The Commission In 1970, the Iowa State Legislature enacted a law requiring cities and counties to be responsible for solid waste. During the years following, many counties established solid waste agencies or solid waste commissions to address refuse generated in their region. The Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission is a five person board that works with the Landfill Administrator to oversee the operation of the landfill and funds the education team. Commission members represent the City of Waterloo (2), the City of Cedar Falls (1), other comminities (1), and rural areas through the Board of Supervisors (1). These members ensure that the Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission continues to provide ongoing waste alternative programs for area residents and strongly encourages and supports recycling efforts in the county.
The Landfill In the early years of the landfill, a private company, LSI owned and operated the landfill. In 1984, the Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission purchased the landfill from LSI. Currently the commission maintains ownership of the landfill but has a contract with Waste Tech, Inc., a private company, to run the daily operations of the landfill. As area landfills have closed due to EPA regulations, the Black Hawk County Landfill is now taking materials from Black Hawk County, Bremer County, Fayette County, and parts of Buchanan County and Grundy County. The number of trucks coming in each day to the landfill has increased to about 250 trucks per day. The Black Hawk County Landfill is located at 1509 East Washburn Road, just outside of Waterloo, 1 mile south of Hawkeye Community College.
Additional Services The Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission provides many services and programs besides landfilling. These include on-site yard waste composting, providing free compost to residents, asbestos disposal, appliance recycling, tire recycling, a toxic clean-up day for household hazardous materials, an educational web-site (www.WasteTrac.org) and free education programs provided by the Waste Trac educators. In addition, the solid waste commission helps fund local recycling by giving grants to area communities.
Waste Trac Education Team Since 1995, the Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission has partnered with the Black Hawk County Conservation Board to provide recycling and waste reduction education throughout the county. In 2005, this education team was given the name Waste Trac. The commission provides the funds to support two recycling educators, while the county conservation board provides office space for the educators at Hartman Reserve Nature Center.
