Construction waste from two hyperscale data center projects near Cedar Rapids is putting significant pressure on the city’s landfill.
Joe Horaney is interim director of the region’s solid waste agency. He says the landfill’s trash intake increased more than ten-percent during the 2026 fiscal year.
“And we attributed that big increase to the large data center projects that are underway in Linn County,” Horaney says. “They generated a lot of construction and demolition debris, and so we’re trying to find ways to divert that material.”
The landfill is projected to be filled up by 2039, but the increase in waste could shorten that window, and Horaney says there are few options for building a new landfill in Linn County.
He says QTS and Google are putting in massive projects: “It’s like a whole city is being built.”.
The agency is looking to haul trash to other landfills in the region, including Black Hawk County, which could accept it for a fee. That could mean higher prices for residents.
“Because the further away that that you have to take it, the cost goes up just from the hauling alone with fuel prices being so high,” Horaney says, “so there is a potential for higher cost.”
Last fiscal year, the agency landfilled 182,000 tons of trash, while in the most recent year, it took in 203,000 tons.
(Gavin McGough, Iowa Public Radio)
