Hastings, Nebraska Landfill Operations

The Hastings Landfill received this new solid waste compactor in April. It was purchased in the spring of 2023. It has taken approximately one year to be built due to backlog of equipment production.

The compactor will be fitted with a Global Positioning System to record where solid waste is placed.  This is a requirement of the Landfill Operating permit.

This compactor costs $1,117,000 and after trade-in of the existing compactor, total cost to upgrade is $795,000. The compactor is an essential equipment item for the landfill operation. It is needed to insure the solid waste is properly placed and properly compacted. The use of the compactor is also a requirement of the operating permit.

A compactor is an essential piece of equipment for a landfill. This piece of machinery does exactly what it is called. Without compaction in a landfill, the land we would need for solid waste to be placed in would be increased exponentially. While many other pieces of equipment are needed and used, a landfill can not run with out a compactor. Landfill’s can utilize a dozer or something equivalent for short periods of time if the compactor is down, but in no way replaces what the compactor is able to do.

Due to the importance of this piece of heavy equipment, this is why we keep our equipment new.  We run the machine for at least 10 hours each day (Monday-Friday) aside from Saturdays which it is ran for approximately 5 hours. The staff at the landfill are extremely meticulous when it comes to keeping up with repairs and services. Operators generally take care of PM 1’s and 2’s, while NMC takes care of the PM 3’s and 4’s. Those services are included in the purchase agreement as well.  By including a Customer Value Agreement (CVA) with the purchase, saves this department a significant amount of money regarding services that have to be done.

Many landfills will retain 2 or more compactors for redundancy. The Hastings Landfill is not sufficiently sized to warrant the additional expense. So to offset risk of not having the compactor in service at all times and thus needing to suspend landfill disposal service the compactor is traded frequently to keep it fully operational. By keeping the unit in good repair the trade-in value helps reduce the capital expenditure to operation the landfill.  This is an example of how your landfill staff controls costs of service.  It takes long range planning and good maintenance to control operating costs.  

The landfill staff have other equipment that is much older and less reliable due to age. Much of this equipment is not used every day and maintenance can be scheduled. This older equipment is in good repair which has kept the equipment items operational. For example our scraper to move soil is several years old. If the scrapper would need to be taken out of service for repair a spare scraper could be rented or services provided by a contractor. This option is not available for the compactor.

The compactor is different from typical compactors used on roadway and site construction. The "teeth" on a typical compactor are designed to compact soil. The "teeth" on a solid waste compactor is designed to crush, tear, and shear the solid waste to reduce its size and aid in compaction.