The Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force is hoping wishes do come true.

The local citizens advisory committee—which has expressed fervent opposition to Waste Management’s proposal to expand the landfill—recently presented the trash giant with a wish list of items. If incorporated into the project, those items would make the expansion something the task force could actually live with, members said.

Surprisingly, Waste Management says it is open to the suggestions.

It was during a November sitdown with WM that the task force delivered its five-item list. According to committee member Louis Pandolfi, WM had asked what it would take for the group to be more supportive of the project.

WM’s proposed expansion would triple the size of the landfill to 887 acres, double the disposable trash intake to 6,000 tons per day and relocate G.I. Rubbish from its current facilities on W. Los Angeles Avenue to the landfill site.

Though Pandolfi said the task force has “hundreds” of concerns related to the expansion, the group came up with five “parameters” that would temper the project and protect the community.

The first item is a phased expansion, with the daily refuse limit increasing over the life of the landfill’s permit. Pandolfi said the task force doesn’t want to see additional trash coming in from outside the county and thus propose capping the allowable tonnage from Los Angeles to ensure that the landfill takes in more trash from Ventura County than from any other county.

Councilmember Barbra Williamson said this is hugely important to ensure county residents have a place to put their trash in years to come.

“Once that landfill is filled with trash (from other counties) we can never empty it, and that means the residents of Ventura County are going to have to start looking for another place to put their refuse,” said Williamson, who formed the task force in 2007 and leads the group in an unofficial capacity.

Kit Cole, spokesperson for WM, said this request is reasonable and consistent with the way the landfill would be expanded— section by section. She added that when scheduling trucks coming into the landfill, top priority is given to Ventura County waste.

Second, the task force would like to see a tiered tipping fee structure that charges waste haulers from outside the county a higher rate to dump at the Simi landfill.

“Some people travel over 100 miles to dump in this landfill because it’s so cheap,” Williamson said.

Currently, the landfill charges a flat fee per ton, no matter where the trash is coming from, Cole said.

“At this point, everything is on the table . . . (but) clearly this would be a big change in how we operate and how we charge for trash right now,” Cole said.

Also on the task force’s list is implementing 21st century waste conversion technologies at the landfill.

WM’s proposal includes building a facility to transform methane gas into liquefied natural gas for truck fuel, but that modern waste conversion technology, Pandolfi said, only benefits the dump.

The task force wants to see technologies that convert waste into energy or useable materials, thereby reducing the amount of buried trash. Since WM is a leader in the field, Williamson doesn’t understand why the Simi landfill is “at the bottom of the totem poll” for innovative recycling techniques.

It comes down to money, Cole said. The latest technologies cost up to five times as much per ton as traditional practices cost to process waste. And the newest technologies can’t handle volumes larger than 250 tons per day, she said.

Still, Williamson and Pandolfi said, WM has more than enough resources to invest in new techniques in Simi that would benefit WM in the long run.

Cole said WM could explore establishing a pilot program with the cooperation of the city and the county.

Another concern voiced by the task force is that Simi has nothing to gain by the expansion since the landfill isn’t within city boundaries. The group suggested that WM pay an impact mitigation fee to the city to ensure it has the funds to deal with the project’s potential environmental impacts.

“We’re talking about some sizable amounts of dollars to mitigate these risks,” Pandolfi said.

Williamson said the fee should be more than the $7 million the county will get from the landfill since it’s in Simi’s backyard.

In addition, the task force wants to see the landfill annexed to Simi so the city will have more control.

City Manager Mike Sedell said the city recently approached WM about the possibility of annexation, particularly if the company were to develop parcels west of the landfill that would need urban services.

The task force’s list of demands didn’t surprise WM, Cole said, adding that the company will do “everything it can” to respond to the requests.

“There’s not one thing on that list of demands that we aren’t open to and we haven’t already discussed (within WM),” she said.

While the task force doesn’t want the expansion to happen at all, it acknowledged there must be some room for compromise.

“We’d certainly be more willing to support it if they were to come to an amenable agreement,” Williamson said. “There’s got to be some give and take.”