EDITORIAL: Dispose of waste, not taxpayers' cash

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District Board is looking for options for disposing the county's trash. The board should make sure it doesn't dispose money in the process.

EDITORIAL: Mow down improper yard waste

If it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks, teaching old gardeners might be tricky.

EDITORIAL: Stop wasting time on waste solution

Earl Powers' trash-to-ethanol plan sounded good in the same way that Star Trek teleportation sounded good. Maybe someday it would work out, but who really wants to be the test pilot for this new technology?

Not your grandfather's landfills

Tony Schroeder, division manager for Republic Services at the Newton County Landfill, shows one of several liners used at the the facility to form an impervious layer against pollution.

The power of waste

Two regional facilities produce enough electricity to power several thousand homes, or offset municipal power bills by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

The power of waste

The methane-to-energy conversion plant at the Newton County Landfill produces enough gas to power about 10 small manufacturing facilities and currently pipes its gas to an egg carton manufacturing business bordering the landfill.

The power of waste

Republic Services official James Metros, a former Crown Point mayor, talks about the gas-to-energy operation at the Newton County Landfill.

The power of waste

A pump system removes methane from the Newton County Landfill, funneling it into a conversion plant. The gas is cooled and sent to the customer. The landfill powers a small egg carton manufacturing plant next door.

Not your grandfather's landfills

A "tipper" lifts a truck trailer to dump its contents at the Newton County Landfill, owned and operated by Republic Services. The landfill covers more than 400 acres just south of Indiana 114 and west of Interstate 65.

Not your grandfather's landfills

Trucks loaded with trash are weighed at the entrance to the Newton County Landfill.

Not your grandfather's landfills

A new cell for trash is being excavated at the Newton County Landfill.

Not your grandfather's landfills

Trucks line up with trash-filled trailers while a "tipper" dumps a trailer load in the background at the Newton County Landfill.

Not your grandfather's landfills

A "tipper" lifts a truck trailer to dump its contents at the Newton County Landfill, owned and operated by Republic Services.

Not your grandfather's landfills

With at least 20 years of existing capacity at Northwest Indiana landfills -- and room for expansion well beyond that -- there is no need to hit the panic button.

Cook County considering its own ban on landfills

CHICAGO | Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey, D-Chicago, remembers all too well the way government sometimes worked when he represented the city’s Northwest Side in the Illinois General Assembly.

EDITORIAL: Rotting garbage generating electricity

Closing a landfill is not as simple as covering the garbage with dirt, planting grass, locking the gate and walking away.

PINES - PINES group

Larry Jensen and Paul Kysel of the P.I.N.E.S. (People In Need of Environmental Saftey) group are attempting to get the Environmental Protection Agency to monitor radiation levels around the Yard 520 coal ash landfill in Pines Township.

PINES - PINES group

Paul Kysel, right, and Larry Jensen of the P.I.N.E.S. (People In Need of Environmental Saftey) group stand at the Yard 520 landfill Tuesday in Pines Township.

PINES - PINES group

Larry Jensen, left, and Paul Kysel of the P.I.N.E.S. (People In Need of Environmental Saftey) group stand at the Yard 520 landfill Tuesday in Pines Township. They want the Environmental Protection Agency to monitor radiation levels coming from the coal ash dump site.

PINES - PINES group

Larry Jensen, left, and Paul Kysel of the P.I.N.E.S. (People In Need of Environmental Saftey) group stand at the Yard 520 coal ash landfill Tuesday in Pines Township.