Environment
Small Iowa landfills began to close when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources began requiring stricter regulations and permits for landfills in the 1990's.

Local Town Dumps A Thing Of The Past Due To High Cost Of Government Regulations

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“See that brown building, to the left of the tree line? That’s the University of Dubuque. And a little further left, you can kind of see that little ridge, you can see it better some days, that’s the Platteville ‘M,’” John Foster, administrator for the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Regional Landfill, said, referencing the Wisconsin border-town’s landmark: a large white M on the side of a mound, by the Mississippi river. Foster was standing in Dubuque at the top of a closed landfill cell, one of nine cells the landfill has planned for the more than 600 acres around him — enough to last the Dubuque area in eastern Iowa through the century. But smaller landfills in Iowa have not fared as well as Dubuque’s the last 24 years, since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created federal rules on issuing permits that municipal landfills have to follow.

Agribusiness

Food waste weighing down U.S. food system

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Food is the largest single source of waste in the U.S. More food ends up in landfills than plastic, more than paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 20 percent of what goes into municipal landfills is food. Food waste tipped the scale at 35 million tons in 2012, the most recent year estimates are available.