Phase V cell and access road.
Daily Landfill Operations
Last year Short Mountain Landfill took in approximately 222,000 tons of garbage. This garbage is brought in by commercial haulers and transfer trucks that transport garbage from Lane County’s 16 transfer stations to the landfill. One of these transfer trucks is shown in the picture to the right. The garbage trucks enter the landfill, weigh in at the fee booth and then drive to the working face of the landfill. The working face consists of a deck, where trucks dump garbage from, and a pit, where garbage gets dumped. In order to empty garbage from the deck to the pit, trucks either have a tip bed or a walking floor trailer that slowly pushes refuse out of the truck.
In the pit, large dozers and 60 ton compactors (shown to th eleft) push the garbage into place and compact it, to maximize air space. Compaction rates at this landfill average between 1,500 lb/cf and 1700 lb/cf. That means that 1,500 – 1,700 pounds of garbage fits into an area roughly the size of a washing machine! A crew of 13 operators, fee takers, supervisors and engineers work at the landfill, in conjunction with off site Waste Management staff and various contractors, to keep the landfill running smoothly.