Missouri City Building Waste Transfer Station

Cape Girardeau, Mo., is building a new waste transfer station to handle the city’s solid waste.

Construction on the project will begin in August. Waste facility construction firm Cambridge Companies, based in Griffith, Ind., will design and build the facility, according to a news release. Cambridge will subcontract some of the construction work to local firms.

Evan Williams, Cambridge design project manager for the Cape Girardeau project, said the new operation also will have accommodations to support a small hauling facility. 

The city last December signed a contract with Phoenix-based Republic Services Inc. in part to haul solid waste from the city transfer station to the company’s landfill. The agreement included a provision to operate its hauling operation and process all solid waste from that through a new city-owned multiuse transfer station.

The agreement also included a provision for Republic Services to operate its hauling operation and process all solid waste from that operation through a new city-owned multiuse transfer station. The revenue generated from the solid waste processed by the city from Republic’s hauling operation, as well as lease payments from the company for using city-owned facilities, will provide sufficient revenue to pay for the new facility without higher user fees, said Tim Gramling, Cape Girardeau, public works director.

Republic has its own hauling operation and operates out of a facility in Fruitland. The company hauls trash from residents around Cape Girardeau County and from businesses in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding county to its own transfer station. Under the recent agreement, Republic will close down the Fruitland facility and bring its trash collected in the city and county to Cape Girardeau's transfer station.

Republic also will rent office space from the city, and revenue from that arrangement will pay for project costs.

The estimated total cost of the project–including professional design, permitting, construction management services and construction of the facility–is $3.87 million. But Gramling said he expects that number will decrease as design work evolves.

City finance director John Richbourg said Republic will pay $7.75 per ton for the trash they move through the transfer station, which will produce an estimated $143,375 per year. The lease agreement is $60,000 per year.

The new facility also will be able to handle waste and single-stream recycling, with the exception of cardboard. This will expand the capacity at the city’s recycling center, which will continue to handle the cardboard.

Republic on its own opened a transfer station in March in Chandler, Ariz., to serve the southeast Valley region. The Germann Transfer Station can process more than 420 tons of waste daily.