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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Waste Management cuts ribbon on landfill
Published November 29, 2009
SEGUIN — A 300-acre wildlife habitat area straddling the Comal and Guadalupe county lines will be protected from development in perpetuity.
Right now, a pond on the site is being rehabilitated into turtle habitat, and another pond will be upgraded to offer a home to ducks and other waterfowl.
The heavily treed site nestled into gently rolling, rural terrain is also a historic area, and includes an ancient barn built in the old European style sometimes seen in this region, with pegged post and beam construction.
But what might be most amazing of all is that the site won’t be protected by a federal environmental agency — it’s the private sector that will be doing the job in an area of Comal and Guadalupe counties expected to see heavy growth in coming years.
And if you thought you knew the name of the corporation involved, you’d be wrong, unless you’re familiar with the trash business, because the site is located beside a landfill, and the agency that’s looking to protect it is Waste Management Inc., which owns and operates the landfill, and which recently invited local officials and stakeholders to a ribbon-cutting at the facility.
Recently, Waste Management Inc., which bought the former Comal County Landfill off Kohlenberg Road from Comal County and New Braunfels in the late 1980s, applied for and received a state environmental permit to expand the facility by building a second “cell” that will extend its capacity to take trash from Guadalupe and Comal counties by another 20 to 30 years — a good thing, since the current facility, which has operated since the 1970s, is filled to very near its capacity.
The first unit, which Waste Management calls the Comal Gardens Landfill, is being closed down, and trash that used to go there will now travel a few yards further down Kohlenberg Road, across the county line to the second cell, which Waste Management calls its Mesquite Creek Landfill.
The new, 11-acre facility includes 3,300 sq. ft. offices constructed out of recycled materials in place of the office trailers used on the original site.
That is where the ribbon-cutting was conducted by Waste Management officials aided by Comal County Commissioner and former New Braunfels Mayor, Jan Kennady. Waste Management Area Vice President Don Smith introduced those in attendance, and singled out Kennady.
“Commissioner Kennady has been at the start of the line in support for the Comal Gardens Landfill and the Mesquite Creek Landfill, which is where you stand today,” Smith said. “It’s taken a lot of effort — over five years — but what you see here is state-of-the-art as far as landfill technology is concerned.”
Waste Management operates nearly 300 landfills around the country, and while Smith had to acknowledge a little bias, he was unequivocal in his praise.
“I believe this is the best landfill in that network,” he said.
The new landfill office, he said was built out of material that in some cases were saved for years for the project.
“It looks a little like a country store,” Smith said. “But it, too, is a state-of-the-art building that features a lot of recycled components.
Art Williams of the Lindheimer Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists presented an award recognizing Waste Management for its work at the facility — and for preserving 300 acres his group is helping to restore.
Waste Management District Manager Ric Green said his company doesn’t preserve wildlife habitat to win awards — just like it operates its landfills, it preserves habitat to protect the environment and to be good neighbors.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors,” Green said. “We feel so lucky to work for a company that operates this way. This 300 acres will be preserved no matter what else happens in the future. Hopefully, we’ll leave a great legacy here for people to enjoy down the road.
Kennady said she was glad that a landfill could be developed locally that could meet the future needs of Comal and Guadalupe counties without having to add the expense of trucking trash to San Antonio or further.
“It’s tremendously important,” Kennady said. “We have to have a landfill, and I’m so glad to see this happen. Seeing it to fruition is great, and the fact that they’re preserving 300 acres to be environmentally friendly is another big plus. This was the right thing to do, and I’m glad Waste Management has us ready to go for another 20 or 25 years.”
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