ELMORE COUNTY — The Sawtooth Regional Landfill, a nearly 300-acre site in Elmore County, reopened earlier this year under new ownership.
Republic Services purchased the landfill after it closed in 2023 following multiple violations. The company immediately began making improvements to create a more environmentally responsible waste disposal site.
WATCH: Sawtooth Regional Landfill reopens in Elmore County
Tyson Ross, operations manager for Republic Services, described how waste from local homes makes its way to the facility.
"Anything that goes from your kitchen, your garage, onto the curb, it gets picked up by the blue trucks that you see around town," Ross said. "It gets loaded into a trailer, and then it comes out here and it gets buried."
Chase Cresto, general manager for Republic Services, said the work to improve the site was extensive.
"Whether it was relocating thousands of cubic yards of waste, engineering, designing, constructing new cells to add to the capacity that we have at this landfill," Cresto said.
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Protective liners are also a key part of the facility, providing an extra layer of protection for the environment and neighboring communities.
"You don't wanna just throw something on the ground. You wanna put it in a trash bag, right?" Ross said, "So, that liner system creates that barrier."
The landfill currently takes in about 1,000 tons of waste a day. As the region grows, so does the amount of trash. Republic Services said the site will help meet Elmore County's needs while also serving other communities across southwest Idaho as needed.
"Adding additional capacity here likely helps extend the capacity at the Ada County landfill in addition to maybe other neighboring landfill disposal assets," Cresto said.
With the site back open, Elmore County residents' trash no longer has to travel as far — a change Cresto said could benefit residents financially.
"The basic economics of this is there's likely to be a benefit to ratepayers long term," Cresto said.
Republic Services said the landfill has an estimated lifespan of about 200 years.
