Bannock County Landfill collects Household Hazardous Waste from April through October on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. County residents can bring their waste to the landfill’s household hazardous waste building for drop-off (or they will be directed by employees who remove the waste from the vehicles).

2023 Household Hazardous Waste Days – April 1, May 6, June 3, July 1, August 5, September 2, October 7 from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Fort Hall Mine Landfill
1500 N Fort Hall Mine Rd
Pocatello, ID 83204

Once the waste is removed from vehicles, it is separated into 50-gallon drums or stacked in the containment building if it is reusable. The antifreeze, oil, and vehicle batteries are sent to a local company to be recycled or reused. The remaining materials are either properly disposed of as hazardous waste or recycled. The county contracts with a hazardous waste company to dispose of the unusable materials. Be sure to view our disposal policies.

The following materials are currently accepted on Household Hazardous Waste Days:

Program History

Bannock County began diverting household hazardous waste (HHW) from the landfill in 1992. Before Bannock County’s ownership, the aquifer was contaminated in the old landfill.  To date, Bannock County has spent $3 million to clean up this contamination by using an air stripper that uses wells to pull water from the aquifer.  The air stripper cleans the water and then circulates it into an injector well which then re-enters the aquifer.

The Hazardous Waste program started as a cooperative effort between Bannock County and the Cities of  Pocatello and Chubbuck to eliminate household quantities of hazardous waste from being disposed of in the landfill. It ran from 1992 to 1994 as a one-day event held each year in a parking lot at the City of Pocatello’s Sanitation Department. The hazardous waste collected was transported to an outside contractor.

Initially, the county and both cities supplied employees that were being paid overtime to staff the event. The total cost of the event was divided equally between the three partners ($43,900 in 1992; $37,917 in 1993; and $40,748 in 1994). The partnership’s challenges included finding a good place to hold the event and finding chemists to volunteer to help sort the wastes received. Luckily, the county found several trained volunteers from the Idaho National Laboratory and the local fire department. More than 500 people from the community brought in waste during the first event.

Existing Program  Overview

In 1995, the partnership between the county and the cities ended because Bannock County was able to manage HHW at the new, larger landfill. However, before the county could manage the program independently, several things needed to be accomplished, including training additional solid waste personnel and building a reuse area for HHW that the community or the county could reuse. Therefore, the county landfill personnel attended a 40-hour hazardous material training and positioned existing 30-yard containers at the landfill to sort incoming waste. The county also built a containment building to store the 55-gallon drums of HHW until the contractor picked them up.

Staffing and Training

The county uses local inmates to help remove materials from residents’ vehicles. This program began because of a need for additional staffing. The inmates are only allowed to take the hazardous waste out of customer vehicles; trained county employees are responsible for sorting. County employees must complete 40 hours of hazardous materials training before handling the waste and attend an 8-hour refresher course yearly.

Asbestos

Bannock County accepts asbestos at the Fort Hall Mine Landfill. McCammon Landfill does not
accept Asbestos. In order to comply with NESHAP regulations found in 40 CFR Part 61 the following
conditions must be met:

• Asbestos must be properly contained
  • Friable asbestos must be contained in twelve-mil plastic (double wrapped or bagged in sixmil plastic is standard practice), wetted, and properly labeled.
  • Non-Friable Asbestos must be contained in twelve-mil plastic (double wrapped or bagged in
    six-mil plastic is standard practice) and properly labeled.
• Manifest must be complete and handed to scale house attendant upon arrival at the landfill.
• The asbestos must be placed where directed by Landfill personnel.
• All roofing will be treated and charged as construction debris.
• Any structure built before 1979 will be treated and charged as asbestos.
• OSHA or EPA approved warning labels must be permanently marked or attached to plastic
  wrapping.

Batteries

Bannock County accepts vehicle batteries at its Fort Hall Mine and McCammon facilities. All other
household batteries are accepted at no charge on our household hazardous waste days. Household
Hazardous Waste days are first Saturday of each month April thru October 9am to 3pm. All
rechargeable batteries will be accepted at Fort Hall Mine Landfill at no charge Monday thru
Saturday.

Construction and Demolition Debris

Bannock County accepts construction and demolition debris (C&D) at the Fort Hall Mine Landfill and
McCammon Landfill sites. C&D is inert material and can be disposed of at a much lower rate than
municipal solid waste (MSW). It is up to the customer to meet our acceptance criteria, and loads are
subject to random load inspections. In order for waste to be accepted as C&D it must meet these
requirements:

• C&D waste consists of:
  • Construction/ Demolition debris
  • Cured asphalt and concrete rubble
  • Masonry rubble
  • Uncontaminated soils, rock, gravel, or dirt fill
  • Bulky wood wastes, stumps, branches, or limbs
  • Scrap metals, fencing, wire, poles, or boards
  • Dead animals (Pocatello only)
  • Asbestos (Pocatello only)
• Waste must contain no more than 10% organic materials, household waste, carpet, plastics.
• Waste must not contain any hazardous waste.
• Any load that is redirected will be subject to the appropriate MSW tipping fee.

Electronic Waste Policy

Bannock County accepts Electronic waste (E-Waste) at Fort Hall Mine Landfill free of
charge.

Acceptable E-Waste

• Computer towers
• Flat screen tv’s and monitors
• Rechargeable batteries
• Cell phones
• Laptops
• Home electronics (cable boxes, sound systems, dvd, RCA, satellite boxes
• Solar products

There is a charge for Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors and televisions. The CRT monitor is the older, larger, and heavier version of the LCD monitors with a bowl-shaped screen made of glass.

Drums

Bannock County accepts drums at Fort Hall Mine landfill and McCammon Landfill. A drum is a cylindrical container, made of steel or plastics, used for shipping bulk materials. Drums are generally used in commercial and industrial applications for the transportation of hazardous waste, therefore in order for Bannock County to accept drums they must meet these requirements:

• Drums must be emptied, rinsed, and residue free.
• The rinsed drums must then have lids off and/or holes punctured in both ends.
• All Drums brought to Bannock County will be inspected for hazardous waste.

Household Hazardous Waste

Bannock County accepts household hazardous waste (HHW) at the Fort Hall Mine location. Household hazardous waste is accepted every first Saturday April thru October, 9:00am to 3:00pm. Acceptance is dependent on the review of source and generation information. Bannock County has the right to refuse loads and/or require additional testing. Loads are also subject to random load inspections.

Acceptable Types of HHW:

• Used motor oil –5 gallons maximum container size. Acceptable in unmarked containers and must be
  transferred without spilling.
• Antifreeze. Acceptable in unmarked containers and must be transferred without spilling.
• Flammable and Combustible Liquids – 5 gallons maximum container size. It must be in original sealed
  container.
• Batteries – Alkaline, Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Lithium-Ion (Li-ion),Nickel-Metal-Hydride (Ni-MH), small sealed lead (Pb), Automotive batteries.
• Corrosives – Must be less than 2 gallons to accept.
  Pesticide, Herbicide, or Fertilizer- 5 gallons maximum container size. It must be in original sealed
  container.
• Mercury – Thermometers, thermostats, and elemental mercury (small containers) are accepted in our HHW program.

*We do not limit the HHW diversion program to these items*

Household Liquid Acceptance

• Bannock County will accept liquid waste only from Bingham County’s Central Transfer Station. Liquid waste accepted will be limited to household waste collected in the drainage tank as part of normal solid waste transfer. No other sources of liquid waste are to be transferred or accepted. Requirements for acceptance of this waste are:
• Bingham County must utilize a dedicated, marked tanker and county personnel to transfer the liquid to Bannock County. No outside contractors or pumper trucks are to be used. Bingham County is responsible for compliance with all federal, state, and local transportation regulations.
• Bingham County will supply a manifest of waste to the Fort Hall Mine Landfill scale house upon delivery. The log will include date of transfer, quantity of liquid, and name and signature of personnel providing the documentation. This log will be placed into Bannock County’s permanent operating record.

Liquid waste will be placed directly into the lined leachate collection pond at the Fort Hall Mine Landfill. Liquid waste will not be placed in any other location, including the operating landfill cell.

Mercury

Bannock County Fort Hall Mine Landfill accepts thermometers, thermostats and small amounts of elemental mercury for free on every first Saturday, April thru October 9am to3pm. In order to protect the safety of our personnel please follow these instructions:

• All mercury should be secured in cardboard, bubble wrap, or some other reasonable type of protection.
• Thermometers with blue or red liquid inside do not contain mercury and can be thrown away with regular trash.
• All fluorescent bulbs containing mercury should be secured to protect from breakage. Nonfluorescent bulbs can be discarded in regular trash containers.

Petroleum Contaminated Soils

Bannock County accepts petroleum contaminated soil (PCS) at the Fort Hall Mine Landfill. Acceptance is on a case by case basis dependent on verifying the source of the release and a review of lab data which is representative of the PCS and that it meets applicable acceptance criteria.

PCS Generated as the Result of Spills & Accidents

Where the source of petroleum is known and is only contaminated by soil and no other chemical contaminants, the following acceptance criteria shall apply:

Unknown Sources of PCS
Other sources of PCS must be characterized to document that it does not meet the definition of a hazardous waste.

In order to comply with the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) 40 CFR 261.31-33, lab analyses of representative samples of the PCS from the sources listed below must be provided. Possible constituents of concern include heavy metals, chlorinated solvents and pesticides. Reported laboratory concentrations must be screened against EPA’s Table 1 Maximum Concentration of Contaminants for the Toxicity Characteristic (40 CFR 261.24).

Additional Criteria

• All appropriate source information and lab work must be submitted to Bannock County for review prior to shipment. If the PCS is accepted, Bannock County must be notified at least 12 hours prior to shipment.
• Bannock County has the right to refuse loads and/or require additional testing. Loads are also subject to random load inspections.
• Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) wastes are not accepted.
• All PCS from any source must also meet the paint filter test.
• Each load must be accompanied by a signed Waste Tracking/Source Profile Form.
• PCS must be placed where directed by county personnel.
• Street Sweepings, Storm Water Sediments and other inert material that may have incidental contact with petroleum products and other organic material is acceptable as long as the generator can certify that the generation of such solid waste was not the result of the cleanup of petroleum spills. If the material was generated as the result of petroleum spill, than the PCS acceptance criteria shall apply.

Trailor Home Disposal

Requirements for trailer homes at Bannock County Landfill:

Verification of refrigerant removal prior to arrival at the Landfill

Proof from Assessors or Treasurers office that taxes have been paid. (If disposing on Saturday ALL documentation must be in-hand. Assessors and Treasurers offices are closed on Saturdays)

Tires will be removed at disposal area (If disposing of tires they will need to go to appropriate location with a fee).

If a trailer home is too large to fit on the scale, a flat rate charge of ten tons will be assessed. Residential trailer homes will be accepted at the Fort Hall Mine Landfill free of charge on the two scheduled Free Day Events per year. Contact the landfill or check our website for the current year free days. All requirements will still need to be followed on Free Days.

Syringes

Bannock County Fort Hall Mine Landfill accepts the disposal of household needles and syringes. In order to protect the safety of our personnel, please follow these instructions:

• Used needles and syringes should be placed in a puncture-proof, leak-proof container with a tight-fitting lid. Appropriate containers include red sharps containers (available from most pharmacies at a cost of $3-$5) or a heavy plastic bottle (such as a laundry detergent bottle).
• Bleach or another disinfecting solution should be added.
• When the container is full, make sure the lid is on tight, and apply heavy tape (duct tape or packaging tape) to ensure that the lid remains sealed.
• The sealed container can be put in your garbage container or brought to the landfill.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge

24 HOURS NOTICE REQUIRED – FAILURE TO COMPLETE ALL REQUIREMENTS MAY RESULT IN LOAD REFUSAL

Bannock County accepts Bio-solids at the Bannock County Fort Hall Mine Landfill. Acceptance is dependent on the review of source and lab data which is representative of the Bio-solids. All appropriate source information and lab work must be submitted to Bannock County for review prior to shipment. A certified lab analysis is good for 12 months from the date it was tested. Bannock County has the right to refuse loads and/or require additional testing. Loads are also subject to random load inspections.

• In order to comply with R.C.R.A 40 CFR Part 261.3, the following lab analyses from an approved
  laboratory are required to characterize the waste:
  • Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP)-R.C.R.A 8 Metals
  • pH Test
  • Paint Filter Test
• If Bio-solids are accepted, Bannock County must be notified at least 24 hours prior to shipment.
• Each load or series of loads must also be accompanied by a signed Waste Tracking/Source Profile Form.
• Bio-solids must be placed where directed by County personnel

Compost is sold Monday through Saturday from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.  The cost is $35 per ton.

Compost is SOLD OUT as of May 8, 2023. We expect the next load of compost to be ready at the end of May or the beginning of June. Check back here for updates.

In the fall of 2001, a partnership between the City of Pocatello and Bannock County was formed to come up with a solution for the disposal of organic waste.  This partnership was a result of a citizen’s committee that began asking about the recycling of green material.

A memorandum of understanding was entered into September 6, 2001 between the two entities. Both parties recognized that it was in the best interest of the citizens to save the valuable landfill air space that was remaining in the landfill.  It was decided that a three-year pilot program would be necessary to determine the long-term feasibility of composting material at the landfill.

Landfill gas has become a new source of renewable energy in recent years.  As waste decomposes gas is generated within the landfill.  A gas collection system allows Bannock County to remove the gas from the landfill thereby preventing the gas from escaping the facility.  The gas collection system consists of wells that are installed into the waste mass.  Each of the wells are connected with piping to form a network.  Blowers are used to create a vacuum on the network of wells and the gas is used as fuel to run engines within the gas to energy plant.  The engines turn generators that produce power.

Bannock Count Landfill has turned landfill gas from trash decomposition into more than $2.2 million worth of electricity since installing the gas to energy conversion system in April of 2014. As garbage decomposes it creates methane which has 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. The EPA requires a reduction in greenhouse gases released from landfills, so therefore the gas to energy projects are a beneficial use of methane gas.  Bannock County would have been mandated by the EPA to install a gas system once the Non Methane Organic Compound(NMOC) emissions reached 50 metric tons.  That was expected to be by 2024, however the threshold has been changed to 34 metric tons of NMOC.  We are currently less than 10 metric tons of NMOC emissions.  

The Generator installed at the landfill is one of four methane gas to energy systems across the state of Idaho.  This generator runs 24 hours per day, seven days a week and generates approximately 1500 kilowatts of electricity an hour.  The power is put into the electrical grid system owned and operated by Idaho Power.  The generator system will basically pay for the landfill gas extraction over the length of the 20 year contract we have with Idaho Power.  A second generator is currently being installed and is expected to double the kilowatt per hour production.  We currently have 46 total wells with 35 of them active in Cells 1 and 2.  We are in the process of connecting three new wells in Cell 4.