Residents who live on Brickyard Road in Danville, Illinois said they are tired of the traffic, trash and noise from garbage trucks. 

The Republic Services Brickyard Disposal Landfill is just down the street from neighbors on a road used to haul trash from cities across central Illinois and Indiana. It’s located at 601 Brickyard Rd. in Vermillion County and is operated by Republic Services, a North American solid waste collection company with services in nearby counties like Champaign. 

From the roaring hum of dump trucks to trash blowing into their yards, the people living nearby said these occurrences are simply part of living next to a landfill. But some neighbors have tried seeking solutions with the city officials, filing petitions and advocating for a cleaner environment.

Republic Services did not return multiple requests for comment.

On Nov. 7, a reporter from CU-CitizenAccess visited Brickyard Road, in a neighborhood historically known as Grape Creek. Consisting of two primary streets, Dean Street and Brickyard Road, the community is made up of around 30 households. 

A common complaint among neighbors has been the speed of the garbage trucks traveling through the neighborhood.

“The trucks treat it like they’re getting on the highway,” Bill Cole, who has been living on Brickyard Road since 2020, said in an interview.  

Resident Joseph Ollis said neighbors had tried filing petitions and looking for ways to get the trucks to slow down.

“They come through here at 5 o’clock in the morning. The speed limit is only 25 and they’re doing 40, 45 miles an hour,” Ollis said in an interview. “We’ve called, we’ve actually got petitions, and nothing ever came about. They slowed down for a little bit, but then it all started back up.” 

Ollis said the landfill’s proximity to the neighborhood has been “annoying” due to the smell, dust and debris.

With the landfill’s lifespan diminishing, as previously reported in December 2021 by CU-CitizenAccess, a new site is on residents’ minds as waste inches closer to the neighborhood.

“They used to dump way back in the back, but that’s all been filled up and now they’re dumping up here up front so the smell is closer now, and that’s pretty bad,” Ollis said.

Trash blowing off of trucks and into neighbors’ yards has also been a recurring problem for Ollis.

“Debris blowing out of the trucks into the yard, I’m constantly out picking up garbage in my yard,” he said. “I like to keep it somewhat clean, it’s a real pain with the trash.”

In 2021, the landfill had an estimated lifespan of 16.5 years — now reduced to 12.5 years at the end of 2025.

Mike Puhr, alderman for Danville City Council, said there’s been some discussion about the future of the landfill.

“Like you know, we (Danville) had a couple different landfills. You start thinking, what are we gonna do in 15 years?” Puhr said in an interview. “You know, where’s the next location?”

Grape Creek has a long history. Once an active hub for coal mining, the area’s rich coal deposits are an important part of its history.

“You know, that is an option, where we strip mined,” Puhr said. “You have big deep ravines, and things that I guess technically could be thought of as possible sites. But again you get into what kind of environmental studies need to be done.” 

Alaina Gouty has lived there for a few months. 

“For the most part, at night and on the weekends it’s quiet, but during the day, it’s nonstop,” Gouty said.

“When the landfill is closed, it’s a quiet neighborhood,” Cole said.