Six sites ID’d for solid waste transfer station

Mammoth is searching for a new location for its solid waste transfer station, according to a presentation by Town Manager Dan Holler at the April 2 Town Council meeting. The Town is pursuing new sites that could provide a transfer station, recycling and buy-back center for the next 20-30 years.

The Town believes a larger transfer station is necessary to meet CalRecycle’s 50 percent diversion requirement, as well as to provide a regional alternative for waste disposal once Benton Crossing Landfill closes in 2023. CalRecycle will be reviewing the Town’s efforts to meet the diversion requirement in June of this year.

Holler explained that the Town has been working with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Mammoth Community Water District (MCWD), Mammoth Disposal, Mono and Inyo Counties to identify sites for expansion of the existing transfer station on Commerce Drive in Mammoth’s Industrial Park.

The option to simply expand the existing transfer station from two to three acres remains on the table, Holler said.

The proposed alternative locations include the “Snow Pit” on the north side of 395 near the USFS bone yard and heliport; sites east and west of MCWD; and a six-to-ten acre site near the proposed Casa Diablo IV geothermal power plant.

The last site is the least likely, according to Public Works Director Peter Bernasconi. “We get significant complaints today regarding the drop-off center [in the Industrial Park],” he said. “That site will just exaggerate those comments.”

Other sites would require a variety of upgrades, from grading to access roads.

Holler said the Town is also considering building a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) near the Inyo County Landfill south of Bishop. “We would still need a transfer station here, close to Town,” he said.

Staff will be making a formal request to have the USFS consider the six proposed transfer station sites, and from there will begin narrowing own the number of sites to begin the environmental review, acquisition process, and preliminary design for each.

Peter Bernasconi said that staff’s presentation was only a preliminary analysis. “We’re going to start the CEQA process,” he said, which will generate additional information about proposed transfer station sites.

Staff will provide Council with an update in June or July.