The spring climate brings dangerous conditions for Iowa City’s landfill

Iowa City, Iowa (KCRG) – The landfill of the city of Iowa has been forced to close early this year due to strong winds. Those winds are not the only problems that the spring climate can cause, since fires can also be a risk.

So far there have been five fires in the Lowa City landfill this year, three of them attributed to batteries. Jen Jordan, the Superintendent of Resource Management of the landfill in the city of Iowa, says that the batteries that are not properly eliminated are the problem.

“We really want to make sure to recycle them,” Jordan said. “If you think of a drill battery, they are quite horrible, if you pass it, they will explode or start a fire.”

So far there has been no injury caused by these fires.

“Our staff is incredibly expert in seeing them and detecting smoke,” Jordan said. “It’s really scary, it’s a security problem, it’s really difficult to train for things like that.”

These fires can be prevented by properly recycling batteries. Iowa City’s landfill offers free battery recycling services for Johnson County residents in its installation of collection of hazardous materials.

Strong winds and storms are another problem, they can make garbage fly and leave the landfill, which means that the staff has to step forward to control the garbage. These incidents have resulted in several early closures in the landfill.

“We know that it is really challenging for our customers when we close early … but we have to keep the trash,” Jordan said.

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