CORTLAND – The DeKalb County Landfill accepted roughly 6,000 more tons of waste in 2010 than the previous year, leaving enough capacity for about seven more years of operation before expansion or closure.

The annual landfill report released by the Illinois Environmental Protection Association showed the county's decision to expand the landfill could be a necessity.

Maggie Carson, spokeswoman for the IEPA, said the landfill's increase from 352 tons per weekday in 2009 to 375 tons per weekday in 2010 is a good sign.

"That's really not as much of a noticeable increase as you would think," Carson said. "It's a move in the right direction, though, because it shows more consumer and commercial use."

The DeKalb County Landfill remains one of the smallest in the region, which includes landfills in LaSalle, Lee, Whiteside and Winnebago counties, along with two in Ogle County. The Veloia ES Orchard Hills Landfill in Davis Junction was the largest in the state, accepting 1.9 million tons of waste.

Of the seven landfills in Region One, four ranked in the top 10 in the state for waste accepted, including the top two spots.

The large amount of waste accepted led to an overall capacity decline of 19.5 percent for the region, resulting in scheduled closing dates in 2013 for two landfills because of diminishing space.

However, much like the DeKalb County Landfill, Rochelle Municipal Landfill No. 2 and Winnebago Landfill have gained county approval to expand and extend the lifetime of the fill.

Mike Hey, district manager for Waste Management of Illinois and operator of the DeKalb County Landfill, said expanding landfills is something every company takes into account when it first obtains the land. And with some of the rapid waste growth in the region, it is possible for DeKalb County's landfill to go from seven years worth of remaining space to four years quicker than expected, Hey said.

"You have to show the need, and we're starting to run out of space," Hey said. "If the landfill doesn't expand, that waste is going to have to go somewhere else."

Hey also said advancements in compaction of waste reduced the amount of space it would have otherwise filled.

The ability to take on more out-of-county waste is one of the reasons the DeKalb County Board approved the expansion of the DeKalb County Landfill. The county's proposed jail expansion is tied to the hope the landfill will be expanded and a tipping fee charged for accepting waste from other counties. Revenue from the fee would go to the jail.

Accepting out-of-town waste is a common practice for some of the region's landfills. The landfill in Whiteside County accepted about 46,000 tons from Iowa. The Davis Junction landfill took in 8,138 tons from Wisconsin, and the LaSalle County landfill took 8 tons of waste from California. The DeKalb County expansion proposal includes only outside counties.

Paul Miller, county director for planning, zoning and building, said none of the information in the report was a surprise. He said the short life expectancy of the landfill is why the county board was proactive about the expansion.

"The county board approved the expansion in part because it needed to be done now," Miller said. "The anticipation is that the landfill expansion would happen before it became a crisis."

The idea of expanding the DeKalb County Landfill to accept up to 2,000 tons of waste per day – in line with the majority of regional landfills – has been strongly opposed by some residents. Stop the Mega-Dump, an anti-expansion group, has appealed the county board's approval to the state's appellate court after previous petitions to overturn the decision failed.

Dan Kenney, chairman for the group, said the county should take the next seven years to look at new technology for waste disposal, such as converting it into electricity or ethanol.

At the very least, Kenney said, the landfill should not accept waste from other counties as that could potentially fill up the additional 500 acres in 40-50 years, he said.

"The county should take the next seven years and look at new technologies for disposing waste," he said. "I think within two decades we'll be looking back at landfills and shaking our heads like we did back in the '60s when we piled up garbage and burned it."

Kenney said the group does not expect a ruling on its appeal to the state courts until May or June.