The volume of downed trees and brush hauled to the Flathead County Landfill in the first couple of days after Saturday’s storm hasn’t been tremendous, the landfill operations manager says. 

Jim Chilton said Monday afternoon there have been some people hauling out tree branches and debris they’ve cleaned up from the storm, but the volume of material is nowhere close to overwhelming the landfill.

A certain area of the landfill is designated for brush storage, Chilton said. When people haul out yard waste, they are directed to that part of the landfill to dump their load. If yard waste is hauled to the landfill as part of a mixed load, it ends up being dumped in the main part of the landfill and buried with other trash.

Because the brush has value when it’s separated from garbage, the solid waste district encourages people to sort their trash for better disposal, Chilton said.

“We have plenty of space to store that waste,” Chilton said. “We’ll have no problem dealing with the waste people will be bringing out from this storm.”

The volume of yard waste showing up so far this year hasn’t come anywhere close to the amount hauled in from a major storm about 12 years ago, Chilton said. 

At that time, the landfill stayed open until 9 p.m. for several nights so people could get debris out of their yards and streets — and the waste pile was enormous, he said.

Once a year, the Solid Waste District hires a private contractor to grind the brush stockpiled at the landfill, he said. This year’s grinding just occurred. Kevin Jump was hired to grind the yard waste and haul the chipped material off. This ground waste was taken to Plum Creek’s Evergreen facility where it’s used as hog fuel to fire a boiler, Chilton said.

The district gave the material to Plum Creek. It’s not easy to find a buyer for the material, Chilton said, but not having to dispose of it in the landfill saves space.

It’s been a few years since Plum Creek wanted any chips, he said. When no one is willing to take the material off the district’s hands, it’s mixed with dirt and used as cover material at the landfill, Chilton said.

Based on haul volume so far this week, Chilton said a second grinding won’t occur this summer because there’s adequate space to store whatever debris is hauled to the landfill from this storm plus regular yard work for the rest of the summer. He intends to stick with his plan to hire a contractor to grind the material again in about a year.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.