UTAH COUNTY – A popular dumping ground for green waste in Utah County has closed its gates to residents due to concerns about potential problems.
The Timpanogos Special Service District facility in American Fork has had to stop accepting green waste due to an overabundance.
Utah County Resident Richard Hawker said that makes the 11 trash cans full of green waste he had in the back of his truck problematic.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I'm used to coming over here and disposing of it,” he said.
Jon Adams is a District Manager at the facility, and he said they won’t accept any more green waste until the facility can catch up.
"With what's coming in, we can't use it fast enough in the composting process to keep ahead of it,” he said.
Adams said if they continued to accept green waste they may be inviting danger.
"The biggest danger really is fire danger,” he said. “It generates heat, and on a day in the 90s after a rainstorm, boy, it can take off.”
Adams said heat isn’t the only issue: The smell is also cause for concern.
"You've probably smelled grass and what it can do if you leave it in your own garbage can, I mean it gets pretty rank,” he said.
Pleasant Grove residents who live nearby have already complained about the smell.
"It's annoying because it feels like you’re not cleaning your house properly, and you’re looking for what's wrong, and there's nothing wrong with your home, so it has to be something else,” resident Adeline Rosaro said.
Officials said they have another facility in North Point that accepts green waste, but it charges about $4 a load or $20 per ton to dispose of material there.
Officials at the location in American Fork said they hope to be able to accept green waste again within 60 days, but they said they can’t make any guarantees. They said during this time of year between 70 and 100 vehicles come by every day looking to dump green waste.
