Nobody enjoys working at the landfill. It’s not a fun job. Handling lawn clippings, diapers, chip bags and cardboard takes up most of the day.
For two weeks after Christmas, garbage trucks will stream in, carrying a lot of wrapping paper and boxes at first, and then old chairs, tools, televisions and anything else that got replaced during the holidays and isn’t worth keeping.
It can get a little dusty. In the spring it’s really muddy. In the summer it’s a little smelly. Right now it’s cold work at the Three Mile Canyon Landfill near the shores of Rockport Reservoir.
But for the people there, it’s also steady, reliable work during a tough economy.
Most worked construction previously and were used to being laid off or given less work in the winter months. Handling Summit County’s trash isn’t glamorous work, but regardless of what happens outside of Three Mile Canyon, the garbage will always arrive.
For people used to working outside most of their careers, the juniper-studded canyon with plenty of fresh air is not a bad place.
Employee Eusebio Irriari used to be a cowboy. Boyd Willoughby used to keep goats. Dave Allgood used to work in excavation.
“I wouldn’t want an office job; it’s not my cup of tea,” Allgood said.
During the winter, wildlife comes looking for a bite to eat. When the trucks arrive with waste from the grocery stores, the usually skittish deer walk right up to get some apples or pears.
Allgood has a photograph of him petting a three-point deer behind the ear while it ate out of his hand.
Variety is another perk of the landfill, said solid waste superintendent Mark Offret. The 10 or so employees take turns working with residents in the drop-off zone, chipping branches and other green waste, hauling dirt to cover new garbage, driving big tractors to smash it down, sorting out tires and appliances. For someone used to framing houses day after day, the landfill provides a welcome medley of work.
Allgood’s favorite job is working with the public. That provides variety all its own. Local celebrities like Stein Eriksen stop by, as do people who seem straight out of Bel Air and have never seen a dump before.
Allgood helps divert solid waste away from the landfill and to recyclers, or for burning in a cement kiln in Weber Canyon. Motor oil is used to heat the shop where the crew makes repairs to vehicles.
While salvaging is against the law, the landfill crew is allowed to save items that could be useful in their work. They’ve found brand-new tools and even working snowmobiles, Allgood said
For decoration, the workers sometimes get away with saving a piece of campy art or a well-stuffed mountain lion to hang in the lunch room or shop.
“We’ve seen everything. You name it,” Allgood said.
Once in a while they volunteer to help someone fish out something they didn’t mean to throw away. It could be a collection of worthless rocks someone picked up while traveling around the world, or a jeweler who accidentally threw out earrings worth tens of thousands of dollars. The crew decides whether or not to help by how panicked they seem.
The landfill can even accept hazardous waste from residents in a special trailer. Allgood jokes the landfill can and does take everything except “bodies and nuclear waste.”
He’s even found quite a few items of interest to the history museum in Coalville like old photographs and antiques.
The work has made him more responsible as well, he said.
“People put garbage on the curb once a week and don’t think much about it,” he said.
Before he took this job, his kids got into recycling so he helped them out.
Since then, he’s seen things like birds caught up in discarded plastic grocery bags. After working at Three Mile Canyon, he said he’s careful to recycle every week.
Frank Wold, Joseph Tatton, Brian Soderberg and Tiffanie Smith also work at the landfill but were not quoted in this story.
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