Grand Island鈥檚 City Council approved making improvements to the city鈥檚 Solid Waste Transfer Station at 5050 W. Old Potash Highway. The current Transfer Station was constructed in 1981 and is no longer large enough to handle the current traffic and waste flows.
According to a memo to the City Council from Jeff Wattier, Sold Waste Superintendent; and Keith Kurz, Public Works Director/City Engineer, customer counts at the Transfer Station have increased by 173 percent, with a tonnage increase of 124 percent, from FY 2000 to FY 2017. In FY 2007, there were 10,345 customers and 28,578 tons of waste. In FY 2017, there were 28,236 customers and 63,910 tons of waste.
鈥淒ue to the higher bid prices received, Administration is looking to finance $10 million through bonding, which will cover this project as well as the proposed Cell 4 project at the Landfill,鈥� the memo said. Kurz said there will be a number of advantages to the new Transfer Station. It will have safety improvements (taller ceilings, more ambient light), have six bays rather than four bays, have better traffic flow, and have a new scale house and inbound and outbound lanes.