Morristown residents packed Town Hall Tuesday afternoon to hear more and express concern about a request by Crossroads Eco Center Landfill for a vertical expansion during a public information session.
Crossroads Eco Center, who is owned by Waste Management, submitted a request to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to raise the landfill 170 feet vertically over its current approved permit.
The full permit – Morristown Waste Management Plant Permit 73-01 – can be accessed on IDEM’s Virtual Filing Cabinet, VFC #83691865.
The request comes from the need to expand the life of the landfill, which on its current path would be full by 2033, according to the permit. Currently, Crossroads Eco Center accepts 4,000-4,500 tons of waste per day, and that waste comes from the local area as well as out of state.
“This has expanded rapidly since all the out of state trash came in,” said one resident who asked not to be named.
The permit would also change the shape of the landfill so that the landfill looks like more of a dome across all cells on the property. Currently, the landfill has a peak and then is flat in the cells surrounding the peak. Graphics were provided at the meeting to help better explain this, and that information is available in the permit application.
Environmental Engineer Dave Klene said during Tuesday’s meeting that if approved, this would add an additional 14 years of life to the landfill.
“What we are looking to do is request an increase to the height we can go,” he said. “We’re not going out laterally, we’re just going up vertically.”
“That doesn’t make it better!” a member of the public replied loudly.
The lateral waste boundary of the landfill is 251 acres. This will not be changing.
After Klene’s presentation, he instructed members of the public to “break out” and speak with the numerous Crossroads Eco Center, Waste Management, IDEM and Weaver Consulting Engineering (who is WM’s consulting agency on the project) employees in attendance. The public expressed anger at not being allowed to ask questions as a group as a formal Q&A session.
Resident Claudia Heck collected 113 signatures for a petition asking IDEM to deny the permit application.
IDEM has not made a decision on the permit application. The agency is taking public comment until Jan. 22, but a decision date has not been provided, as IDEM representatives said it would take time for the agency to fully review the petition.
Attendees of Tuesday’s meeting filled out comment cards that IDEM collected. Anyone wishing to provide additional public comment to IDEM can do so by reaching out to Hannah Ford at hford@idem.in.gov or submitting written comments to Solid Waste Permits Section, IDEM, Office of Land Quality, 100 North Senate Ave., IGCN 1154, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251.
Gwynneville resident Marylem Henry said everybody is really passionate about this.
“This is our home,” she said. “This is historical Morristown – 120-plus years of history, and our entryway is a landfill. It’s kind of hard for people. ... It’s all necessary. We do have to have something to do with waste, but is this the best way possible to do it? Is there another alternative? Could there be trees to [block the view]? Can the smell be mitigated? Can the attractiveness of our town not be lost to the monetary gain? That’s where it’s hard.”
Notably, in the petition, there are three letters of support from local municipalities, including the City of Shelbyville, State Representative Cory Criswell, and the Morristown Town Council – but Morristown Council member Kristi Langkabel said during Tuesday’s session she knew nothing about the letter of support.
Morristown’s letter was signed by council President Dave Benefiel, who is also an employee of Waste Management. Several members of the public expressed outrage at what appeared to be a conflict of interest. Benefiel was not at Tuesday’s meeting.
“You have a problem,” resident Terry Knudson told a higher up at Waste Management. “That’s fraud, that’s conflict of interest, and that’s corruption. ... The issue is your employee is president of the Town Council and if Waste Management wants something, from [the public’s] perception, it doesn’t even get voted on.”
That WM employee, Jim Hammond, who said he oversees 28 landfills in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana for the company, said he would look into it from an integrity standpoint.
Hammond also said he noticed US-52 was in poor condition because of the trash, and already talked to the landfill operations department about cleaning it up. He said they’re getting skid pads in and authorized a third party sweeper service to clean it up.
Langkabel spoke with IDEM officials to see what more she could do to support her town as this process moves forward, and explained that she can request a public hearing. Tuesday’s meeting was not a public hearing, but just an information session. A public hearing is not required as part of the application process.
“As a council person, I am going to request a public hearing,” she said in speaking with members of the public following the presentation. “I have to let the [council] know I am going to be doing this because I am 100 percent opposed to this vertical expansion.”
If the public hearing moves forward, that could impact when IDEM makes a decision on the permit, representatives said.
Copyright © 2026 The Shelbyville News