John Roosa, Administrator, Boone County Landfill and Boone County Recycling, September 16, 2026

Guest on the program today is John Rosa. He is the legendary administrator for the Boone County landfill and Boone County recycling. Good morning goat. Good to be in your presence. Good to have you back. And again, well, I was going to say little rain yet. You have a number of big things that are really, rain has not been the landfill's friend this late this year anyway, or since you got capital projects going on. And I mean, every time you turn around, I the one and people need to know to see like the force main one. And I kind of brought this up a little bit earlier, but and I know you talked about it last time too, but with the you got to get that leachate out of there to be able to get the force main up and running. Yeah. And right now you're spending a lot of time hauling because it fills up faster. A lot of time, a lot of money, lots of stuff, but we're just trying to do whatever it takes to get through it, frankly. And yeah, the projects are just, hmm, well, I feel for contractors, I guess. I know they have frustrations on being able to get the work done. But it's also affects us on how we operate and everything about it. So it's it the rain has just been such a burden, a bother, a pain, whatever you want to call it. It's not not helpful, frankly. Not you for and producers know this also well. Same thing. Same issues. It is so muddy and each and every day you got to be down there on that phase trying to work. Trying to deal with it. And we're right now we're in the midst of having the diversion from Ames and Story County coming to us 100% because there's issues again. And so Monday and Tuesday and then they extended to today and then the Thursday probably going to be Friday realistically. So, you know, just extra garbage to bring in and then extra garbage to cover at the end of the day. And just it's it's a snowball right now it seems like of activity. And we have, you know, the the boring company storing some equipment over by the office area, and then they have their own project going the work going on out on the road. And then we have our construction company for the cell when when they're able to be on site to do but to be productive with in the construction. And then all their trucks and equipment rolling around and then sand and stuff has not been being delivered. Unfortunately, which is going to snowball on us, I guess in October. And you know what's coming in October, if you're familiar with landfill operations, there's that yard waste, free yard waste that starts up on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in October and into November. And with all that traffic going on, I get a little nervous about how this is all going to happen and where's everybody going to be able to go and how many vehicles can we accommodate and then the safety issues behind it too. So, it's I was hoping to avoid that, but it seems inevitable at this point. I mean, the best laid plans, right? They went out a while ago trying to figure out what's maybe a plan B or a C options of how we can still accommodate that and nothing real convenient is coming to the surface so to speak on ideas of what to do. So, we'll figure it out and get plans made and just keep pushing ahead. I told that to the staff yet on Monday at our meeting about just keep swimming, just keep swimming, doing the dory thing, just keep going and you know, we'll get through it. Yeah, lots of stuff. With a lot of mud at least right now. Yeah, and there's you see the frustration with mud on the guys, you know, that is, it's just constant. It's, you know, it's in their equipment, it's on every vehicle, it's on their boots all the time and you're constantly in it and stepping through it and you just see it wears on them after a while. At the same time, you got all your haulers, they got to come in there and they got to get down in there too. So, occasionally you have to pull somebody out. Yeah, not much. You know, I haven't heard a whole lot of activity on the radio about, you know, pulling and helping them out, but they're able to and they of course will help whoever is needed, you know, and have those calls from people that ask, you know, what are the conditions like? It's muddy, you know, please, if you can just wait, please do. It's rough. So, you do have some drop-off things, bins up by the scale. Yes. Now, would that be for smaller size things that people might be bringing out? Yeah, if you're, if you're familiar with that area or, but more particularly if you're not wondering what we're talking about, there's an area, it's kind of, it's ramped up so you can go up above and then throw your stuff down into the, these 40 yarders, taller roll-off containers, they're six plus feet tall, I believe. So, you can throw up above, you can throw over this railing and into the boxes down below, which is really handy for smaller loads, truck pickup trucks, things that are contained and it gets not so beneficial and really impossible if you have a dump trailer full of things that you would have to hand unload those, I can't, or if it's heavy stuff that you have to throw over the railing and into there, it may not be feasible. So, we always ask, you know, the, ask the customer to say, where can you, where do you want to unload? You know, you're welcome to go up here on, unless it's a trailer load where it's really obvious to be like, you can't really back a big trailer up in that area, this is for cars and trucks and vans, that type of stuff, single, you know. A lot of your household type points might come out or doing little projects. Smaller projects and have it contained in bags and containers where you could easily throw them over the railing and into that, that's what we're, that's what it's there for, which is a lot of people don't want to go down below, which I get and, you know, if you don't want to go down there and into the mud and, you know, you're worried about that, then bring smaller loads to us because bigger loads just have to go down to the work face and we'll get you a spot, get you in and out as easily as we can, but, you know, it's muddy and it's, it's not conducive in this time of year for, you know, it's people that don't know how to back up trailers or don't want to or worried about their vehicle getting muddy and, you know, it's, you got to take it for what it is, I guess. And, but the cash customer of the smaller drop-off area heavily used, we encourage people to use it. Some people will, you know, opt to say, well, I'd rather just go down below, so I can just shove it off the, you know, end of the tailgate and lower the tailgate and shove it off the end instead of having to heave it over the railing. That's easier to unload. So we have options. Their choice. Yep. Yeah. We try to make it as easily as possible for everybody, but yeah. Still, still, still a challenge. Well, well, just, I mean, it's all you can do is offer the service and, and basically that's what we do. And I'm guessing there are some that don't, wow, I don't have to go all the way down. I've done that a couple of different times where it's, yeah, okay, we've got a couple of things that might be a little bigger, but yeah, we can get them over the railing. Yeah, you can do it and bring help, you know, someone to help you throw those things over. But it was nice that we made that, I think, helpful in our process to, and make that available for folks to, to use the taller boxes. It's easier for to accommodate the bigger loads when you, when someone brings, you know, a couple of couches and a chair and a mattress. And suddenly that container, the old ones that were shorter, used to fill up pretty darn fast. And now we're able to make it last a little bit longer and accommodate more customers in that regard. Well, one of the things we'll be coming up, and we touched on this last time, again, we'll have this citywide boons, it's going to do their citywide one. And once again, this is not the landfill pickup. You do 95 tons, I think is 95, 65, 65 tons, which usually, which usually goes within a couple of days. Yep, about Wednesday, usually three days, about midday is like, yep, okay, we're hitting the max. So yeah, and then it still comes in, but it's being charged to the city, which, at least variable offset, some of that tonnage, but it's still going to be a lot of traffic. And that's the other thing in that October time frame, we're going to have the yard waste. And we got the city wide cleanup, and then you'll throw in all the contractors coming in and out, and then we'll have sand trucks coming in like crazy. They should have been hauling the last couple of weeks, but mother nature has no it's not helping. And so everything's being pushed back, and we'll see if things kind of dry up, and we can actually start hauling that stuff. So it's it'll be a process. Patience will be tested by by everybody, frankly, it was kind of like with all the traffic on the south side of Boone between Farm Progress and Supervisors, just have some and rag bright, deep breath, have a little patience, we'll get through this. So yeah, of course, you got to deal with mother nature. This has been quite the bizarre late summer season anyway. Did want to ask is one of the things you're going to do today is you're going to the supervisors. One of the items that was when you were building the budget and everything else was capital purchase, and you were looking at a new compactor. And basically, you got some quotes and information on this. Again, as I jokingly say to people, you just don't go buy these off the shelf. No, again, this is, I mean, I don't know how readily they're available. I know that there have been times you've waited a couple of months to be able to get one. So what are we we're yet on that? Yeah, we've made a choice, I guess, on our on the options that were presented to us. And going to proceed with the recommendation of the board to proceed with purchasing that one, whether or not we want to trade in our old one or try to sell it ourselves and then add on an extended warranty. So this is some things to discuss about finalizing that and what we're going with, but have a choice made and proceeding with that. So we budgeted going into this year took some preliminary figures and fortunately, the quotes came in lower. So I got two of them, looked at three different units, but based on a history with one, we kind of ruled it out. So stuck to two that were comfortable, familiar with as local as you can get as well. Because these aren't, you know, these aren't just like a auto dealership, you know, they're not just around the corner. So we looked at cat and bone mag with the two. And we're proceeding with one and

yeah, it's when we first priced it out, it was okay, yeah, one of them. Now it's going to be, I guess, January before one will arrive one, when we make the finalize or finalize the quote. So, yeah, it was delayed a little bit. They did have some on the ground and ready to available, but then we took some time to make sure this is what we want to do. Extended at some time. This is a landfill that had one in operation and stuff. So make sure we're comfortable with everything. And the new, even though we're familiar with the two brands, it's, you know, it's different every year. They make changes to the equipment. So did our due diligence and research and about making sure we get what we want. And so a little more comfortable. But unfortunately, it's going to take two or three months now before one is readily available, because you're talking about 126,000 pounds of steel running around. It's, yeah, it's a lot. I was going to say that one of the things, and I know you had recommended to the board a little bigger, go a little bigger, better compaction for what you're doing. And obviously, and then very easy, they understood that as well. You do try to keep at least another one on standby, because they do, it's a lot of wear and tear. They do break down. Yep. Yep. And we can extend the life of the new one too by having, you know, one that's more functional as our backups. You know, we can just work it into the system, not just, not just when the other one needs to be serviced or is broken down to utilize the backup, but just work it in and save some hours and extend life of both of them, frankly. So yeah, the current one we have is that we'll be looking to trade in is a little bit smaller, but still in good shape, good operating. So it's considering now, what do we do? Should we trade it in or, and we can hold on to it until we get the new one, obviously, you know, on site and then we can look at either trading in or selling at that time. So yeah. Yeah, you're dealing with, you know, stuff that doesn't cost, you know, we're talking, not talking 10, you know, thousands of dollars, you're talking, you know, into that million range. So about 1.2 million, 1.3 with other things. So yeah, big money, but a necessary piece of equipment too. It has the most direct impact on meeting our compaction goals and smashing garbage. So heavier weight, obviously good. Smash it down. I did want to ask you because, you know, diesel hit a record high. You do, I'm guessing secondary roads and you guys are all about the same. You do long-term bids, I'm guessing. And but you got contractors down there that are working as well that I'm guessing probably don't tie in as far out as you have. Yeah, maybe they didn't, you know, and it's certainly impactful and everything that's going on right now with fuel prices. You know, we were locked in, as you mentioned, we had a contract we signed on for a lower rate. So thankfully for that, but, you know, eventually we'll, we'll exceed that timeline. And then we will be facing those higher rates in the future unless things start going back down. And we have contractors are feeling it too. And, you know, when you're talking about how many, when you burn a hundred gallons of diesel a day, you know, in a piece of equipment, it starts adding up. And all your big equipment is all diesel in there. So you go through it, quite a bit. It's an expensive process, you know, and everything comes back, you know, and then it raises our costs on smashing garbage and, you know, and taking it. So then, then what do we do? You know, fortunately we're okay for now on our rates, but yeah, eventually it's going to come back. I think all producers kind of have are familiar. You run into the same things as they do. It's, you know, what do I got? What's the cost to operate it? How many hours? Again, you keep track of hours and things like that is not how many miles. Yeah. Yeah, we got some challenges. We're starting to, you know, on the slower days, slower, less tonnage days, we started kind of started changing our operations a little bit, too, to, you know, don't fire up the compactor right away. You know, we open up at eight o'clock, take the first loads, have to shove garbage and stuff. Maybe we could use the dozer for a little while to get the garbage to where it needs to be. Kind of spread it out to make it a lot. Yep, because it packs better that way. So, and then wait till, you know, maybe 10 o'clock or something. So get that first round of garbage that comes in and then work it around a little bit, and then finally bring the compactor out, you know, fire it up because it's probably going to burn more fuel and more diesel and save some wear and tear on the equipment, but also save some fuel and just the operations to say, let's push it over your first and then let's get all enough garbage to justify firing it up and then smashing it with the compactor. So that works well when we have a slower days and less tonnage coming in when we're not taking the aims of Story County waste, which as I mentioned, we currently are. So, and this is the one thing, the logistics of what you're doing out there and a lot of people. So is staff heavily involved with you saying, you know, here, this is something I think we can do. And do they give you ideas on this all the time? How do you, how do you come up with these? Come up with like delaying the operations and stuff. Yeah, that was, you know, I learned back from my teaching days, a good teacher is a good thief. You take ideas from what others are doing and implement them if you can. And that was an idea or a thing that another landfill was doing. And it's like, you know, then we started talking about with my foreman, landfill foreman Todd out the landfill saying, is that something we could do? You know, and he's like, hmm, well, in certain days, yes, you know, and, and then he started trying it out and it seemed to be working out pretty well. So yeah, it's an idea that we stole from others. And then we started like, is that something we could do? And yeah, started using it as much as we can. And it's nice when it's operating that way. When Mother Nature helps you too. But we keep working on it. All right. Recycling activities going on, obviously still one of the driving factors of things that we want to get accomplished. Well, we do have, I'm going to go back because household hazardous waste. And of course, the next one is not going to be at the landfill. It's going to be on the road. Yep. You'll be down in Madrid. Yes, in October. Yep, October 3rd. In the morning from 9 to 11, I guess we run that. So October 3rd, the collection event down in Madrid, usually at St. Malachy's parking lot is where we're located. Talking household hazardous waste, and what is that? You know, we're not, we're not talking hazardous things like asbestos material, but we're talking about those chemicals, fertilizers of things in your household, typically that you would be using it, maybe you're done with and didn't quite use it all up. It's not good anymore, whatever it is. The fall is a good time to get rid of those things. Did you use all of your herbicides and spray on, or do you have a little bit left in that jug? And time to start thinking, are you going to store it? You're going to put it down in your basement so it doesn't freeze. Do you want it in your house? Take that into consideration. And then, you know, as you get stuff transferred from your garage to into your home, probably for storage to keep it from freezing, then you consider, hmm, I want to keep this this year. It's just such a little amount. What am I going to do with this? This spray paint can doesn't work anymore. This aerosol can is not spraying anymore. So time to get rid of it. And that's the household hazardous waste stuff that we're talking about chemicals, fertilizers, aerosol cans, a lot of automotive stuff, brake fluid, transmission fluid, that kind of stuff. We, we have taken some oil small amounts, but really prefer to have that sourced to somewhere else in Boone, especially a garage that can use it for heating in their, in their, and we do have it. We do have a few of those that are willing to do that. So of course, I think they get a pretty good supply on their own. So yeah, again, that's it. And it's also probably that time with September getting done with camping season. And then you have, you know, RV antifreeze type things to get rid of pools being shut down. You have old leftover pool chemicals and want to get rid of them unless you're going to hold on to them. So all those things can be brought to us right now. It's during the week, Monday through Friday from eight to three, call ahead to make an appointment to make sure we have someone available to meet you and help you out and get that stuff stored appropriately. And then the Saturday collection event, October 3rd in Madrid, and we'll do one more in November on the seventh at the landfill. And that's one where you don't need an appointment. Just bring the stuff out. Yeah. And don't forget about matters. Season's winding down. Season's winding down. Well, and it is, it's a service area. You get a lot of people down there that can take advantage of it. Yeah. You've done, and you did extra this year. Again, with the Ogden coming up and then having that joint one with Jefferson. So you've had, well, most of it goes to Metroways. Right. And which is fine. At least it's in the right spot. Yeah. And it's being taken care of. It's not coming to the landfill. Yeah. Yeah. It was nice to do a little bit more and try to expand that a little bit. Probably continue doing that in the coming year, is the intent anyway. See what Ogden wants to do for that collection. And it was nice to provide that service and get out there and do that a little bit more. Well, and as you reminded them, and I know people are already asking the question and the way the weather's gone, who knows? A little hail this week did help with a lot of other things going on. But we do know that people aren't going to start asking about that household hazard this way. So it will be, I think it was mid-October, I think, when, I can't even remember when you get underway with it. Not household hazards, but yard waste. Yard waste. Free yard waste. Yes. So many things to talk about. I'm sorry. Yeah. We're busy. Yeah. It starts October and then we're done mid-November. So it would be the, usually goes through the 14th, actually, to be the last day it looks like on the calendar, because it goes to the 15th, but that's the Sunday, so we're closed. So 14th to be the last day. Okay. So in November. Yeah. It's in November, folks. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Has not started yet. We'll let you know when that time comes. Anyway, otherwise, regular recycling efforts. I'm guessing the usual. You've still got people that would love to recycle more things. And are they doing a little better job of keeping them out of the stream? Yeah. You know, there's, I don't know what our tonnages are offhand. I'd have to see how much we've been recycling. It seems like it's more, you know, there still are the occasional ones where we bring the boxes in from the drop-off area and guys go out and pick up those boxes, dump them at the transfer station. I helped do a little smashing and shoveling with that stuff. And, you know, I was like, that really stinks. And wow, yeah, there were about eight bags of regular garbage mixed in with that. And, you know, that's frustrating. You know, those are not dumpsters for garbage at that, at the recycling area. That's just for recycling. So, you know, we do a good job. I've often said that, you know, Boone's good, especially as volunteer-based and people that want to recycle there. And they're pretty passionate about it. And our contamination overall has been pretty low over the years. And occasionally, all of a sudden, there you go. And it's those that, you know, abuse it, whether they don't know or just don't want to know or don't care, whatever you might say. You know, the ones that do it wrong really impact that. You know, it's that whole mindset of when you have one negative thing that offsets about 20 positive things and those negative ones really, and it actually messes up other things. This was, you know, one where you run over and it's like, wow, that really stinks. And then that stuff is smeared onto other recyclables. So, you've actually not just thrown that away and ruined that thing, you know, but you've contaminated other stuff in the process as well. So, then that all, all of it got thrown away. Not the whole dumpster, but, you know, a pile of stuff instead. And it's frustrating when someone else does the right thing and then, you know, someone that does the wrong thing, messes it up. It's kind of frustrating, I guess. But it continues, you know, there's, we're never going to get to 100%. We know that, but it's, you know, those things are just kind of unexplainable when you have a big sign out in front of the building of what you're supposed to put in there and it does not show great big bags of garbage or styrofoam or any of that stuff. Those are, that's garbage. We also get the illegal dumping that happens. And I know that both the Sheriff's Department and the Health and Sanitation and this stuff, they try to do what they can, trying to find, again, identifying information to find out who's responsible and stuff. But a lot of times secondary road just has to pick it up and bring it out. And that's, that's a cost, folks. Yeah. That's a cost. It is. Yeah. There's a lot of people involved in that process. And but ultimately, it's costing, costing everybody some money, but when someone does that illegally. So if you see that, and I'm not saying be, you know, you don't need to take care of it yourself, but report it. And if you see it, you know, so see it going on and you can hold someone accountable. That's the best option. So do your part to report those things. And let's try to put a stop to that because I don't know how we would compare to other counties and what the quantities are. I don't know if that's ever recorded. But I know secondary roads does a lot of recording on, on for the county about how often they go out and what they're picking up and, and all that. So yeah, I think it's probably okay. It's probably normal, but still it's frustrating when it doesn't need to happen. Yeah. That's because you keep trying. Yep. You know, we just keep trying. John Rosa, landfill administrator, recycling coordinator. Again, the big thing coming up here October 3rd will be that household hazardous waste collection event down in Madrid, St. Malachies. If you wish to go down there, participate. If not during the weekdays, you could always call and see about coming out. Yeah. Otherwise, the last one regular Saturday one will be coming up on November 7th. Yeah. At the landfill. Yep. At the land. You bet. Call if you have any questions, 515-433-0591, even if you're not sure, you know, what to do with some things. We'd rather you ask and so you can find out and know what to do instead of guessing. Always better. All right. John Rosa, landfill administrator. He's the legendary landfill administrator, recycling coordinator. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.