When state government mandated that every entity operating a landfill craft a 20-year plan, no one seemed to anticipate such a high level of cooperation among communities.

Passed in 2006, the legislation requiring the plans also set aside money to help cover the costs. The more entities that work together on a single plan, the greater the reimbursement - up to 90 percent for three or more.

So many communities banded together that another $1.3 million is needed to complete the planning process, said Craig McOmie, state integrated solid waste management planner for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

"I'm extremely encouraged that multiple communities did plan together," he said. "That's going to lead to more regional solutions."

The Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee is expected to include the money in the DEQ's budget, McOmie confirmed.

In 2006, the Legislature required every local entity to develop by July 2009 an integrated solid waste management plan covering the next 20 years. Lawmakers set aside $1.3 million to help fund the plans, which would cover half of the planning costs for one entity. Or, entities could create multi-jurisdictional plans and receive more state money toward the costs - 70 percent when two parties collaborated, and 90 percent when three or more participated.

All landfill-operating entities in the state opted to plan in groups of three or more, McOmie said. In some cases, those groups include several communities within a single county, such as in Fremont and Park counties. In others, entire regions have come together.

At the heart of the plans is a relatively recent DEQ mandate for lining landfills to avoid groundwater contamination that occurs over the years as rainwater filters through dirt and compacted solid waste. The liners could cost landfills as much as $150,000 an acre, prohibitively expensive in some communities.

As an alternative, some entities planning regionally are considering installing transfer stations in smaller communities. Solid waste would be trucked from the transfer stations to larger landfills, where the economies of scale make liners more economical, McOmie said.

Regional plans

Douglas is part of the East Central Planning Landfills, which identifies Casper as a main facility. Transfer stations would be established in Douglas, Glenrock, Midwest, Edgerton, Kaycee, Manville, Lusk, Rawlins and Hanna. Solid waste from the satellite communities would be trucked to Casper, although most of the community landfills would remain open for recycling and to accept construction and demolition waste, which doesn't require the same environmental standards as solid waste.

That might not translate to cost savings for people who generate trash. Even if landfills no longer have to pay for expensive liners or install costly balers to compact waste, the price tag on driving trash to other cities won't likely be cheap.

This is where economies of scale come into play. The more trash you truck out, the less it costs, even at longer distances, Douglas city administrator Bobbe Fitzhugh said.

The East-Central group's consultant is developing a draft plan with two alternatives. Landfills including Douglas's can purchase a baler, which compacts waste, to save as much space as possible and continue lining the landfills. Or, communities can erect transfer stations where waste is gathered to be trucked to Casper.

Regardless of which alternative goes before the public for comment, communities need to focus more on recycling and separating out waste that doesn't have to go into lined pits, Fitzhugh said.

"That's one of the most significant areas where economies of scale can help communities like ours," she said.

A draft plan should be out for review late this spring, with a final draft delivered to DEQ by the end of the year.

McOmie said the drive for economical and environmentally sound landfills should spur more recycling.

"As people start looking at shipping waste, they're going to want to ship as little as possible," he said. "Recycling and diversion are the keys to that."