The city plans to start trucking the sludge left over from treating wastewater to a landfill less than half as far away, and to pay less per ton when it gets there, under a spending item on the City Council's consent agenda for Wednesday, Nov. 4.
The resolution would give the city manager authority to spend up to $350,000 a year at Camelot Landfill to dispose of solids from The Colony's wastewater treatment plant.
Why the switch
Running the plant produces several kinds of waste, including sludge from its belt press process, and any landfill that takes the sludge must be approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city has been using the City of Denton's landfill, which the staff report puts about 26.2 miles from the plant and which charges $61.50 a ton.
A Denton solid waste supervisor confirmed in an email included in the packet that Denton kept that rate unchanged this year.
Camelot Landfill is about 11 miles from the plant and charges $50.25 a ton, according to the report, which calls it both the closer and the cheaper choice. That is $11.25 less per ton, before fees.
An email from Republic Services' North Texas landfills office, attached to the item, lists an environmental fee of $19.71 per truckload and a fuel recovery charge that changes monthly and stands at 16.12%.
Camelot would become the primary site, with Denton's landfill kept as a backup.
