A proposal to build a second waste transfer center in McLean County is headed to the full county board for a vote in February.
After a series of hearings that concluded in December, the McLean County Pollution Control Site Hearing Committee voted Monday to recommend an application from Lakeshore Recycling Systems [LRS] to build a 12,000-square-foot facility in south Bloomington — with some special conditions added.
Those conditions include specifying that LRS is responsible for certain landscape maintenance and stipulations regarding the construction and eventual ownership of a new road necessary for the transfer center.
The Pollution Control Site Hearing Committee was tasked with determining whether Chicago-based LRS' application met various criteria determined by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and McLean County's local policies for pollution control facilities, including a demonstrated need for the facility within the county.
The company submitted its application to the county in August, proposing to build the center on the 42-acre Henson Disposal campus that also has facilities for processing construction and demolition waste . [LRS owns Henson Disposal, although it is locally operated].
Currently, there is only one waste transfer center in McLean County, owned by Republic Services, which LRS argued has contributed to a shortfall of 200 tons of municipal waste that needs processing each day.
Transfer centers process waste by sorting it and compacting it before it heads out of county for final disposal.
LRS' proposal for a new waste transfer center would create a site that could accept up to 400 tons of municipal solid waste per day; the majority of the waste is expected to be residential [84%], with some commercial waste [12%] and some single-stream recyclables [4%].
A new public, two-lane road, called HDI Court, would be built to provide access to the center across from Bunn Street. The road would intersect Bunn where that street meets the existing Henson Recycling campus.
A series of public hearings was held late last year before concluding in December.
The company's application is set for a vote before the full county board on Feb. 15. Even if the county board were to approve the plan, LRS would still need to receive final approval from IEPA, as well as local building permits.
