The Santa Clarita City Council is expected Tuesday to discuss problems at a landfill about 3 miles west of city limits, the closure of which could impact local trash fees.   Due to Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s lingering pollution problems, which are the subject of county, state and federal cleanup orders, Santa Clarita is expected to talk about where the city’s trash will go now and how that might impact the city’s contracted hauler, Burrtec.  Burrtec had an exclusive agreement with Chiquita Canyon — which has handled about one-third of the county’s trash — for trash disposal; but Waste Connections, the facility’s operators, decided to close it abruptly two weeks ago.  “Even though this approval does not directly increase disposal rates, this would allow Burrtec to request, in the future, an extraordinary rate adjustment,” said Darin Seegmiller, environmental services manager for the city of Santa Clarita, in a phone interview Monday.  The rate adjustment is not a part of Tuesday’s discussion, Seegmiller said. Once Burrtec is able to create a new agreement for where the city’s waste can go, the city would hire an independent consultant paid by Burrtec that would make a rate recommendation, which would then be brought back to the council for approval.  Currently, the average resident pays approximately $30 per month for trash fees in the city, according to a recent rate discussion.  A lobbying group for trash haulers warned the cost impact of closing Chiquita at about $8 to $10 per month for customers, prior to the landfill’s shutdown. Seegmiller said he couldn’t comment on a proposed rate hike prior to the independent analysis.  A motion written by city staff states “Chiquita has been significantly constrained by the actions of various regulatory agencies” — actions aimed at getting the landfill to stop emitting harmful gases and leachate pollution at unmanageable levels, which so far have failed.  Residents, including those living at the western edge of the city, have complained for more than two years about the pollution and smells from Chiquita Canyon, which are the subject of dozens of lawsuits with nearly 2,000 plaintiffs.   The root cause of the landfill’s problems has yet to be explained, but a subsurface reaction is burning trash at close to 250 degrees, which is causing the landfill to: sink at a faster-than-normal rate; produce landfill gases at levels that have sickened residents; and create leachate at levels the facility has failed to manage at times, according to its regulators, which has prompted concerns from the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, as well.   Now Burrtec is looking to take its trash to Sun Valley.   “Due to Burrtec’s inability to obtain a long-term commitment from Chiquita, Burrtec submitted a request to the city, which, if approved, would allow Burrtec to enter into an agreement to dispose of waste at the Sun Valley Recycle Park Transfer Station (Sun Valley WM),” according to the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. “This facility, owned by Waste Management (WM), will allow Burrtec to provide uninterrupted solid-waste disposal services for the city.”  While there’s not been much public council discussion of the problems at Chiquita, which is in the unincorporated portion of the county, city officials have spent the past several months looking at alternatives, according to Seegmiller’s agenda report.  As part of the analysis, four facilities were evaluated: Sun Valley WM; Antelope Valley Recycling & Disposal Facility; Sun Valley Paper Stock; and Sunshine Canyon Landfill.   Sun Valley WM was determined to be the only facility capable of accommodating the city’s solid-waste tonnage with a sustainable, long-term solution.  Antelope Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility was inaccessible to direct haul for Burrtec collection trucks due to excessive distance, according to city officials’ report. The Sun Valley Paper Stock has higher tipping fees and capacity limits posed significant challenges. Sunshine Canyon Landfill offered lower rates but limited to a six-month tonnage commitment.  The post City to discuss trash plans  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.