Great Lakes Pulp Company Landfill (Menominee Township, Menominee County)

Mary Ann St Antoine, StAntoineM@Michigan.gov or (989) 370-8035.

Please note that this landfill is CLOSED and does not accept waste. 

Great Lakes Pulp Company (GLPC) Landfill located west of County Road 577 and 7.5 Mile Road, is a 14-acre, composite lined, Type III landfill that was previously licensed by the State of Michigan. The landfill operated from 1996 to 2016 and took in paper pulp waste generated by the Fibrek Paper Plant in Menominee, which recycles paper into deinked pulp. The landfill has three lined cells with a leachate collection system and is covered by a compacted clay layer that is covered by topsoil and grass.

In 2000, there was evidence of groundwater contamination at the site. These impacts resulted in a consent order with a remedial action plan to address the contamination. The consent order was terminated in 2018 after GLPC complied and completed all of the requirements. Since the closure and remedial activities, groundwater quality has improved.

Due to the historical groundwater impacts, the downgradient location of drinking water wells, and the material in the landfill; EGLE requested that GLPC sample select wells for PFAS.

The groundwater in the landfill area flows to the east/southeast through the underlying 35 feet of silt/clay/sand till. There is limestone bedrock under the till. The area southeast of the landfill is comprised of a large wetland/swamp with several small creeks. There are three drinking water wells that are within one-half mile southeast of the landfill.

Content posted April 2021.

EGLE is working with Delta-Menominee District Health Department to locate drinking water wells within one-half mile downgradient of the landfill and to discuss the potential need for drinking water well sampling.

Continue groundwater monitoring of landfill.