Eastern Laramie County Solid Waste Disposal District’s approach to maximizing airspace while improving operational efficiency.
For landfill operators, some materials create challenges long before they ever reach final cover. Tires, mattresses, furniture cushions, and other bulky items can consume valuable space and create ongoing operational headaches. At Eastern Laramie County Solid Waste Disposal District in Burns, Wyoming, addressing those challenges became a key part of their approach to smart landfilling.
According to Manager Mike ‘Bubba’ Ragsdale, the goal is simple: maximize airspace while improving the efficiency of daily operations.
“By smart landfilling compaction, you save airspace,” Ragsdale explains. But as the team evaluated their operation, they realized compaction alone wasn’t enough. Bulky materials were still creating problems within the landfill.
“When you bury that stuff and don’t shred it, it won’t stay buried,” Ragsdale says. “We had to find some way of getting rid of that stuff, and shredding seemed to be the best way to do it.”
Eastern Laramie County initially saw significant gains through improved compaction practices, achieving significant airspace savings. After adding shredding to their process, those savings increased even further.
“When we started shredding, that increased another 30%,” Ragsdale says. “So we’re getting 60% savings on airspace.”
For Ragsdale, seeing the impact firsthand changed his perspective on what was possible.
“It didn’t convince me that it would make that much difference until we started shredding,” he says.
Beyond the airspace savings, shredding has also improved landfill efficiency by allowing operators to achieve compaction faster and more consistently. Technology has also become an important part of Eastern Laramie County’s smart landfilling strategy. By utilizing the Carlson GPS system integrated into the TANA equipment, the team can monitor cut and fill activity while also tracking compaction data across the site.
“Not only can we determine what our cut/fills are, but what our compaction is,” Ragsdale says. “It saves time, money, fuel.”
For landfill operators facing growing volumes of waste and increasing pressure to maximize capacity, Eastern Laramie County’s experience highlights a key principle of smart landfilling: better processing leads to better results. By combining shredding, compaction, and technology-driven site management, the district has been able to reduce waste volume, improve operational efficiency, and make better use of every cubic yard of available air space.
As Ragsdale puts it, “It’s just a lot better machine than any other compactor that I’ve ever been in.”
To learn more about Smart Landfilling, visit https://tananorthamerica.com/landfill-operations/smart-landfilling/.
