Last year officials at the Highway G Landfill were forced to look for a solution to a problem they did not cause.

The landfill had been operating for more than 35 years, regularly serving thousands of customers in Vilas County without major issues. Then a problem surfaced late in the year when trace amounts of synthetic chemicals, known as PFAS, were discovered in leachate at the bottom of the landfill. Leachate is dirty water, mostly as a result of rain and snowmelt seeping through existing compacted trash, and is a common byproduct in the waste management industry.
Leachate from the landfill would normally be collected and transported to the wastewater treatment plant in Eagle River where it was previously treated as any other wastewater. Staff at the plant were concerned about the potential for PFAS getting into drinking water, and a decision was made by the city to stop accepting leachate from the landfill. Wisconsin DNR regulations, however, require leachate to be treated, and for landfill officials, this decision would be a problem.

PFAS is a combination of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances found in many consumer products such as microwave popcorn bags, non-stick cookware and water-resistant clothing. The chemical composition in these products makes them difficult to break down in traditional water treatment plants, and landfill leachate presents a unique challenge because it can contain PFAS from a wide variety of discarded products that were buried decades ago.
While PFAS has been known to be an environmental issue since the 1970s, its potential harm to human health has been gaining public and political attention.

Seven months ago, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced lower PFAS limits in drinking water to a level of four parts per trillion, a reduction from the previous level of 70 parts per trillion; and just last week he announced the state’s first-ever enforceable groundwater standards with the same PFAS limits as drinking water. The governor has also approved two grant programs in October for PFAS testing of private wells and public water supplies.

Mark Busha is the facilities manager at the landfill, a role he has held since 1993. He works with a small local crew which includes China Wilderness, who along with Busha, are the primary public faces of the landfill as they operate the scales and interact with customers.

He said the facility needs an on-site method to treat PFAS in leachate.

“This isn’t something we created here,” he said of the PFAS challenge, “but it is something that we should solve here.”
At the same time, Busha is facing another challenge, which is that the last available landfill cell is reaching capacity, and without the ability to treat leachate on the property, he does not see the addition of new fill cells as a viable long-term response. Either way, early in the year he needed an immediate short-term solution until a longer strategy could be fully addressed.

Short-term solution

The first phase of the solution was to operate the landfill as a transfer station so that the thousands of regular customer drop-offs could continue without interruption if existing waste holding space reached capacity.

The landfill made an arrangement to have a heavy-duty compactor on site to allow trash to be compressed and trucked to a facility in northern Michigan. Next, a partnership with a wastewater plant in Medford allowed for the regular treatment of approximately 10,000 gallons of leachate per week, which includes PFAS removal to new state-approved levels.

“We went through some adjustment for sure,” Busha said of the transition to operating as a transfer station, “but our customers were able to use the facility, with very little disruption.

Transportation costs caused a fee adjustment last month, but overall, the operation has been very stable since the transfer station has been in place.”

The next step, according to Busha, is to find a more permanent solution that includes on-site removal of PFAS particles.
This step requires a long-term growth plan that involves the Landfill Venture Group, which is the formal operator of the facility. The group is composed of 11 Vilas County towns, plus the City of Eagle River, who share in management decisions. They, along with an outside engineering company, have been reviewing data and financial models looking for the best path forward.

Clean Water Fund

Optimism for Busha and the Landfill Venture Group became much brighter following the discovery of a recent funding option that could eventually return the landfill back to full operating capacity. It started with an announcement this past summer from Gov. Evers and the DNR that a Clean Water Fund program, initially established in 2019, would now be expanded to include infrastructure projects to control PFAS in drinking water.

“This funding will help make sure all Wisconsinites can trust that the water coming from their tap is safe and free from contaminates like PFAS,” Evers said in a written statement in July. “I encourage all eligible municipalities to apply for these funds so that we can get our state another step closer to eliminating PFAS contamination in our water systems once and for all.”

The Clean Water Fund provides long-term low interest loans, with principal forgiveness options to reduce the size of the loan. In addition, the Wisconsin State Assembly also passed Act 169 earlier this year, which allows landfills receiving assistance from the program to retain a portion of ongoing environmental fees that would otherwise be paid to the DNR. In total, it is possible that the entire leachate treatment facility could be significantly funded by the state.

Last month, each of the municipalities in the Landfill Venture Group submitted paperwork expressing an intent to apply for the Clean Water Fund resources. The overall procedure to get funding is long with the formal DNR application process actually beginning in late 2027, and funding potentially available in 2028.

The forms submitted last month confirming an intention to apply for the special loan were required just to earn a place in line to apply next year. The methods may seem cumbersome, but to Busha and the Landfill Venture Group, it is definitely worth pursuing the opportunity.

Long-term solution

Landfill Venture Group has a long-standing relationship with Erick Lietz of Oakridge Engineering.

Lietz is a licensed professional engineer, and has played key strategic roles at the landfill for many years. He also helped the municipalities in responding to the first step of the Clean Water Fund program and will work with Busha and the Highway G Landfill Commission to help with future development.

Together, it is expected that they will partner with Apex Water Solutions, to construct the system for treating leachate, and more importantly, to control PFAS levels. Greg Ackerson is the CEO of the company and his Wastewater Alternative Remediation Process (WARP) system has helped other landfill operators virtually eliminate the nearly indestructible PFAS chemicals.

According to Ackerson, the WARP system actually removes toxins such as PFAS from the liquid material through a special filtration process. The chemicals are then concentrated, made inert, and returned to the landfill for permanent containment.

“Our end product,” he said last week, “is water with PFAS levels that are scientifically below detection levels, meeting all environmental standards, including Wisconsin state laws. In fact, our finished product is probably cleaner than any water found in area wells.”

He also said that the potential funding options through the state demonstrates a solid leadership role that Gov. Evers and the state are taking, and allowing landfills the opportunity to do the right thing.

“It’s interesting,” he added, “that as a society, we easily think of local parks as a community resource without performance goals or profits, yet there are so many regulations and business expectations from another community resource, known as landfills.”

One of the key supporters for the planned improvements and general growth of the landfill is Gary Schmidt, recently elected chairman by the executive committee of the landfill commission. He has been on the executive committee for more than a decade and said the potential improvements on the property will be a great thing for the people in the area, almost crucial.

“There is something special about this place, and about the customer base,” he added. “Even now, when there are so many towns with their own local transfer stations, they still choose to come here.”

Eagle River Mayor Debbie Brown serves part-time as deputy secretary and treasurer for the commission, and agrees with Schmidt that the site improvements are key to the future of the landfill. She is also optimistic about the funding potential.

“This is a wonderful financial opportunity,” she said, “and I hope it works out because most people don’t think that garbage could be so important, but just think about the consequences of not having a true landfill. Without this facility, there is nowhere else to go.”