the county host benefit fees of at least 75 cents per ton at the transfer station, to be increased annually based on changes in the November Consumer Price Index.
In turn, Peoria and the county will be charged discounted tipping fees of $56.37 per ton to bring garbage to the transfer station, with increases also tied to the November CPI.
City Manager Patrick Urich says the agreement could save Peoria roughly $1.6 million on what the city is currently spending on waste disposal.
GFL says it will also provide Peoria County with two recycling drop-off sites after the current landfill closes. One site will be at the Pottstown transfer station, the other will be at the Wigland Disposal transfer station in Chillicothe.
GFL has agreed to discuss landfill plans again in three years, with a new landfill opening by January 1, 2035.
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